Scan barcode
lory_enterenchanted's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
4.0
Fascinating memoir of a theatrical life in the latter days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and then in early Hollywood. One could make a great movie centered around the road trip Salka takes with a young companion at the end, carrying suitcases full of letters from her earlier life--flashbacks to those times. The finale would be her tussle with the anti-Communist faction. What a lot one could show through this woman's contacts and experiences!
sureiken's review against another edition
3.0
Simpática autobiografía de una actriz judía/polaca, nacida en 1889, que escapa del nazismo a América y se convierte en guionista de la época dorada de Hollywood.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
4.0
Jan 2019 NYRB Selection
I really don’t know much about Greta Garbo. I know the “gossip” of her lesbianism or bisexuality. I enjoyed Queen Christiana and I few other movies. Like Marlene Dietrich in many ways it was what she did doing the years of World War II that weren’t movies that were far more interesting. So, the name Salka Viertel didn’t ring any bells.
Viertel was a very close friend of Garbo’s, but she was also a screenwriter, working on quite few Garbo movies’; in fact, their creative collaboration seems to have started with Queen Christian, mostly because both women found the queen fascinating.
Viertel was born in Sambor which at the time of her birth was part of the Austro-Hungary empire. She was Jewish and lived to see both World Wars. She worked first as an actress until a journey to America, where she and her husband went to work in the film industry.
The selling point that seems to be used for the book is whom she knows in Hollywood. There are stories about various Hollywood stars, and Viertel seems to have known a great many people, including various family writers, such as the Manns.
The most interesting aspects of the memoir are not the stories of people you’ve heard of, but of the personal side. Viertel, for instance, writes about what today we would call post-partum depression. There are passages about relationships.
Not much about Garbo. The friendship takes a back seat in the memoir.
At times there is a frustrating vagueness that could be eased with some footnotes – such as the tragedy that is used in reference to her relationship with her niece.
Yet, it is a very modern memoir that gives insight to times of the past.
I really don’t know much about Greta Garbo. I know the “gossip” of her lesbianism or bisexuality. I enjoyed Queen Christiana and I few other movies. Like Marlene Dietrich in many ways it was what she did doing the years of World War II that weren’t movies that were far more interesting. So, the name Salka Viertel didn’t ring any bells.
Viertel was a very close friend of Garbo’s, but she was also a screenwriter, working on quite few Garbo movies’; in fact, their creative collaboration seems to have started with Queen Christian, mostly because both women found the queen fascinating.
Viertel was born in Sambor which at the time of her birth was part of the Austro-Hungary empire. She was Jewish and lived to see both World Wars. She worked first as an actress until a journey to America, where she and her husband went to work in the film industry.
The selling point that seems to be used for the book is whom she knows in Hollywood. There are stories about various Hollywood stars, and Viertel seems to have known a great many people, including various family writers, such as the Manns.
The most interesting aspects of the memoir are not the stories of people you’ve heard of, but of the personal side. Viertel, for instance, writes about what today we would call post-partum depression. There are passages about relationships.
Not much about Garbo. The friendship takes a back seat in the memoir.
At times there is a frustrating vagueness that could be eased with some footnotes – such as the tragedy that is used in reference to her relationship with her niece.
Yet, it is a very modern memoir that gives insight to times of the past.
komet2020's review
5.0
"THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS" is one of the best memoirs I've ever read.
Salka Viertel (1889-1978) I had no knowledge of who she was prior to reading her memoir. But no sooner had I begun to read the first few pages, a door had been opened to a spacious house with many rooms, corners, and closets by an old, dear friend I hadn't heard from for many moons. Salka's words became alive and I eagerly listened to her life story. A life that had begun in a bourgeois Jewish family (her father was a distinguished lawyer and also mayor of Salka's hometown) in the province of Galicia in the latter years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Salka aspired to be an actress and, after wearing down her parents' resistance, was given acting lessons. This was in the era just before the outbreak of the First World War. Salka became acquainted with some of the finest actors, artists, and musicians as she slowly ascended the ladder to a steady acting career which earned her distinction. Then the war intervenes and for a time, Salka and her younger sister Rose (who would became an actress herself) served as nurses before resuming acting in both Austria-Hungary and Germany. She led a somewhat bohemian lifestyle before making the acquaintance of the man (Berthold Viertel) who would later become her husband. Berthold was a talented poet, writer, and had extensive interest in the theatre. He would go on to become a distinguished theatre director, poet, and film maker.
The memoir then transports the reader into Salka's later life which took her from Europe to America, where she would eventually work in Hollywood, make the acquaintance of Greta Garbo (who became a close friend), become an American citizen, and helped find homes in America (Salka lived in a lovely house in Santa Monica, California, not far from the Pacific) for many of the writers, artists, actors and actresses who were lucky to escape Hitler's clutches.
Through reading "THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS", the reader is given access to 2 lost worlds spanning half of the 20th century. That is, " --- the pre-Hitler German-speaking stage and the pre-CGI Hollywood" as it was from the 1920s to the 1940s. Through all her ups and downs, Salka Viertel remained resilient, strong, tender-hearted, and full of life. I am so glad that I made her acquaintance.
Salka Viertel (1889-1978) I had no knowledge of who she was prior to reading her memoir. But no sooner had I begun to read the first few pages, a door had been opened to a spacious house with many rooms, corners, and closets by an old, dear friend I hadn't heard from for many moons. Salka's words became alive and I eagerly listened to her life story. A life that had begun in a bourgeois Jewish family (her father was a distinguished lawyer and also mayor of Salka's hometown) in the province of Galicia in the latter years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Salka aspired to be an actress and, after wearing down her parents' resistance, was given acting lessons. This was in the era just before the outbreak of the First World War. Salka became acquainted with some of the finest actors, artists, and musicians as she slowly ascended the ladder to a steady acting career which earned her distinction. Then the war intervenes and for a time, Salka and her younger sister Rose (who would became an actress herself) served as nurses before resuming acting in both Austria-Hungary and Germany. She led a somewhat bohemian lifestyle before making the acquaintance of the man (Berthold Viertel) who would later become her husband. Berthold was a talented poet, writer, and had extensive interest in the theatre. He would go on to become a distinguished theatre director, poet, and film maker.
The memoir then transports the reader into Salka's later life which took her from Europe to America, where she would eventually work in Hollywood, make the acquaintance of Greta Garbo (who became a close friend), become an American citizen, and helped find homes in America (Salka lived in a lovely house in Santa Monica, California, not far from the Pacific) for many of the writers, artists, actors and actresses who were lucky to escape Hitler's clutches.
Through reading "THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS", the reader is given access to 2 lost worlds spanning half of the 20th century. That is, " --- the pre-Hitler German-speaking stage and the pre-CGI Hollywood" as it was from the 1920s to the 1940s. Through all her ups and downs, Salka Viertel remained resilient, strong, tender-hearted, and full of life. I am so glad that I made her acquaintance.
More...