IF I KNEW THEN...
By: Amy Fisher and Robbie Woliver
iUniverse
Review by: The Force
The Queen of 90's tabloid 'journalism' is back. In the augmented flesh so to speak. Amy Fisher has reappeared new and somewhat improved with the real tell-all autobiography of her life.
If I Knew Then...is a scar opening missive of Fisher's childhood, infamous sexapade with the pompadour buffoon Joey Buttafuoco that led to the shooting of his wife Mary Jo, prison horror's and her re-insertion to the real world.
With a new name and face, Fisher still seems caught in a time capsule, overwhelmed by the magnitude of her actions that changed hers as well as Mary Jo's life. The book rehashes the usual crap we saw on TV, but touches on her childhood, or lack of one. Fisher talks about how her father abused her constantly, but how her mother always stuck up for her. The hot and cold relationship with her parents ultimately led her down a path of rebellion and reckless behavior.
Her mother's space cadet like actions in dealing with the idiot attorney Eric Naiburg were quite puzzling. I'm wondering if her naive attitude was passed on to Amy in her life.
Being a only child, abandoned by her father gave Fisher a excuse to act out. Clinging to a gump like Buttafuoco, Fisher was looking for that 'father figure' who blew sunshine up her ass to make her feel special. I find it hard to believe that she was so enamored by this idiot that it clouded her better judgment.
Fisher always gravitated toward older men, including her husband Louis, 24 years her senior. Probably because she wasn't able to reconcile with her now deceased father.
A couple of things that bothered me was the no-mention of Sept. 11th. Being from Long Island, I would like to have known her thoughts about the attacks. The second is her stance on gun-control. Something I'd like to pick her brain about if I get a chance to interview her.
I have to say that she showed class by not posing in Playboy and deciding to go back to school.
If Amy only knows one thing, it's that her legacy will not be how many books she writes or awards she wins, it's the way she raises her children not to follow in her troubled footsteps.
Amy Fisher will have no one to share the blame with if she fails.
Only time will tell.
2 1/2 STARS