Reading Challenge: A book about an interesting woman

Eu sempre gostei muito da Judy. Quando pequena, a conheci através do filme "O mágico de Oz", que era um dos meus favoritos! Depois, me interessei por seus outros trabalhos e a admiração só foi crescendo.

Porém, por incrível que pareça, eu nunca fui atrás de saber mais sobre sua vida pessoal. Como qualquer pessoa ligada em cinema, eu sabia apenas o básico: grande atriz, vários casamentos, mãe da Liza e problema com drogas. Pra mim, saber isso já bastava. Não queria saber mais nada, até mesmo por medo de perder aquela imagem tão bonita que eu tinha dela nos filmes.

Quando soube desse livro, fiquei dividida entre duas emoções. Queria muito ler, mas também estava com medo de me decepcionar. Na época do lançamento, as redes sociais explodiram com artigos citando a parte em que o Sid conta sobre os abusos que ela sofria nos sets de filmagem do Mágico. Já fiquei chateada só de saber isso. Nunca mais fui capaz de ver as cenas dos munchkins da mesma forma. Sabendo dos altos e baixos da vida da Judy, eu temia encontrar algo ainda pior. Mas... Para minha sorte, foi uma leitura muito boa.

Sim, fiquei sabendo de muitas coisas que eu nem imaginava. E não, não acho que ela seja perfeita e nem aprovo todas as decisões que ela tomou. Mas, não dá pra negar que ela teve uma vida muito interessante. Em cada capítulo, imagino ela como uma dessas pessoas que tem uma energia tão forte que nos deixam hipnotizados, só pensando no quanto queríamos ser amigos daquela pessoa, ou pelo menos tão talentosos quanto ela. Até mesmo o próprio Sid nos mostra isso. Mesmo com todos os erros dela, mesmo depois das brigas, do divórcio, das acusações e tudo, ele ainda gostava dela. Ainda queria ajudá-la a se recuperar. Deve ser desesperador ver alguém que você admira tanto se destruindo assim, sem nada que você possa fazer para salvá-la de si mesma.

For a book marketed to be about Sid Luft's relationship with Judy Garland, it was both irritating and disappointing how much of it was his own memoir. 

A 2017 staff favorite recommended by Susie. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sjudy%20and%20i%20luft__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

I’ve been debating for a few days what I wanted to write in this review. This book captivated me immediately because I’m a huge Judy fan, and I have been since I was old enough to focus on the TV. But I’m a firm believer in knowing our idols’ flaws, and through learning Judy’s this book thoroughly broke my heart.

I almost convinced myself I was going to leave a 3/4 star review for this due to Luft’s long and arduous introduction into his own background. Towards the middle of the book it dawned on me how important it was to understand how this man thought, and whether an intentional move or not, by giving us such a descriptive insight into his pre-Judy life he granted us the tools to decipher his narration as genuinely as possible.

Speaking as someone who has also unfortunately got a lot of experience living and coping with people suffering addiction, the way he retold the events of his marriage (particularly the later years) really struck a chord with me. He writes gut-wrenching accounts of incidents I’d never heard of, drew a cold and honest light on nights which Judy and the press both played a role in romanticising or sweeping under the rug, and he remains relatively self critical of his own forthcomings, which is think is what led me to remain as interested as I did throughout the entirety of the book.

If you love old Hollywood this is a great read.

If you love Judy Garland, it’s a necessity.

An interesting insight into the life of a legend and a bygone era. Sid’s account is frank and engaging throughout. Poor old Judy. I wish she’d stayed with Sid. He was good for her.

What a bitter bigoted asshole :(

(audiobook - I changed the edition to one with an image to make my challenge page look prettier)

tinamoo's review

3.0

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book started so promisingly with details about Sid Luft’s first meeting with Judy Garland aged 15 years old. I personally was then disappointed when it then backtracked and he started talking about his own life, his childhood, his time as a pilot and his earlier marriages. I must confess that I found myself skimreadimg those bits as I was not that interested. I of course expected to learn a bit of who Sid Luft was before he met Judy but not in such depth. About 1/3 of the book is solely about Sid and then he starts talking more about his life with Judy. What he has to say is very interesting and if we take everything as gospel truth then there are some shocking revelations. For most of this book I really did not like Sid very much and I found myself getting annoyed with things he said and did. What I will say about him is that he went above and beyond to help Judy in both her private and public life.