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readingunderadesk 's review for:
Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar
by Cynthia Carr
I went into this not knowing a single thing about Candy Darling (this is on me; I know very little about Warhol-era artists in NYC) and now I feel like I know SO MUCH -- this is queer and trans history, and a reminder that self-identification is so important especially for historical figures, which the book mentioned more than once (as in, 'genderfluid wasn't a word in use in x year but so and so may have used that today' kind of thing, and the fact that Darling never described herself as any sort of trans (knowing that transsexual and transvestite were the much more common words of the day) but only as a woman/"a real lady".
This is actually quite a long audiobook (about 15 hours) and goes through not only what happened in Darling's tragically short life according to the annals of history and the accounts of those around her, but the surviving letters and diaries from the icon herself. At times it felt like we were really listening to every single letter and every single moment of Darling's life, which may have been a bit too much, but a book that defines itself as THE definitive biography it was probably the way to go, and Justin Vivian Bond's narration wasn't my favorite at first but I quickly understood why he was a great choice to read it as beyond basic narration they were able to slip into more than just "doing the voice" of these big names that were quoted (Darling, Warhol, and many others) but really brought a sort of presence to it more than just affecting an accent or manner of speech. (And now, looking up their life, it was a good choice to have an older drag/transfemme person do narration as they have the lived experience of being a stage performer, being trans, and having enough years under their belt to have been around long enough to be in the aftermath of this queer section of off-off Broadway entertainment and Warhol films.
For anyone that is interested in queer history this is a good one, but there really is SO MUCH information here I feel like I needed to make a list of supplemental material (which again, my failing for not being a big movie or NYC history person).
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for review!
This is actually quite a long audiobook (about 15 hours) and goes through not only what happened in Darling's tragically short life according to the annals of history and the accounts of those around her, but the surviving letters and diaries from the icon herself. At times it felt like we were really listening to every single letter and every single moment of Darling's life, which may have been a bit too much, but a book that defines itself as THE definitive biography it was probably the way to go, and Justin Vivian Bond's narration wasn't my favorite at first but I quickly understood why he was a great choice to read it as beyond basic narration they were able to slip into more than just "doing the voice" of these big names that were quoted (Darling, Warhol, and many others) but really brought a sort of presence to it more than just affecting an accent or manner of speech. (And now, looking up their life, it was a good choice to have an older drag/transfemme person do narration as they have the lived experience of being a stage performer, being trans, and having enough years under their belt to have been around long enough to be in the aftermath of this queer section of off-off Broadway entertainment and Warhol films.
For anyone that is interested in queer history this is a good one, but there really is SO MUCH information here I feel like I needed to make a list of supplemental material (which again, my failing for not being a big movie or NYC history person).
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for review!