It Seemed Important at the Time : A Romance Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Musings from Gloria
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. Parts of the book are factual and the rest of it is pure emotion, rich with the author's thoughts, observations and feelings about events in her life, sometimes happy, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. Nobody in life gets to pick the family they are born into. Regardless of her background, Gloria's book is about the struggle we all face, in trying to find meaning in this life with the means that we have and in making it with the best that we've got. Some parts of the book are written like thoughts going through her mind, and like all thoughts, they sometimes retrace their steps back to lead to different conclusions.

This is an endearing quick read. Thanks to the author for her honesty.

Rating:
Summary: It is not important and neither is she.
Review: If you want a fast read then this book is O.K. As far as a tell all memoir it is awful she comes off as a silly spoiled women with no substance. She had affairs with exciting men who she made seem boring, or nuts for dating her. Given all the affairs, she insults the reader as to elute to doing the reader a favor when she mentions the state of the man's private part during one of her interludes. Only true love in the book was the feelings for her mother which was the most compelling part of the story.




Rating:
Summary: Seemed important... wasn't
Review: Legendary actress/heiress Gloria Vanderbilt's latest memoir, "It Seemed Important At the Time" might as well have been called "He Seemed Important At The Time." Despite the enticing idea of an heiresses passions put on paper, Vanderbilt's tepid book is as vapid than any autobio of Paris Hilton's -- and with less reason to be.

Vanderbilt skims over most of her childhood, and the meat only starts in her a adolescence -- a lesbian affair with a classmate, before she knew what bisexuality was. But later she switched strictly to men (partly because of a scandal involving her mother), marrying at an early age and soon discovering what a pig her husband was. So begin a lifetime of marriages, romances, and an attempt to find love, if not happiness.

"It Seemed Important At The Time" is one of those books that seems like it was dashed off in an afternoon. About 150 pages, large print, and vast parts of Vanderbilt's life are skipped -- her childhood is about five pages long. As a result, this book seems like half a biography -- just the juiciest bits, with all non-romantic details carefully snipped out.

But really, what could be more exciting than a lifetime of love and passion? Quite a few things -- Vanderbilt's "love" rarely seems to get beyond an elongated crush; she developed interest in several men due to seeing them on movie screens. If she developed a crush, she pursued it, and usually got burned. Crushes are normal in a thirteen-year-old, but not so normal in an adult woman. Vanderbilt consistently puts her men on pedestals, then blames them if they don't live up to her hopes -- and time has not taught her that this is a bad idea.

And Vanderbilt's ultra-rushed writing isn't too great either. Instead of detailing important parts of her life and affairs, she just crams as many in as possible. She gives little personality to legendary men like Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra -- they and all her other paramours melt into a bit featureless blob. Yes yes, she loved them all -- she still makes them all boring. At one point she burbles about how much she loves her late son Carter, yet barely mentions him in the book until he took the high-dive out a window. (So much for her criticism of her mother for a lack of maternal love!)

Gloria Vanderbilt fails miserably at writing a juicy tell-all -- instead it's a bloodless list of how many men she dated, slept with, and married. In the end, it's something you'd expect from a sixteen-year-old heiress... but not one born in the Roaring Twenties. Tepid, annoying, and unromantic.

Rating:
Summary: It all comes down to me
Review: Summer seems to be the time for fast, fun reading, so here is fall and here is Vanderbilt and fun. Funny though, that a memoir containg pathos, drama and death could be so entertaining. Artist, actress and writer, Gloria Vanderbilt blithely skirts the details of her love life, viewing calamties and climaxes with sophistication. "It all comes back to me" she says explaining away a wild life of adult love and a tragic life as a motherless child. As Oprah explored on a recent show - drive down any mansion-lined street in envy and dare to find the normal family behind the porticos. In this memoir there are many porticos to envy but normal is not the point. Fun, yes, joy, yes, and a life well lived.

Rating:
Summary: Take it for what it is
Review: This book is not a biography, it is not supposed to be an unbiased account of this woman's life. That said, this book is very enjoyable and fun and tells you every little detail to the long list of love affairs that Vanderbilt had. Obviously, she wasn't surviving real disasters, so don't pick this up if you want a harrowing tale of morality. I for one first read the excerpt in Vanity Fair and loved what I saw. I was not disappointed with this book at all, and hope to see more on her in the future.