rorikae 's review for:

The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara

4.0

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I have recently found that I really enjoy the biographies of creatives and 'The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick" by Mallory O'Meara perfectly scratched that itch. It's a fast paced and engrossing look into the life of Milicent Patrick, the designer of the Creature from 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' paired with an exploration of how women are treated in the film industry. O'Meara expertly uses the fact that Patrick's story had an unknown ending to create suspense throughout the entire biography that keeps the reader hooked. For the longest time, it was known that Patrick was bullied out of Universal Studios because of a jealous and sexist head of the makeup department but little was known about what happened to her afterwards. O'Meara has done the deep dive to answer these mysteries and flesh out Patrick's story so that more people can learn about this incredible woman and her accomplishments. I won't say more about Patrick's life because I think the book works on knowing less about her and being able to discover her story through the pages but I left the book wanting a movie about Patrick's life. She's glamorous and hardworking and she paved the way in an area where women weren't always thought to fit. I know that I have come away from this book with not only a new appreciation for her and her work but for the creation of monsters in film as a whole. If you enjoy reading biographies of fascinating artists, I'm sure you'll enjoy 'The Lady from the Black Lagoon.'