Rating: 
Summary: Look at me! Look at me!
Review: B.D. Hyman's over-the-top "expose" of her life as rich girl gone wild is horrible, horrible, horrible! First of all, if this were a true forum, I would present the question: Was it just me, or was that woman (B.D.) ALWAYS talking about HER 'statuesque' beauty, HER popularity, HER perfect (and-don't-even-try-to-copy-it-because-Jeremy-and-I-are-the-best-so-ha-ha) marriage??? It got to the point that I had to put the book down, take a deep breath of fresh air, and talk myself into calming down.
Even if one were to blatantly overlook the fact that this "tell all" is clearly NOT an instrument to bridge bad waters between B.D. and her mother; and even if one were to look in the other direction and forgive B.D. for writing a book so hateful and vile that a younger and healthier Bette Davis STILL would have felt waves of despair and sickness (over actually raising such a miserably ungrateful brat) - yes, if one were to ignore both of these stab-in-the-back tactics used by B.D. Hyman, then certainly a potential buyer should NOT overlook this: If this book isn't in your local library, that should tell you something right there - and if it's not, don't waste your money. You'll find yourself on this review site publicly wishing you'd never spent that cash!
Rating:
Summary: Christina copycat
Review: B.D. wrote this book to "open her mother's eyes before it was too late", as the last reviewer questioned. That could have easily been done one-on-one, or with a professional mediator. Phone calls. -Not through a tell-all book given to Bette on Mother's Day! I read this forgettable book about ten years ago and I don't remember a word of it. It didn't stick with me or have any important impact or message like Christina Crawford's autobiography "Mommie Dearest" that actually had a point. Her's was not written out of revenge, she had a legitimate story. Will celebrity children please stop jumping on the Mommie Dearest bandwagon? Probably not. They earn a lot of money and we all want to know what *really* happened behind closed doors. But "My Mother's Keeper" falls flat.
Rating: 
Summary: BETTE'S DAUGHTER HAS CLAWS TOO !
Review: Bette Davis' only natural child, B.D. Hyman, has written an account of her mother's life that obviously tried to capitalize on the success of "Mommie Dearest" by Joan Crawford's daughter. Both books are published by Berkely and both book covers are practically identical in design - not to mention that both stars were publicized as arch-rivals throughout their careers. After reading the tale, however, I was disappointed to find very little shocking and abhorrent in the personal life of Bette Davis as told by Hyman. Hyman describes multiple occasions 'ad nauseum' covering the same banal theme that her mother drank heavily and acted like a bossy celebrity much of the time. It just does not seem like that much of a shocker for a Hollywood celebrity from that era - or this era for that matter - only today narcotics are more typical. Nevertheless, the final theme of the tale is: spoiled, rich girl who has accomplished precious little in her life felt she didn't have enough and wanted things her way and just couldn't win. So she quite boorishly publishes a book in her mother's lifetime, knowing that it would devastate her. In the final analysis, if anyone knows anything about Bette Davis, she was never kept by anyone, especially not by her self-centered and pretentious daughter. It was either her way or the highway... Bette Davis considered her daughter a traitor after the release of this book and never spoke to Hyman again (deservedly so) until the day she died in October 1989. Don't worry, Bette, you won !
Rating:
Summary: Christina copycat
Review: Everyone here who has already mentioned how unintentionally hilarious this book is-- right on! Yet it is also a tragically exploitative book; as opposed to the genuine anguish depicted in "Mommie Dearest." While Christina Crawford may or may not have been motivated by revenge in writing her book, she actually had something legitimate to avenge. There has been ample evidence from countless sources-- family, professional associates of her mother's, and subsequent bigraphers --that the horrors Christina catalogued were far from fictional. B.D. Hyman, on the other hand, has received no such affirmation. With very few exceptions, even those who agreed that she had every reason to resent her mother's faults were concerned by the manner in which the truth was manipulated in MMK. As nearly every Bette Davis biography written subsequent to MMK's publication has evidenced, B.D. Hyman, her husband, & her sons were COMPLETELY DEPENDENT UPON BETTE DAVIS FINANCIALLY. The fact that Bette Davis had NO CHOICE but to work to support the Hyman family, despite advancing age & its attendent diminished career options, goes far in explaining much of the tension between Davis & her daughter, not to mention Davis's well-chronicled antagonism toward her son-in-law-- a man who had not maintained consistent gainful employment since the mid-late '60s. This is all documented in various Davis biographies published after 1985. By her own admission, Hyman decided to write MMK only AFTER witnessing the extent of Davis' recovery from two strokes & a mastectomy due to cancer. Fearful that her mother would no longer be able to work/support her (just prior to her illness Davis had saved the Hyman farm from foreclosure), Hyman decided to cash in. Even after receiving a six figure advance for MMK, the Hymans were still in such a bad financial situation that they didn't sell their farm before relocating to the Bahamas; they abandoned it for the bank to reclaim in their absence. HAD SHE MENTIONED THE EXTENT OF HER FAMILY'S FINANCIAL DEPENDENCE ON HER MOTHER IN MMK, DO YOU THINK ANYONE WOULD HAVE EVEN BOTHERED TO PUBLISH THIS SHAMEFUL ABORTION? Bette wasn't a particularly good parent during BD's childhood or adulthood, but nothing in the book or in any book about Bette justifies the treachery of BD writing this book in her mother's lifetime. Financial necessity & the sense of entitlement of all spoiled, over-indulged children drove her to it. As Bette herself concluded, "B.D. thought I was going to die. That's why she wrote the book."
Rating: 
Summary: STOP THE B.D. BASHING!!
Review: For heaven's sake, folks, give B.D. Hyman a break. She wrote this book to try to get her mother's eyes to be opened before it was too late! Bette Davis WAS a great actress, though NOT the greatest that ever lived! She made her career her God and suffice it to say, B.D. realized that she had to do something to try to get Bette to change her ways before she died. Unfortunately, PRIDE, one of the seven deadly sins did not allow her to do this and since Bette was a severe EGOMANIAC who had problems with almost every single one of her female peers. She was an alcholic, a control freak and almost the same nymphomaniac that Joan Crawford was. I cannot judge B.D. and her motives. Bette's actions were there for the world to see. Davis was a consummate actress whose mannerisms are laughable in some of her films. But she should never have married or had children. Her career, as I mentioned was her GOD! All B.D. tried to do was to make her mother realize this before it was too late. Sadly, it didn't work. God Bless B.D. and God forgive Bette Davis for misusing her God-Given talents.
Rating:
Summary: very disappointing and disturbing
Review: I bought this used book for less than $1, just to see what it was about. and b.d. hyman really paints bette davis as a psycho, drunk, abuser and bipolar person. but yet at the same time, she still has her mother in her life. it's no wonder bette davis suffered a heart attack and stroke not too long after this book was published. but what's most ironic is that barbara davis is supposed to be a minister!! if you want to read this book, don't do the author any justice by buying it brand new, but pay the price that it's really worth!! 50 cents!
Rating:
Summary: Satan was her Mother, now she's minister..God Help Us!
Review: I know that a lot of people found this tacky book, absolutely horrible and so scathing. Yes, of course it was. But it is very obvious that B.D. has a severe case of the Emperor's New Clothes. While I do not doubt that her accounts are factual, they pale in comparison to the cruelty that Christina Crawford was subjected to by her adopted mother Joan Crawford. If Bette Davis as a mother was as awful as she was shown in this book, I find it very interesting that B.D. did nothing to change the situation while she was still a young adult and married. Growing up with Bette she should have known how she would treat her grandchildren. The headlines on the paperback scream "candid". The book is hilarious, and we get to see Bette at her best and worst, and for the most part B.D, doesn't shine at all in this book for her claims of abuse (there aren't any wire hanger night raids) and torment....talk about a DRAMA QUEEN! She's painted an awful picture of herself as a person, and showed her stupidity in publishing this while her mother was alive (publishing it in the first place is just plain tactless) and suffering from various ailments. This book was not a plea for an honest connection with her mother to improve relations, it was flat out revenge over stupid memories. For all of the decades that it covered, (even conversations when she was only a few years old) she sure is able to remember quite vividly VERY lengthy discussions on her mother's part. (wow, if Christina had done the same for her book, imagine what hers would have been like) All in all, I find the book amusing, and it sits in my magazine rack, next to my toilet. It's that funny. Buy it just for the simple fact of laughter, and don't take it seriously...
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!!!...tour de force!!!...A triumph!!!! NOT!!!!!
Review: More like hype.
The first thing about this book which aggravated the life out of me was the contrived dialogue. Slipping into conversation every now and then at least breaks up the monotonony but attempting to recreate all of it in such exacting detail from each and every adult and child character---over so many years and in such painfully perfect English---makes it all the more unbelievable.
The second was the content itself. Eternally juxtaposed, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford have been equally praised, honored, recognized for their personal and professional achievements---and likewise villified, not least of all by their own daughters.
I don't think there is anyone who at some time in their life has not come across a book or TV program or news article about these quirky, erratic divas, and there is certainly truth to many a family horror story. But there are ALWAYS two sides to EVERYthing and it strikes me as impossible that both girls could have endured all as written. I think B.D. went overboard in attempting to match or beat Christina at her game of expose'.
Rating: 
Summary: Ausgirl from Sydney
Review: This book kept me reading and not wanting to put it down! and I don't even like "Bette Davis!" except for her role in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane". I spotted it in a used book store and after reading the first page, it had me hooked. It was written with humour as well as frankness. I can just imagine Bette Davis saying those exact words and phrases which B.D. writes. If you want to read a story that's told honestly from a daughters perspective about a Mother's obsessiveness with her and her family, mixed with humour and shock then I recommend you read this. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Puh-leeze,BD!
Review: This book was admittedly written not by Mrs Hyman, but her husband Jeremy. Jeremy has never found it hard to resist good, honest labor & therefore this book was the Hymans' (only) cash cow once they'd bled Bette Davis dry. Ms. Davis--according to many sources--paid for the Hymans' home, upkeep, swimming pool, private schools for their son and family vacations. This was true even after Ms Davis was on in years and in poor health.Instead of marrying at 16, perhaps Mrs Hyman might have gotten an education, a job, and an ambitious husband so she didn't have to live off of the mother she so criticized. Apparently there is a sequel to this book that tells of the Hymans' miraculous new faith and how it took them from rural Pennsylvania to Grand Bahama Island. Ommitted from the book are public records detailing just how, why and under what shady circumstances the Hymans fled Pennsylvania.(To pay off your debts FIRST with your $100,000 advance might have been the Christian thing to do, folks).
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