Rating: 
Summary: the inside scoop.......
Review: This is the only first hand behind-the-scenes look at the Simpsons that I've read. It's interesting as Nancy walks you through (pretty much step by step) the entire production of the Simpsons and gives you a brief introduction to those responsible for our favorite show. Very entertaining and a definite must read for even the mild Simpsons fans (is that an oxymoron?).
Rating: 
Summary: * * 1/2 Eventually, I wanted to stuff a towel in her mouth
Review: To start with, a disclosure: I am a Simpsons nut. I think it's the greatest TV show ever. (Yes, I'm including All In The Family, M*A*S*H and all those other classics.)Unfortunately, I won't say the same for Ms. Cartwright's book. At first it was fairly pleasant, if a tad breezy and even vapid at times. But after a while she started to come across as so egotistical. She seems to alternate between self-centered and insecure, between thinking she is the greatest person in the world for being The Voice of Bart and being eager to be taken seriously as a Legitimate Thespian. There are some interesting chapters about how the show is made and how her cohorts interact, but not enough. Instead, the second half of the book is mostly crammed with "Nancy You're WONDERFUL!!!" anecdotes (complete with the triple-exclamation point, which seems to be her favorite form of punctuation) and her fawning over--and being fawned over by--Hollywood stars. If one more chapter ended with her "saving the day" I was going to throw the book into the fireplace. While it starts off pleasantly enough, by the end she has overhyped herself and her colleagues so much I seriously wanted to get away from her. As much as I love the show and admire the talents of all the actors and writers, the fact is they are not curing cancer. A little humility, Nance. AND A LITTLE LESS WRITING LIKE THIS!!!!!! IT GETS REALLY OLD REALLY FAST!!!!!!! In one chapter you talked about what a modest, down-to-earth "regular person" Meryl Streep is. Try to emulate her.
Rating:
Summary: * * 1/2 Eventually, I wanted to stuff a towel in her mouth
Review: To start with, a disclosure: I am a Simpsons nut. I think it's the greatest TV show ever. (Yes, I'm including All In The Family, M*A*S*H and all those other classics.) Unfortunately, I won't say the same for Ms. Cartwright's book. At first it was fairly pleasant, if a tad breezy and even vapid at times. But after a while she started to come across as so egotistical. She seems to alternate between self-centered and insecure, between thinking she is the greatest person in the world for being The Voice of Bart and being eager to be taken seriously as a Legitimate Thespian. There are some interesting chapters about how the show is made and how her cohorts interact, but not enough. Instead, the second half of the book is mostly crammed with "Nancy You're WONDERFUL!!!" anecdotes (complete with the triple-exclamation point, which seems to be her favorite form of punctuation) and her fawning over--and being fawned over by--Hollywood stars. If one more chapter ended with her "saving the day" I was going to throw the book into the fireplace. While it starts off pleasantly enough, by the end she has overhyped herself and her colleagues so much I seriously wanted to get away from her. As much as I love the show and admire the talents of all the actors and writers, the fact is they are not curing cancer. A little humility, Nance. AND A LITTLE LESS WRITING LIKE THIS!!!!!! IT GETS REALLY OLD REALLY FAST!!!!!!! In one chapter you talked about what a modest, down-to-earth "regular person" Meryl Streep is. Try to emulate her.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible!!
Review: Ugh, I haven't "struggled" through a book like this since high school. I'm a huge Simpsons fan and although I don't care much about Nancy Cartwright, I saw the "Behind the scenes at the Simpsons" sticker on the front cover...so I had to have it.
I know this sounds kinda silly but while reading the book I kept thinking to myself, "Who the heck cares about Nancy Cartwright"?!? She's just a voice, she's in no way interesting. She's also not funny, not even accidently funny. The only laughs I got from the book was about how bad it was.
In addition, she's a poor writer. She should have hired one of these ghost-writers to write her memoirs. I also got the impression from the book that she's an egotistical maniac. Without even reading the book you could probably figure this out, she makes something like $300,000 per episode, so she made off of one episode than off her entire book.
Please please please, stay away from this!!
Rating:
Summary: Not just for Simpsons fans
Review: When I came across <My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy>, I wondered if I would be interested in it at all. I must confess I have seen a complete episode of "The Simpsons" only once and was not particularly impressed, and subsequent partial viewings did not change my mind. But I am always immensely interested in accounts of how complex procedures are carried out; and the technical aspects of voice-overs seemed like a very interesting topic for a book. Provided, I thought, that the author does not introduce all sorts of autobiographical impedimenta along the way. Well, after the first two chapters, I was hooked. Nancy Cartwright has a delightful conversational style, marred only by a steady use of slang that was popular in the early days of the show but used here to create a feeling of the bond between human and cartoon characters. And where she does discuss her private life, it is always with reference to her main subject. My only major objection is that the technical part of her narrative starts with recording of the voices and only later in the book does she explain about the storyboards and the gels. Perhaps a chapter early in the book giving a brief "flow chart" of the procedure would have led to less confusion (at least on my part). There are 23 chapters, 12 of which are generally shorter and written, somewhat annoyingly, in italics. These dozen recount her meetings with several celebrities from the unintentionally funny grand entrance of Liz Taylor and her entourage to the no-nonsense professionalism of Meryl Streep. And I would very much love to have heard Mel Gibson do a "Curly laugh"! It is in Chapter 15, "My Mom is Bart Simpson," that the author creates an interview which finally gets down to the psychological aspects of being known as a voice--and not even one's natural one-- rather than as a whole person. I would like to see this chapter excerpted in books designed for would-be actors. It is certain that "Simpsons" fans will wear this book out reading it again and again. It does have minor stylistic and expository flaws; but in general it does what it sets out to do. It celebrates the author's rise to fame, the success of the show, and (by implication) the phenomenon of a cartoon family becoming internationally famous. To quote Shakespeare: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Rating: 
Summary: Nancy Isn't Funny
Review: You are probably considering this book for the same reason I did--you like the Simpsons, and want some behind-the-scenes info. Well, Nancy has VOICED plenty of funny jokes, but this book makes it painfully apparent that she didn't write any of them. Her humor is corny and told in the silly, nudge-nudge, "knock-knock" style. Not at subtle; not at all Simpsonian. The writing is bubbly and forcibly emphatic--it's told with a "AND THEN GUESS WHAT HAPPENED IN MY WONDERFUL LIFE!" tone. FAR too many exclamation points. It gave me a headache to make my way through the pages. The only behind-the-scenes bits were in diary form and made her seem like an eight-year-old with a crush on all the actors she worked with. In short, this book is punctuated with annoying exclamation points and bad jokes. Although Nancy Cartwright tells it in a "I-can't-believe-this-happened" way, the book is irritatingly self-congratulatory, as evidenced by stories of her flaunting her Bart voice to get attention and special treatment.
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