Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up

Rating:
Summary: Sour grapes!
Review: Beyond being an all-inclusive portrait of Andy, this book breaks down the public, trends and the superficiality of fame and fortune. I loved this book. It was as addictive as the National Inquirer and as informative as the Times.

Rating:
Summary: Royal Crown Cola
Review: Bob Colacello put all his unpublished Warhol writing projects into a cocktail shaker and added some ice. The result is this frothy, gossip ridden, whiskey sour. A 504 page, tall drink that doesn't get any sweeter as you suck it down. The anecdotes about Imelda Marcos, Truman Capote, Farah Diba make it seem like the 70's took place on another planet. It's a fun read and I laughed out loud quite a few times. But one get's the feeling that this book was written as revenge on Warhol for the social abuse that Colacello "suffered" during the years they worked together.

Rating:
Summary: Informative with juicy details
Review: Bob Colacello's book is not only very informative on Warhol's (and those around him) life and career, but it is also full of juicy gossip and luscious details that makes Andy Warhol who he is. This book is special too because Colacello was so close with Warhol that he paints him in a totally different picture than other biographer could. Other biographers tend to talk of Andy as a supreme god that can hardly do any wrong. Don't get me wrong, Warhol was very special, but Colacello's book tells you about Andy, as if he was your goofy friend too. That makes this book much more relatable than any other Warhol book and my choice as the best Warhol biography.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging and disturbing
Review: I did not intend to read this book. I read the first chapter because my wife told me to, and couldn't put it down. The book is like watching a train wreck. I kept hoping that somebody would stand up and inject some sanity into the lives of these people, but they just kept heading toward disaster and oblivion. While I found that the gossipy nature of the book get in the way of the story, I must admit that Bob Colacello made that time in that place seem both glamorous and horrible. I think it is worth a read, if for no other reason than to be able to sit back and say "I'm so glad my life isn't like that!".

Rating:
Summary: Ages well
Review: I didn't intend to reread this book, but I opened it while searching for an obscure New York address and didn't put it down again until I'd finished reading every page. When it first came out, I remember critics mostly tsk-tsking Colacello because they seemed to think he'd gotten to the place he was through Warhol and no doubt he did...What I failed to notice when the book was first published, was how Colacella and every single "Warhol" person who's written a book had a nervous breakdown as they were spinning (or trying to spin) out of his orbit. I want to read the book that tells WHY these intelligent creative people threw themselves so totally into Warhol's world...a world that couldn't have existed without them.....All I can say is, if your intent is to try and understand Warhol, then Bob Colacello's book is the absolute best take...besides yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Best book on Warhol
Review: I really loved this book because it was so in depth or whatever. it was really great. After i read it the first time i kept reading my favorite parts over and over again. it tells about bob colacello's experience with andy and his experience with the factory, partying, and other great stuff associated with andy in that time period. just so everyone knows: i love andy warhol!

Rating:
Summary: an excellent source of information on warhol
Review: if you're looking to read up on andy warhol and get a better idea as to what everyone was like at the factory, then definitely read bob colacello's book. he sheds light on areas of warhol's life that other biographers gloss over and exposes how warhol really functioned without including useless, irrelevant invasive information. all this aside, colacello is an excellent writer which makes this book even more enjoyable. i went in a huge warhol fan and came out an even bigger one. i definitely recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Rap.
Review: This book is one long whine. While I always enjoyed Bob Colacello's column in "Interview", this book, completed after Andys death (naturally), is a case of someone who, while they've outgrown their job, resents the fact that they're still there. Colacello started out worshipping Warhol, then, as often happens, began to feel he wasn't getting quite the recognition he deserved, at the same time forgetting why anyone knew who he was in the first place. Maybe the label "disgruntled employee" is too pat. But, for all his acknowledged ability to manipulate people to do things for him, it was Andy who retained the fame that many around him coveted. Bob C. sounds like any employee of any company who complains incessently about how his boss doesn't appreciate him. The little man who feels he'll make a better big man than the big man himself, but, remains in the shadows, un-acknowledged. Wanna-be's can get ugly, but his remarks against Warhol, while hardly slanderous, are more of the nit-picking variety, revealing fairly transparent resentments right below the surface. While there are certainly two sides to every story, I always find it fairly loathsome when someone decides to cry of the injustices against them by one who can no longer reply to the accusations. Especially when said injustices are so trivial, but manage to make up a book the size of Gone With The Wind , with money, OF COURSE, just being an afterthought to the cathartic process. I also found the title, "Holy Terror", a trifle exaggerated, but I guess the alternative title of maybe "Complex Famous Artist With Contradictory Personality Flaws Just Like Everyone Else" would have been too long, not to mention that it probably would have sold less books. I certainly would'nt want my eulogy to be an exposed inventory of all the products I have in my bathroom (or BEDROOM!!), yet, the only thing Colacello can conclude his memoir with is a list of the contents of Warhols bathroom beauty products,(if he detested Andy so much, what was he doing in his bathroom, after his death??) patronizingly suggesting that these were the props that poor, shallow Andy needed daily to face the world. (Imagine image-obsessed America WITHOUT all our props...YIKES!!!)This book says more about Colacello (if anyone cared) than it ever could about Andy. If you want a perhaps more balanced view of that time period and its events, read "The Andy Warhol Diaries." ANDYS honesty might surprise you.

Rating:
Summary: entertaining and enlightening
Review: This is an enlightening account of Andy Warhol. It's one thing to see the images an artist creates, but another to see how they create....and live. Bob Colacello gives an insider's account of the years he spent working for Warhol. Though much of the book is written through the author's personal experiences and observations, he seems to give a fair and generous account of the people, places and times involved. Along the way we learn about New York and Europe (and even Iran) in the 70's and 80's, popular culture and high society, politics, and the behind the scenes of the creative, wealthy, and famous...and those who fall in between(for Warhol, the more eccentric the better). Much of what we learn about Warhol is scathing, but ultimately humanizing.