TITLE: If You Ask Me (And of Course, You Wont)
AUTHOR: Betty White
PUBLISHER: Putnam Adult
LIST PRICE: $25.95
RELEASED: May 3, 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Like her or not (I’m not sure anyone hates her), Betty White is hot these days. A super bowl commercial, a Saturday Night Live gig, a sitcom in Hot In Cleveland, movies, and now a new book. At 89 years old, Betty’s on fire.

Unfortunately, this book is pretty high on fluff, at least from my perspective. Had they put me in charge of titling this book, I’d have gone with A Slice of Betty. For better or worse, that’s what this book is. You get a decent sense of who White is as a person. Some of this is accomplished through genuinely moving insights on life, but more of it is done with fluff, or stories about her Super Bowl commercial or life on the Hot In Cleveland set, and they really don’t amount to very amusing content. A lot of those stories end with something like “Oh, I’m so lucky,” or “They’re such good people!: That’s awesome, Betty. But it doesn’t necessarily make for good reading.

Image from buzznet.com.

What’s interesting is that Betty White has already written numerous books, both about her life and about her love for animals. So this book really only covers the things White has gotten publicity from lately. I’m guessing the publisher saw the opportunity and said: “Easy money!”

Still, the book does contain a few gems of awesomeness. When it starts, it’s essentially words of wisdom from Betty. For instance, she at one point talks about how your life can be enriched when you have numerous passions instead of one. That’s the kind of content I was hoping for from this book. Not a Betty White self help book, but a “this is what I’ve learned in 89 years” type thing. I think that would have been really inspiring. Instead, we get chapters about things like Betty meeting Koko the signing gorilla.

At 272 pages, the book is fairly short, and the chapters are only a few pages long. It’s harmless enough, but it could have been much more. White is a strong writer, but I have little doubt that this was yet another case of: “Hey! You’re a celebrity! Here’s a book deal! Let’s cash in on some of your recent publicity!”

Sorry Betty. The book’s got heart, but it’s not your best outing.

RATING: 5.5/10

Front page photo from screened.com.