TAKE IT FROM ME

An autobiography cum motivational prairie fire from the woman who helped bring Pacific Gas to its just deserts.

Brockovich has gone on, after Julia Roberts played her in the movie, to become a much-desired motivational speaker. At least she has the story to back up her hard-won realization of some time-honored truisms. Nothing here provides a quick fix, but all her counsel can be applied immediately. Brockovich readily admits she was her own worse enemy: her self-image was shabby, she made willfully stupid choices in boyfriends and husbands, she trampled on her parents’ decency and love. But she also remembered a few of their lessons, and she remembered them at the right time, in time to save her sorry soul. You’ve got to grab control of your destiny, she exhorts; it’s not always going to be fun, you’ll have “to make the hard choice, to bite the bullet.” Virtues like honesty and generosity are espoused, and so are abilities like listening and empathy, which she learned at the feet of the Pacific Gas victims. Keep your ego in check, advises Brockovich, who refers to herself as “some kooky big-busted blonde in cha-cha heels and leather skirt without a law degree.” Understand that it is conviction in doing what you think is right and sticking to it until the end (though she also has a chapter on folding your hand) that will make you not just a success but happy with yourself. Though collaborator Eliot (Love Unlimited, 1999, etc.) was presumably brought in to polish the prose, he left an awful lot of exclamation marks, as well as such oddities as “my postmovie life has been a wild ride, at times enervating, at times nerve-wracking.”

As heartfelt as it is breathless: administer the lithium, but heed the sensible advice, too.