Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life With James Dean : A Love Story

Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book !
Review: I have always thought that Liz Sheridan was a classy lady and a fantasic actress, but this book brought me even more respect for her. I'll admit that a tough cookie like me bawled like a baby at the end of the book, not so much over the death of Dean, but over the aching sense of loss that this book brought. Being a huge Dean fan, I have often lamented the death of such a wonderful man, but this book brings it to a personal level. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, even if they are not a fan of James Dean, because everyone can relate to this story of love lost. Kudos to Liz Sheridan for sharing such a personal part of her life.

Rating:
Summary: Dizzy and Jimmy: My Life with James Dean: A Love Story
Review: If you love a great love story, and you are fascinated by James Dean, this is the book for you. Many biographers have touched on the relationship between Dizzy and Jimmy. However, Miss Sheridan ( best-known as Jerry Seinfeld's mom in his classic TV show) chose to write this book to give a more thorough and accurate account of their year-long love story. They met and fell in love when the young Dean was struggling to find work as an actor in New York, and their relationship ended with his move to Hollywood to begin his meteoric career as a film star. They lived together for much of that time, so Miss Sheridan explores, with rare insight, the complex personality of one of America's greatest legends.I have read 18 books on James Dean and this one is my favorite. I couldn't put it down, and I didn't want it to end.

Rating:
Summary: The Sweet Side of Jimmy
Review: Ms. Sheridan has given many of us fans the side of Jimmy we too fell in love with: the shy, vulnerable, sweet yet ambitious and driven young man who came to New York with a dream and a mid-Western down-to-earth plan. It is a touching story of two young, creative and very funny and likable people (Liz and Jimmy) who fall in love with each other, with expressing themselves through their art, and with the city of New York. Despite a few mistakes in the book (Sheridan refers to the town of Fairmount as "Winslow") it is a great read -- a must for Dean fans.

Rating:
Summary: An Intensely Beautiful Love Story . . . A Classic Romance
Review: This book clearly deserves many more than five stars! It is one of the best books I have read in many years.

Romantic novels and love stories are not my first choice for fiction, usually because the authors cannot carry off the stories in effective ways. To enjoy these novels and plays, you usually have to overlay your own sense of romance . . . because the authors don't provide enough of their own.

Imagine my pleasure when I found this "true" romance that exceeds all but a handful of fictional ones. What a great treat!

"A long time ago . . . I fell in love with Jimmy Dean and he fell in love with me." You can see the fairy tale quality of the book in this simple sentence. What woman who felt a closeness to James Dean can help but be attracted by this opening? Liz Sheridan has the great gift of being a romantic person, and of being able to write about that perspective in a way that brings the reader into the relationship.

As a man who admired James Dean's acting, I was curious to learn more about his life as an aspiring actor and was greatly rewarded. Dean was even more interesting in real life than he was on the stage and screen.

Together, Liz (Dizzy) Sheridan and James (Jimmy) Dean were unbelievably alive and in love . . . in a way that almost anyone can admire and perhaps even envy a bit. "It was 1951, and he hadn't yet become James Dean, public property . . . the Rebel, the Icon." They would sing corny songs together, split a beer and talk until the bar closed, and dance down the streets like Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. Two talented theatrical people were always on-stage with each other, finishing each other's lines and hugging with laughter.

They had almost no money, and met by accident while Dean was waiting to get some food from a new friend in Dizzy's chaperoned boarding house. Dean borrowed her umbrella, probably to have an excuse to see her again the next day. Within hours, they were inseparable. The physical, emotional, and psychic bonds were powerful. "He was shy and broke and he mumbled. And I adored him." In fact, one of the charms of the book is that it portrays the transforming power of love. Dizzy's emotional and financial support meant a lot to Dean at a time when he was prey to those who wanted to exploit him, and he went to unsuccessful audition after unsuccessful audition.

Dizzy was a dancer, who often appeared in an Apache trio. She has a kinesthetic and open approach to everything, which made her a perfect fit for Dean. Whatever mood came over him, she was ready . . . whether this was becoming lovers, dropping everything to hitchhike to Indiana, or scraping up the money to move in together. "Someone needs to remember the Jimmy who was warm and fuzzy, sweet and polite, and capable of profound love."

Dizzy has to speak for them both, because Dean was dead in four years after a brief, but spectacular career that would leave him as one of the central performing legends of the 20th century. In doing so, she is writing a "duet for one."

But a duet for one was perhaps unavoidable because Dean was so shy. But, "his shyness was irresistible."

The book is full of romantic sequences, like practicing bullfighting with each other (Dean was the matador and Dizzy was the bull). Dean also liked to sketch, and loved to share his perspectives with Dizzy about the difficulties of capturing an egg perfectly because of the quick way that natural light shifted.

Dean had incredible charm, and you will be thrilled to read how he related to a blind street person and each person in Dizzy's family.

With time, the passion cooled and Dean became obsessed with his career. When he got a role in the play, The Jaguar, all he wanted to do was rehearse. "I just don't have any time for you. I'm working!"

Dizzy handled it about as well as anyone could whose love has grown away from her. The places they used to haunt suddenly didn't seem so beautiful anymore. The poignance of her time in the West Indies is remarkably bittersweet.

One of the last things Dean ever said to her was, "I'll always love you." "And I believed him."

Although her mourning was long and difficult, she eventually came out of it. "I knew Jimmy would be laughing in the stars, just as he always promised."

Get out your hankies, you'll need plenty of them.

After you have finished this wonderful story, think about how you could make your life more romantic.

Be spontaneous and be in love!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT LOVE STORY
Review: Well I've read a few James Dean books..I just love him. I personally liked this one the best because you get an inside look on what it was like to date James Dean. I recommended it to my best friend who also loves him, and her whole family has now read it too because it's so great. If you want a good book on how Jimmy was as a boyfriend, this is the one you should get. It's great!