Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating picture
Review: This book is a truly fascinating unveiling of one of America's film legends. Christina Crawford tells the tale in a surprisingly objective way, only becoming angry and vindictive once or twice. Joan Crawford's methods of discipline and teaching are frightening and disturbing; the fear and obesiance people displayed toward her disgusting. Christina is a truly amazing human being and a talented writer. However, the book would be improved by more information on her brother and sisters. Also, she will sometimes give the impression of not speaking to someone for a while and then bring them up as if they were there all along. That gets confusing. Otherwise, this is a brilliant book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book
Review: I saw the movie when I was younger and I was very interested in reading the book. After reading the book I decided that the movie was better. I thought the book would have gotten deeper into the child abuse Christina Crawford had suffered. I did find some interesting things out that was left out of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: My Review!
Review: Wow is all I can say! This controversy is as bad as the Thomas Jefferson - Sally Hemings debates! Who's telling the truth?I must admit, I found out about Joan Crawford when I saw Faye's performance of her in the movie about this book. I was 10. I asked my mother some questions about her, and that was about it. A few years later, I became an old film junkie, and became a huge fan of Joan's works. She gave me the impression of a professional actress, who worked for everything that she got. Now I'm 18, and I read this book over the summer. It gave me a grim look into Joan's life through the eyes of her adopted daughter. But then you have Joan's other adopted daughters, denying any abuse from Joan. Who do you believe? Should Joan's reputation be damaged by this book? Or should we open our eyes into the rich and famous, and see they are flesh and blood just like us, and they have their faults? The only thing I didn't like about this book was that Christina portrayed Joan as having an extremely sad life. I know this can't be true, there must be some high points in Joan's career and life. She made so many people happy through her movies, including me. I do feel really bad for Christina for going through the child abuse, but I'm glad to see she can share her story with millions. Not only did she helping other victims, she helped herself.
Rating: 
Summary: PURE DRIVEL.
Review: This dreadful book does no one any good. It tarnishes a dead star with it's completely unsubstantiated accusations and reveals the author to be a money-grubbing, whining crybaby. Get the ax, Christina, and destroy your typewriter so we will be spared any more of your ficticious, spiteful ramblings.
Rating: 
Summary: Crawford was "Mommie Horrible!"
Review: In her astonishingly painful autobiography, Christina Crawford takes us into the world that she and her mother inhabited when the lights dimmed, the sets were torn down, and when the fans and photographers disappeared. And it was a shocking world indeed. Joan Crawford was a woman who should never have been blessed with children. Too vain, too narcissistic, and too unstable to even care for herself properly, she was a woman who adopted her children for extra publicity in order to impress the moviegoing public with her kindness and generousity. But what the world didn't know was that the facade of loving mother was just another "performance" by the Oscar winning star. For, disguised by the public spectacle was a cruel, alcoholic tyrant whose children were the victims of her merciless whims, who seemed hell bent on self destruction and hell bent on the destruction of 2 of the children entrusted to her care. Some people have labelled this book as "sick," "trash," and "venting." I disagree. Christina used this book to draw attention to the then neglected, now fashionable, issue of child abuse, eloquently stating that child abuse is not merely the scourge of the poor and uneducated, but that it can, and DOES, exist in the marbled hallways of the homes of the rich and famous. That Christina and Christopher survived their nightmarish childhood years with their mother without committing suicide is remarkable. I do not know what Christopher is doing now, but I have seen Christina on television many times and I am always impressed by how refined and sophisticated she is. She is a classy lady. She is highly regarded as a human being and expert in the field of child abuse. Most importantly, she is a survivor.
Rating:
Summary: A tragic, painfully personal story
Review: I have not yet read the 20th anniversary edition but recently read the original release. I think what Christina had to go through is absolutely horrible. I was a victim of abuse as a child and nobody believed me because my step-mother was so sugary sweet when there were people watching. It is fine to appreciate Joan Crawford's accomplishments as an actress, but we must also remember what Christina (and her brother Christopher) had to go through for Joan to achieve such status. I think it is also important to point out that Christina did not see her mother for the last 5 years of her life...a fact that Christina glosses over in the book. I'm not sure of it's significance, but it just seemed odd to me that Christina didn't elaborate on why she went so many years without seeing Joan. They communicated through letters rather than telephone calls or personal visits. There had to be something more there. This is an excellent book and to all those people that said Christina needs to get over it, I think this book was a very big step in doing just that.
Rating:
Summary: A valuable book but not the best read
Review: I deeply admire Christina Crawford's courage in writing "Mommie Dearest". She performed a great service by breaking her silence and speaking out about the terrible abuse she suffered at the hands of one of Hollywood's biggest stars. That being said, I would say that from a literary point of view this book is unexceptional. The most interesting part of the book occurs at the beginning, where Crawford describes in detail the shocking actions of her adoptive mother. Later on, however, the narrative gets bogged down. The details of Christina's life have the ring of truth, partially because of their mundane quality. We read the ins and outs of her troubles with Joan, and eventually it gets a little dry. Perhaps I am reacting to the very depressing quality of the book overall. All I know is that by the end I was skimming quite a bit. I would recommend this book to someone who is intensely interested in the subject of child abuse, or who has a fascination with celebrity life. However, for other readers, I would suggest skipping this book and reading "One Child" by Torey Hayden, or "They Cage the Animals at Night" By Jennings Birch.
Rating:
Summary: Good book - bad editing
Review: This book is very good, but there are an average of 2 spelling errors per page and it is VERY distracting. I don't think that is the author's fault - but rather the editor. At some points in the book, random words appear and the spelling is so awful that it makes it difficult to read. If not for the errors, this book would rate higher.
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Summary: I have been there ...
Review: I first learned about Joan Crawford in back 1982, I didnt think for a split second how Christina was mistreated. I was there too so I didn't grasp the conceptions at first. I always thought Joan Crawford was like a God. Beautiful,rich and has everything she wanted. It took me years to understand what how I was abused. I read Christina's book when I was nine years old and soon enough when I went through the book I realized I was as abusive as she was. Right then, Christina became my idol. It wasnt Christina's fault that she still has the "scarred" from her Mommie. I still have the horrible flashbacks of my mother even after years of counseling. I just have to learn to control my flashbacks. Its the same for Christina. We get angry for what our mothers put us through. Like her, I was treated as a prince outside but a baster inside home. I believed what Christina says about her mother. Surely, maybe she didnt get her stories straight or her grammers or whatever, but she wrote it down what she could remembered how it was like to be an abusive and live in a dysfuntional family. I had visited her in her Bed and Breakfast in Idaho for a short week. She was very nice woman and it was nice knowing that she understands me. Her book does justified what she went through. My mother left a terrible scar in me and I dont think I will ever forget what she had done to me. Never. So for those people who thinks her book of Mommie Dearest is a trash, worthless and a liar... I pity you. You'll never know just how abuse your parents did to you or that your head is still under the water. We need Christina's book around to remind all of us to open our mind and see all the level of abuse we have been through and hopefully, we all can understand and prevent that from happening in our future children. Children do not need to be abuse by parents for whatever the reasons but to teach them the proper rearing. CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE.
Rating:
Summary: Psychologically Accurate
Review: For anyone who criticizes Christina Crawford for not trying hard enough to "just get over it" and "get this abuse by her mother out of her system" - this book "Mommie Dearest" is Christina's way of doing just that! - And good for her! The book's intensity is not just from the abusive activities of Joan Crawford as a mother (as bad as they were), but also from the unexpectedness of the abuse. - That's why this book of a child's fearful years living at the mercy of a mercurial-type mother is so classic - and a must read for anyone interested in this subject! Mother Joan would often be very nice and "normal" for many days in a row, only to awaken enraged at her daughter in the middle of the night for some mild or imagined infraction of the rules. This is indeed often the fear of the abused child - what will set the parent figure off? - (A spilled glass of milk, an imagined "wrong" look from the child, taking one minute too long to complete a chore, going to sleep 12 minutes later than usual?) - And perhaps worse is what the punishment(s) will be: (A beating with a hairbrush, being forced to go without needed sleep, getting pulled from a chair and locked in a closet perhaps?) The erratic up and down personality of Joan Crawford as described in this book gives what Christina Crawford says a "ring of truth" and psychological accuracy to her story. - An abusive reality, that sadly, is a way of life in too many households across the world. "Mommie Dearest", a story that should never have been made public? - NO WAY! It's true stories and accounts like this that have helped bring about the acknowledgement of child abuse, that unfortunately, was kept hidden behind closed doors for way too long!
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