∎ PDF Gratis get happy the life of judy garland Gerald Clarke Illus with photos 9780316855952 Books

get happy the life of judy garland Gerald Clarke Illus with photos 9780316855952 Books

Download As PDF : get happy the life of judy garland Gerald Clarke Illus with photos 9780316855952 Books

get happy the life of judy garland Gerald Clarke Illus with photos 9780316855952 Books

This is actually a pretty good read. Not just because I’m currently in a trashy memoir/biography phase, but because Judy lived a hell of a life and is THE original train wreck. Amy Winehouse? Whitney Houston? Lilo? Whatever. Judy was the real deal. And if it’s sordid details you want out of a biography, then this will not disappoint.

The narrative reads like your guiltiest pleasure trashy fiction. It’s no wonder that Jacqueline Susann modeled her character Neely O’Hara after Judy (yes, I’ve read Valley of the Dolls. Shut up). There is a wonderful character arc as well; it follows the pattern that many would expect out of the life of an addict.

You begin reading feeling terribly sorry for Judy. Her closeted gay father gets them booted out of at least three homes for chasing teenage boys. From a young age, her mother feeds her pills both for energy and then to get to sleep. Diet pills soon followed. She was under an enormous amount of stress to look a certain way, and told by many she was fat and homely. One can’t blame her for ending up the drug-addicted emotional cripple she turned out to be.

As the story goes on, however, the pity party begins to wane and the narrative gains some balance. The full picture of her life makes clear all of the opportunities and squandered chances at redemption she was given. Ultimately, it seems the blame for her early demise lies with Judy herself. It is still heartbreaking, though, the way it is when anyone of enormous talent wastes it and dies young.


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get happy the life of judy garland Gerald Clarke Illus with photos 9780316855952 Books Reviews

Good book.. there is so much to cover that it kind of glosses over certain areas that I’d have liked to know more about and it surprisingly goes into little detail about her addictions and doesn’t explain it as well as I’d have hoped. Author does throw in a few “shocking” unprovable anecdotes I believe in an attempt to sensationalize, but they don’t fit in with the rest of the narrative. All in all though it’s still Judy and it’s still a thoroughly written book that I would still recommend. Just not much new info for those of us that already know a ton.
I really wanted to read the full story behind Miss Judy and figured this looked the most comprehensive. After reading it, I fee I did glean a little knowledge about her complex and fascinating life. Of course the band of characters from her life are present but when I was done I still felt like I didn't know her as well as I had hoped. That is my reason for three stars. Others may disagree.
The drawback with biographies of favourite people is that the reader knows how it all ends before beginning. So I approached this book with trepidation - preparing to be depressed. I was not disappointed.
For Judy, there were glorious highs - and lows that would have decimated most people although Judy "recovered" from all but the last. This book is an amalgam of previously published resources and new information including the author's interviews and Judy's own autobiographical musing and ranting into a tape recorder for a book that never was. The book is sometimes disconcerting as it jumps back and forth through the years, sometimes pedantic, and told this reader more that I wanted to know about Judy's sex life. (I hope I can forget the one encounter involving the song or my enjoyment of her singing "Over the Rainbow" will be forever diminished.) As the author says "More than any other stimulus, [music] awakens sleeping memories."
The author, while casting aspersions on Judy's mother and Louis B. Meyer & the MGM system for starting Judy on pills and yo-yo dieting , himself seems fixated with Judy's constantly fluctuating weight. There is a picture on page 346 of a bloatedly ill Judy that one would think would do more to motivate dieters and fitness wannabes more than any exhortations by Richard Simmons or Sarah Fergason. Just put a copy of that picture on your freezer door - you won't want to reach in to grab Haagen-Daz!
When Judy was "on" she was brilliant. The author points out that for most of her life "In those days, there were no drugs to fight depression - the first antidepressant, Iproniazid, did not come on to the market until 1957." Later in the book, he speculates that Judy was "probably bi-polar." How different could it have been if only ...
After reading the positive and negative reviews I hesitated quite a while before reading this book because I am quite a Judy Garland fan. I didn't want garbage but I am interested in fact. I can say after reading I can see the point in both the negative and positive reviews. So I thought I would add my two cents worth. The negative - There are low points in this book, particularly at the beginning and also somewhat at the end. You are left feeling like what you are reading is probably not really the truth. On the otherhand the author had to sort through the fact and fiction himself and he probably did a fairly good job. When you read, if you do, just keep in mind you need to be a little skeptical about what is being said. The positive - Particularly in the middle of the book it gets quite good. You feel like the author has a lot more information he is able to draw from at this point so you feel as if you are really reading good facts. All in all - I would recommend the book. I have read several books on Judy Garland's life and what I always end up with is that she had a lot of problems and those that knew her had to deal with that but in the end everyone seems to say that the overall experience was a good one, and those that knew her despite the problems, come out feeling their lives were enriched by her. Mine has been, simply by listening to and watching her performances, and also reading about her. And this book stands in my mind as a good enough effort to convey a facinating but difficult subject.
The book is very well written and has many, many details, all of which are fluidly connected. The reason I don't give the fifth star is because the author's commentary sometimes goes on for pages before continuing with the story. I know Judy Garland was great, and I can especially appreciate her after reading this book. The author, however, seems afraid the reader will forget that fact!
This is actually a pretty good read. Not just because I’m currently in a trashy memoir/biography phase, but because Judy lived a hell of a life and is THE original train wreck. Amy Winehouse? Whitney Houston? Lilo? Whatever. Judy was the real deal. And if it’s sordid details you want out of a biography, then this will not disappoint.

The narrative reads like your guiltiest pleasure trashy fiction. It’s no wonder that Jacqueline Susann modeled her character Neely O’Hara after Judy (yes, I’ve read Valley of the Dolls. Shut up). There is a wonderful character arc as well; it follows the pattern that many would expect out of the life of an addict.

You begin reading feeling terribly sorry for Judy. Her closeted gay father gets them booted out of at least three homes for chasing teenage boys. From a young age, her mother feeds her pills both for energy and then to get to sleep. Diet pills soon followed. She was under an enormous amount of stress to look a certain way, and told by many she was fat and homely. One can’t blame her for ending up the drug-addicted emotional cripple she turned out to be.

As the story goes on, however, the pity party begins to wane and the narrative gains some balance. The full picture of her life makes clear all of the opportunities and squandered chances at redemption she was given. Ultimately, it seems the blame for her early demise lies with Judy herself. It is still heartbreaking, though, the way it is when anyone of enormous talent wastes it and dies young.