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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
This was a dishy joy from cover to cover! The newest edition has an excellent afterword about how the feud has been taken up by fans in the years since the two divas passed. I got everything I wanted from this read and more, a worthy next-read after Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon books. I should have saved this for my next cruise, as this is totally the sort of book I crave on such vacations, but I did want to get a step ahead of the TV adaptation (which is wholly glorious, too).
medium-paced
All based on unsubstantiated gossip! Unbelievable !
I could not get enough of this one. I loved every second. This is a big fat bio of Crawford and Davis packed full of shade, one liners, and old Hollywood customs. These two were tough customers that’s for sure. But it also illustrates their human side. Embellished? Maybe. But wow, so so so much fun.
Took me a bit to get through this because of a busy week, but what a great listen!
This is a dual biography on two of Old Hollywood's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and their legendary rivalry. The author tells about their parallel lives and the differences and similarities in their personal and professional lives and how they wove in and out of each other's orbits.
I loved it! So fascinating to me. I love old movies and I honestly wasn't totally aware of their feud, though I had some inkling in the back of my mind about it. I didn't know much about either of them other than both dated a lot, both were considered....bitchy? and Joan was accused of abuse by her adopted daughter Christina in Mommy Dearest, a book she wrote that was then turned into a movie.
I haven't seen many of either of their films, All About Eve starring Better Davis is actually one I really like, and Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford is *so* good, even as much as they tamed it down for that era's audiences. This book definitely made me want to seek out more of their films, especially Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
My favorite story involved Joan obnoxiously knitting just off camera on the set of The Women, just to annoy her cast mates, then pleading innocent.
This is a dual biography on two of Old Hollywood's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and their legendary rivalry. The author tells about their parallel lives and the differences and similarities in their personal and professional lives and how they wove in and out of each other's orbits.
I loved it! So fascinating to me. I love old movies and I honestly wasn't totally aware of their feud, though I had some inkling in the back of my mind about it. I didn't know much about either of them other than both dated a lot, both were considered....bitchy? and Joan was accused of abuse by her adopted daughter Christina in Mommy Dearest, a book she wrote that was then turned into a movie.
I haven't seen many of either of their films, All About Eve starring Better Davis is actually one I really like, and Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford is *so* good, even as much as they tamed it down for that era's audiences. This book definitely made me want to seek out more of their films, especially Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
My favorite story involved Joan obnoxiously knitting just off camera on the set of The Women, just to annoy her cast mates, then pleading innocent.
Do you like books with unreliable narrators? Complex female characters? This book is for you! Joan Crawford & Bette Davis are both terrible people. They abuse seemingly everyone around them: costars, directors, reporters, family members, 'friends', acquaintances, strangers. This story starts before the women are famous, but Crawford manages to move up to Hollywood & stardom first, although she's not the caliber actress Davis was. Davis actually went to school & worked her way from stage to screen. Her transition was not as easy as Crawford's, but with her talent she moved quickly. These two stars circle each other taking bites out of the other's reputation & work until 1962 when whoever brought the book 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' to whoever to be made. This was seen as the perfect venue for the illustrious, but fading stars.
This book moves quickly through both stars' careers, comparing & contrasting the two actresses' abilities. Both were insecure & brittle & brutal to anyone who got in their spotlight. It's a wonder these two ever got jobs in the first place. Weren't there actresses who were just as good as Bette, but nicer & more sincere than Joan? Were these two really so vicious? The reports are varied: some people who were associated with either actress say only good things about them & some couldn't think of a nice thing to say about them if they tried. (And most of the people who either writers or journalists!) How true are the reports? I don't know, but this book is fascinating & highly readable. I recommend it to anyone who likes early Hollywood history.
This book moves quickly through both stars' careers, comparing & contrasting the two actresses' abilities. Both were insecure & brittle & brutal to anyone who got in their spotlight. It's a wonder these two ever got jobs in the first place. Weren't there actresses who were just as good as Bette, but nicer & more sincere than Joan? Were these two really so vicious? The reports are varied: some people who were associated with either actress say only good things about them & some couldn't think of a nice thing to say about them if they tried. (And most of the people who either writers or journalists!) How true are the reports? I don't know, but this book is fascinating & highly readable. I recommend it to anyone who likes early Hollywood history.
At times I was bogged down by some of the extreme level of detail Considine dug up for this joint biography but at other times I roared with laughter at the feud between these two hollywood stars. If ever a trip through Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's filmography was warranted, it will be after reading this juicy and crass behind the scenes of their battles that raged on and off screen.
dark
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
informative
So, Ryan read this book and accidentally posted it to my account. Naturally, I had to read it. Well, that and he told me the book was incredible, and he is right.
Considine can really weave a narrative around historical events, let me tell you. He captures both Bette and Joan's personality without sugar-coating or demonizing either one of them. Whenever possible, he uses one's quotes as a rebuttal to the other for a refreshingly honest and often hilarious effect.
The beauty of how he conveys the complexities of these ladies is that you'll laugh and cry and cheer for and chastise each of them as you read--often aloud. I was honestly sad to see this book go even as I couldn't put it down.
Considine can really weave a narrative around historical events, let me tell you. He captures both Bette and Joan's personality without sugar-coating or demonizing either one of them. Whenever possible, he uses one's quotes as a rebuttal to the other for a refreshingly honest and often hilarious effect.
The beauty of how he conveys the complexities of these ladies is that you'll laugh and cry and cheer for and chastise each of them as you read--often aloud. I was honestly sad to see this book go even as I couldn't put it down.
Wow, that was a ride. These ladies really were like sisters, which maybe the reason why they couldn't stand each other but did have respect for each other. They grew up in similar circumstances, had to fight their way to the top and man they could command the screen. They were also terrifying, from the accounts of others, to be around when they weren't getting their way. They were the definition of a star in Hollywood and man it's almost hard to believe this happened but humans are weird and this is Hollywood so anything's possible.
Overall a great tale of two strong ladies that set the bar for how to be infamous on the big screen.
Overall a great tale of two strong ladies that set the bar for how to be infamous on the big screen.