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A review by crystalvaughan0603
Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine
4.0
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.