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Post by martha on Apr 2, 2010 17:50:57 GMT -5
o.k. i take it all back .. well, at least the part about my not buying the book. i was in a barnes and noble today and well .. i walked out with the book. couldn't stop myself. will report back whether i'm skeeved by the experience or not. "the skeeve dimension" .. you all know what i mean. i feel i've failed in my resolve but .. sigh. blame the transition. i need books to calm me, right? (smile)
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Post by Tracy Lord on Apr 12, 2010 20:29:59 GMT -5
Ratings don't make it seem promising lol. I liked her book on Bette but was bored with the Joan Crawford one. I was never really a fan of this author though since the whole book seems like one long conversation.
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Post by martha on Apr 20, 2010 8:03:31 GMT -5
so a review i just posted on 'librarything' .. perhaps i'll post it on amazon. i don't usually post on amazon but .. this book really is quite something in its nothing-ness. stunning actually. just adding my two cents as someone who has read a bit too much of this excuse for scholarship ...
this is an author about whom Jack Ncholson once said "Charlotte Chandler has a tape recorder in her head". the publisher proudly splashes this among the "praise" quotes for Chandler on the back of the dust jacket for this volume. but honestly .. tape recordings do not a biography make. and whether or not we're to take Nicholson's words as being praise or not (and you could take those words many ways), in this case long, uncontextualized sequences about sections of Hepburn's life do not add to the scholarship. the author starts out with text, as if dictated by Kate, on the subject of what many biographers take as the most provocative and perhaps instrumental event in Kate's young life .. the death of her older brother, perhaps as a suicide perhaps as an accident during a stunt involving a noose, while the two children were visiting family friends in new york city. This biographer's choice should be the first hint: the author is not selecting for understanding but for prurient interest. the author jumps in between quotations we're to believe are coming directly from kate, and sequences where the author places herself in the middle of the action, during a visit to Cukor's home, for example. Sloppy.
The style of the writing is confusing. Muddled. the author neglects a primary biographer's role: to contextualize. we're not simply resorting note cards here. the biographer must order, and select a voice and stick to it.
i am a veteran of Hepburn biographies and memoirs, and this piece does not stack up. It does not add to the scholarship. It is hard to discern what the author felt she was adding by writing the book at all.
A disappointment.
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Post by Judy on Apr 20, 2010 18:54:48 GMT -5
so a review i just posted on 'librarything' .. perhaps i'll post it on amazon. i don't usually post on amazon but .. this book really is quite something in its nothing-ness. stunning actually. just adding my two cents as someone who has read a bit too much of this excuse for scholarship ...
this is an author about whom Jack Ncholson once said "Charlotte Chandler has a tape recorder in her head". the publisher proudly splashes this among the "praise" quotes for Chandler on the back of the dust jacket for this volume. but honestly .. tape recordings do not a biography make. and whether or not we're to take Nicholson's words as being praise or not (and you could take those words many ways), in this case long, uncontextualized sequences about sections of Hepburn's life do not add to the scholarship. the author starts out with text, as if dictated by Kate, on the subject of what many biographers take as the most provocative and perhaps instrumental event in Kate's young life .. the death of her older brother, perhaps as a suicide perhaps as an accident during a stunt involving a noose, while the two children were visiting family friends in new york city. This biographer's choice should be the first hint: the author is not selecting for understanding but for prurient interest. the author jumps in between quotations we're to believe are coming directly from kate, and sequences where the author places herself in the middle of the action, during a visit to Cukor's home, for example. Sloppy.
The style of the writing is confusing. Muddled. the author neglects a primary biographer's role: to contextualize. we're not simply resorting note cards here. the biographer must order, and select a voice and stick to it.
i am a veteran of Hepburn biographies and memoirs, and this piece does not stack up. It does not add to the scholarship. It is hard to discern what the author felt she was adding by writing the book at all.
A disappointment. Spot on, Martha. Post it on Amazon. There are a number of equally good bad reviews there.
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Post by martha on Apr 20, 2010 20:01:11 GMT -5
so a review i just posted on 'librarything' .. perhaps i'll post it on amazon. i don't usually post on amazon but .. this book really is quite something in its nothing-ness. stunning actually. just adding my two cents as someone who has read a bit too much of this excuse for scholarship ...
this is an author about whom Jack Ncholson once said "Charlotte Chandler has a tape recorder in her head". the publisher proudly splashes this among the "praise" quotes for Chandler on the back of the dust jacket for this volume. but honestly .. tape recordings do not a biography make. and whether or not we're to take Nicholson's words as being praise or not (and you could take those words many ways), in this case long, uncontextualized sequences about sections of Hepburn's life do not add to the scholarship. the author starts out with text, as if dictated by Kate, on the subject of what many biographers take as the most provocative and perhaps instrumental event in Kate's young life .. the death of her older brother, perhaps as a suicide perhaps as an accident during a stunt involving a noose, while the two children were visiting family friends in new york city. This biographer's choice should be the first hint: the author is not selecting for understanding but for prurient interest. the author jumps in between quotations we're to believe are coming directly from kate, and sequences where the author places herself in the middle of the action, during a visit to Cukor's home, for example. Sloppy.
The style of the writing is confusing. Muddled. the author neglects a primary biographer's role: to contextualize. we're not simply resorting note cards here. the biographer must order, and select a voice and stick to it.
i am a veteran of Hepburn biographies and memoirs, and this piece does not stack up. It does not add to the scholarship. It is hard to discern what the author felt she was adding by writing the book at all.
A disappointment. Spot on, Martha. Post it on Amazon. There are a number of equally good bad reviews there. thanks for the encouragement, chum. no -- really. and i did post on amazon. and yes, other people were equally and specifically critical. what a sorry piece, this book.
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Post by dreamer on Apr 22, 2010 1:55:53 GMT -5
Great critic Martha - have given you thumbs up on Amazon What really disturbs me with the book is the voice she gives Kate. The entire book is a big lie. If she really had meet Kate - she could hear her self. The author must be very self-absorbed not to hear it. The book is IMO as bad as Mann's
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moonriver
Full Member
Leopold?s rules
Posts: 158
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Post by moonriver on Sept 12, 2010 8:33:39 GMT -5
Yesterday, this book went out in spanish! But I bought "Remenber Kate", yesterday It´s very expensive (Charlotte´s book). Allthought, I finish buy this too. I´m crazy!!!
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Post by martha on Sept 12, 2010 10:05:21 GMT -5
It´s very expensive (Charlotte´s book). Allthought, I finish buy this too. I´m crazy!!! I'd say: save your money on this one, moonriver. it is really a terrible book. my opinion.
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Post by Serena on Sept 14, 2010 3:28:48 GMT -5
It´s very expensive (Charlotte´s book). Allthought, I finish buy this too. I´m crazy!!! If I translate this back in Spanish and then back in English, am I right to think that you bought Chandler's book, too?
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Post by Serena on May 21, 2011 13:21:01 GMT -5
I almost bought this book a week ago while I was on holiday, but I couldn't remember whether you guys here recommended it or not (and I had no access to the internet at the moment) so I didn't buy it in the end; seems like it was a good decision
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