Natalie Wood: A Life
by Gavin Lambert
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gavin LambertEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-01-06
ISBN: 0375410740
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Natalie Wood: A Life
Book Review: A Flop
Summary: 1 Stars
As a devoted Natalie Wood fan (she was my childhood hero), I looked forward to reading a bio filled with new information and written by a friend who enjoyed a "twenty-year friendship" with Natalie. What a disappointment! The book is a bore from start to finish. There are far too many stories about Hollywood wannabes and an endless rehash of details about her mother, father and sisters. There are no meaningful insights, no interesting details revealed.
Lambert's writing is so awkward frequently had to reread the sentence page. Paragraph transitions are disjointed as well, and there are many disconcerting examples of odd word useage such as: "Everett Sloane...had sounded authentically Hebrew in the small part of a rabbi in Morningstar." Authentically Hebrew?
His numerous inaccuracies are disturbing as well. One wonders whether Lambert actually watched Natalie's films before writing the book.
The premise of "Marjorie Morningstar," for example, concerns a wealthy Jewish girl's dreams of breaking away from family tradition. Marjorie's lover, played by Gene Kelly as the the son of highly respected Jewish parents (his father is a judge), tries, in his own way, to escape family expectations.
Had the author bothered to see this film he would never have written "For Wouk to make Marjorie (nee Morgenstern) Jewish seems more a gimmick than an essential part of her star-is-not-born story, and in the movie the Jewish element is so diluted that it has no effect on her WASP lover, who's only momentarily restive at the Morgenstern's Passover dinner."
Skip this one. Suzanne Finstad's "Natasha" is a far more interesting and well written exploration of Natalie's life.
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