sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling

sTORI Telling

by Tori Spelling

The star of Beverly Hills 90210 offers a hilarious, insightful memoir about growing up on America’s favorite teen drama and her life after the show.

She was television's most famous virgin—and, as Aaron Spelling's daughter, arguably its most famous case of nepotism. Portraying Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210, Tori Spelling became one of the most recognizable young actresses of her generation, with a not-so-private personal life every bit as fascinating as her character's exploits. Yet years later the name Tori Spelling too often closed—and sometimes slammed—the same doors it had opened.

sTORI telling is Tori's chance to finally tell her side of the tabloid-worthy life she's led, and she talks about it all: her decadent childhood birthday parties, her nose job, her fairy-tale wedding to the wrong man, her so-called feud with her mother. Tori has already revealed her flair for brilliant, self-effacing satire on her VH1 show So NoTORIous and Oxygen's Tori & Dean: Inn Love, but her memoir goes deeper, into the real life behind the rumors: her complicated relationship with her parents; her struggles as an actress after 90210; her accident-prone love life; and, ultimately, her quest to define herself on her own terms.

From her over-the-top first wedding to finding new love to her much-publicized—and misunderstood—"disinheritance," sTORI telling is a juicy, eye-opening, enthralling look at what it really means to be Tori Spelling.

Reviewed by mbtc on

3 of 5 stars

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I didn't watch 90210 as a child, I was a little young for it at the time it was out and was much more into Babysitters Club books at the time. I had a rough idea of who Tori Spelling was, but didn't really think much of her until I started watching the TV series Tori and Dean: Inn Love. I bashfully admit that I'm a bit addicted to the series and find their reality show personas really endearing. Long story to say, that's the only reason I wanted to read this book.

The book is well written, the author who wrote it with her did a good job. I was suprised at how it seemed like probably big chunks of her life was left out, but hey - I guess if it's your book you tell your life the way you see it. I also felt like she was more trying to justify her life rather than tell it. But I guess your whole life in the paparazis' eyes can do that to you as well.

I can't say I agree with all of the choices she made in life, but who am I to judge. I especially cringed when she wrote about meeting Dean, cheating on her husband and the consequent divorce. I'm not a fan of that sort of thing and reading her justification was hard. I told my husband after reading the book - "If that was supposed to make me like her more, it really failed."

It was an interesting read and did answer some questions that the reality show brought up for me.

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  • Started reading
  • 3 August, 2008: Finished reading
  • 3 August, 2008: Reviewed