What Falls away

There aren't many lives more steeped in celebrity than Mia Farrow's. The daughter of actress Maureen O'Sullivan and writer-director John Farrow, she grew up in Beverly Hills as a member of "the first generation of movie stars' children." Starting at the tender age of 19 she was involved with a succession of famous men--Frank Sinatra, André Previn, and Woody Allen--and has spent many years as a major film star in her own right. The book is casually populated with dozens of high-profile friends ranging from Yul Brynner and Salvador Dali to Michael Caine and Vladimir Horowitz. Yet Farrow's memoir has an unexpectedly honest, soul-searching quality, detailing her troubled inner life, her spiritual longings and pursuits (including a famous stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram, where her fellow inmates included the Beatles), and her passionate attachment to children. The book unflinchingly recounts her version of the ugly, very public breakup with Allen, including--rather bizarrely--the state supreme court's custody ruling in her favor in its 27-page entirety.