I've Survived Everything ... and I Mean Everything ... and You Can Too!
A fiercely honest and moving story of how Joan Rivers, one of comedy's greatest stars, survived the worst that life could throw at her, how she hit bottom and then made it back to the top.
"There are many self-help books by Ph.D's, but I hold a different degree: an I.B.T.I.A. — I've Been Through It All. This degree comes not on parchment but on gauze, and it entitles me to tell you that there is a way to get through any misfortune." —From Bouncing Back
Survival stratagems from Joan Rivers
June 15, 1996
Her daughter's estrangement, her husband's suicide, her show's cancellation...a while back, Rivers had a truly terrible year. Here she explains how she managed to survive.
February 15, 1997
Rivers may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of someone to offer a friendly word when your life is in the toilet. But Rivers has been through plenty (as the cover copy states, "I've survived everything . . . and I mean everything . . . and you can, too!"). Besides the suicide of her husband, Rivers has lost her career--several times--and a bad investment cost her a multimillion-dollar jewelry business. But she has bounced back both in her professional and personal lives (her fianceis a billionaire), and though most of her readers aren't going to be bouncing that high, they may profit from her advice. Much of what she has to offer amounts to common sense, like asking friends for help, and some of it borders on cliche, like doing volunteer work to take your mind off your troubles, but River's chatty tone is honest and fresh, and she encourages people to listen to their own inner voices rather than those bombarding them from the outside. Certainly, her upbeat attitude gives hope. At the very least, expect patron requests when Rivers shows up on the talk-show circuit determined to lift viewers' spirits. ((Reviewed February 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)