Odd Woman Out

Exposure in Essays and Stories

By: Melanie Chartoff

Narrated by: Melanie Chartoff

Trying to crawl inside the television set to get her parents' attention, she got blocked by all the tubes and wires. So, she had to go the long way around to get herself onscreen.

In a series of essays and stories, Chartoff explores her ambition, artistry, and love blunders in her hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful new memoir Odd Woman Out.

From her 1950s childhood in a suburb she describes as an "abusement park" to performing Molière on Broadway, to voicing characters on the popular Rugrats cartoon series, Melanie Chartoff was anxious and "out of character", preferring any imaginary world to her real one.

Obsessed with exploring her talent and mastering the craft, fame came as a destabilizing byproduct. Suppressing a spiritual breakdown while co-starring on a late-night comedy show, Chartoff grew more estranged from whoever she was meant to be. But given a private audience with a guru, she finally heard her inner voice, played by '70s soul singer Barry White, crooning, "Get out, baby!" All the while, she's courted by men with homing pigeons and Priuses, idealized by guys who want the girl du jour from TV to be their baby rearer or kidney donor.

Go backstage on Broadway, behind the scenes on network television, and inside the complicated psyche of a talented performer struggling to play the role of a complete human. Odd Woman Out intimately exposes the nature of identity in the life of a performing artist, snapshotting the hopeful search for a self Chartoff could love and someone else's self to love, too.

©2021 Melanie Chartoff (P)2021 Melanie Chartoff

Wonderful!

This is FANTASTIC! It's as if you sitting next to Melanie sharing a drink and conversation. Like catching up with a friend after years apart. Truly, a wonderful audio book! She tells these stories with an open heart and open soul. Everything is bared in a truth that eludes other Hollywood types. But that's what sets this apart from other celebrity tales. Melanie ISN'T 'Hollywood'. She is down to Earth and honest to a fault. It really IS wonderful! Listen to it!

Pure & Honest. You’ll Laugh. You’ll Cry.

The familiarity of Melanie's voice made listening to this book a joy! She speaks openly and honestly about issues women our age face with humor and raw emotion. Her love story is truly inspiring!

So much more than a mere show biz memoir

Can there have been a Hollywood celebrity who has opened herself up so fully and so bravely? I think not. Listening to this beautifully narrated book is like lying next to Ms. Chartoff on her therapist’s couch. Bracing but perhaps not for those who prefer their celebrities to be coy.

Enjoyable read

Listening to the author read her own words with her expressive voice and humor was a treat. Melanie is a very talented and creative human being.

Stories that need to be told

great stories that are honest and relatable and funny and sad but happy that it ends well