cover image My Sister Roseanne: The True Story of Roseanne Barr Arnold

My Sister Roseanne: The True Story of Roseanne Barr Arnold

Geraldine Barr. Carol Publishing Corporation, $19.95 (293pp) ISBN 978-1-55972-230-8

In this biography that continues the seemingly endless saga of the dysfunctional Roseanne, sister Geraldine, the self-proclaimed ``business expert behind the star,'' describes life with Roseanne from childhood through marriage to Tom Arnold. The author relates how they grew up as poor Jews in Mormon-dominated Salt Lake City. She recalls the trials of the teenage Roseanne: committing herself to the state mental hospital and becoming pregnant out of wedlock. In the early 1980s, the sisters started on a 10-year plan that would take them to Hollywood and comedy fame. The big break happened when Roseanne landed a gig on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. The author goes on to show Roseanne as mother, comedienne and TV star of her own sitcom. The marriage to Arnold (including the ``incredibly'' small size of his penis) is analyzed, as is Roseanne's penchant for kinky sex. The author tells of her own lesbianism and details her break-up with her sister, who fired her by saying, ``I don't want you to clean up my shit anymore.'' The author also strongly denies that Roseanne was a childhood incest victim of their father. Barr and Schwartz (Delorean) have written a sleazy tell-all. (Nov.)