Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
I relisten to You Must Remember This constantly. I'd heard the skeletons of some of these stories many times. To have them in full detail was engrossing. There were moments when I could tell the book was taken from the podcast, but there's a reason I keep coming back to them. I'm a California Mormon, so my favorite laugh was that Terry Moore thought Howard Hughes, one of the worst people, would join the church so they could be sealed. And I mean that. Howard Hughes was awful, but his life is such a reflection of the awfulness of 20th century America and how that awfulness lingers in America today.
dark
slow-paced
The definitive book on this topic. She is an exceptional researcher and storyteller. I really hope she writes something else because this and her podcast are excellent.
adventurous
lighthearted
Fascinating stories, could have used a much larger photo section -- this is exactly the kind of book where I keep going back to the photos to see what someone looked like or to find a specific photo referenced in the book -- most of which aren't there. But google images filled in the gaps for the most part.
informative
slow-paced
A long and, at times, exhausting book but nevertheless an admirable job of research and writing. The book centers on the army of starlets hired and controlled by Howard Hughes during his lifetime. The most well-known names include Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Jean Harlow, Billie Dove, Jane Russell as well as lesser-known names like Faith Domergue, Jean Peters, (who Hughes was actually married to) and Terry Moore, not to mention scores of unknowns who were hired by Hughes and promised a film career but left to linger with no actual work materializing and them used as pawns controlled by him.
At times, the book is a riveting read (the earlier segments on Dove, Harlow, Hepburn and Domergue are page turners but the author sometimes leaves you hanging with unresolved outcomes (such as the Ben Lyons controversy when he sent a young girl a sexually suggestive photo of himself holding a stump between his legs - he was sued by the parents but whatever happened with the case is not revealed). The whole Terry Moore issue with her marriage claims following Hughes death is so detailed and convoluted, I could not keep up with it. Ditto on Hughes intricate business dealings. Overall, an admirably researched book that film history buffs will love and full of facts often too bizarre to be believed. Life is stranger than fiction!
At times, the book is a riveting read (the earlier segments on Dove, Harlow, Hepburn and Domergue are page turners but the author sometimes leaves you hanging with unresolved outcomes (such as the Ben Lyons controversy when he sent a young girl a sexually suggestive photo of himself holding a stump between his legs - he was sued by the parents but whatever happened with the case is not revealed). The whole Terry Moore issue with her marriage claims following Hughes death is so detailed and convoluted, I could not keep up with it. Ditto on Hughes intricate business dealings. Overall, an admirably researched book that film history buffs will love and full of facts often too bizarre to be believed. Life is stranger than fiction!
I have to confess that I’ve listened to every episode of You Must Remember This at least twice and because of that, much of the beginning of the book wasn’t new.
However, a couple of chapters in things started to get juicy and the entire book was a delight!
Karina’s research is always brilliant and I appreciate how well her strong voice translates into writing.
However, a couple of chapters in things started to get juicy and the entire book was a delight!
Karina’s research is always brilliant and I appreciate how well her strong voice translates into writing.
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
A fascinating Hollywood history that attempts to cover a little bit too much, but you can imagine it was hard to resist doing so with a subject as fascinating as Hughes. The last quarter grows increasingly scattered and unfocused as Longworth races through the final decades of Hughes' post-Hollywood life and gets lost in the tangle of the reclusive weirdo's many affairs and marriages, but the first two-thirds are engrossing—and, like the podcast You Must Remember This, will have you adding dozens of old movies to your to-watch list.