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cremefracas's review
4.0
A week after I watched The Women, which was by Anita Loos, I read a mention of this book on This Recording. I found a copy on Amazon Marketplace and plowed through the book once I received it. Anita's life story is so entertaining, and to have it told by a writer as engaging as herself is great. My only complaint is that the book just kinda ends, and does so right before all the goodness of any of her movies I have actually seen. But if you see a copy of this book, or are interested in old Hollywood or the life of women in the early twentieth century, check it out!
ashleylm's review
2.0
Not every author is equally adept in all forms. I love some Agatha Christie novels, and generally like most of them, but her short stories leave me cold. Woody Allen's films are mostly delightful, but his sole Broadway musical was a dud. And Anita Loos, author of one of my favourite novels, has sadly failed to thrill me with her autobiography.
Yes, there are occasional bon mots or clever sentences, but they aren't enough to make up for the dreary slog that is this autobiography. Among my many complaints:
1. it ends when she write Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1925) thereby leaving 40 years unaccounted for.
2. 80% of the book is name-dropping and her associations thereof (and 80% of the names are now unknown, so a bit less impressive than might once have been the case)
3. it's all a bit samey-samey and lacks a narrative arc
4. I read the fabulous Underfoot in Show Business last month by Helene Hanff, covering similar ground (a writer's attempts to make good by breaking into show business at an early age), and this suffers by comparison.
5. no one seems like a nice person, let alone her (tired of her parents' admonitions, she married someone for the sole purpose of being able to say "I'm married now, leave me alone," to them, and left her hapless husband after two days without even saying goodbye).
So ultimately it's a serious of anecdotes about unpleasant people I don't know, and after getting about 2/3 through it and realising we were never getting to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I skipped ahead to the last five pages, read that bit, and closed the book up.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
Yes, there are occasional bon mots or clever sentences, but they aren't enough to make up for the dreary slog that is this autobiography. Among my many complaints:
1. it ends when she write Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1925) thereby leaving 40 years unaccounted for.
2. 80% of the book is name-dropping and her associations thereof (and 80% of the names are now unknown, so a bit less impressive than might once have been the case)
3. it's all a bit samey-samey and lacks a narrative arc
4. I read the fabulous Underfoot in Show Business last month by Helene Hanff, covering similar ground (a writer's attempts to make good by breaking into show business at an early age), and this suffers by comparison.
5. no one seems like a nice person, let alone her (tired of her parents' admonitions, she married someone for the sole purpose of being able to say "I'm married now, leave me alone," to them, and left her hapless husband after two days without even saying goodbye).
So ultimately it's a serious of anecdotes about unpleasant people I don't know, and after getting about 2/3 through it and realising we were never getting to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I skipped ahead to the last five pages, read that bit, and closed the book up.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
libscote's review
Loos led an interesting life, but I needed a glossary for the old Hollywood names. Additionally, there are parts that feel racist by today's standards, so just a heads up. Little side comments about people.
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