Rating: 
Summary: A Boring Rehash
Review: This isn't a biography ... it reads like a new version of "The Films of Joan Crawford." What a lame idea to try and tell a person's life story by listing and describing the films they made ... what does this have to do with her personal life? OK, so they wanna refute Christina ... but, geez, guys, how about a little objectivity? Or new information? Or how about some photos that have not been used and re-used in every Crawford book since the Jazz Age?
Rating: 
Summary: perhaps not exactly essential, but sill worthy
Review: to those of you who claim this book is comepletely worthless to either garden variety or to specialized fans, i'd just like to say: get over yourselves. apologetic tone and filmographic inconsistencies notwithstanding, i still found it quite revealing regarding joan's childhood. it painted some of the most compellingly real imagery about the young crawford i have ever read. unlike what most of these reviewers may want you to think, the authors don't exactly gloss over every single aspect of joan's life, so don't think you'll be getting nothing but a sugary sweet and saintly version. that is simply not the case at all with this book. in fact, the book doesn't pull any punches when it comes to detailing, for instance, some of the more lurid details of miss crawford's highly sexual nature. come on guys, some of you sound perhaps a tad bitter and disappointed that the book isn't trash-filled to the gills. after all, a tabloidish tome this book is not nor does it ever aim to be. it is basically an extended filmography which offers lots of very interesting behind the scenes tidbits on miss crawford's films. i fully appreciated it on that level. however, even at its most opinionated, i still found this book very much worth the money. i would never ever tell anyone 'oh, don't waste your money on this.' a book would have to be pretty damn worthless for me to advise someone to steer completely clear of it. this book is in fact not the worst you'll ever read by a pretty long mile. besides, the job of an interested reader should be to read as much material as there is to read on a particular subject and then make up his/her own mind about it. it is in fact only after one reads tons of information from many different sources, both good and not so good, credible or not so credible, that one is finally able to form a balanced opinion on any given subject. borrow it from a friend or check it out at your local public library first if you so wish, but by all means read it. always read everything you can get your hands on, unless it is clearly banned in your community (and then i'd suggest you move to a more tolerant environment). and another thing, some of these reviewers also come off as a tad enraged that these two authors would've dared or even deemed to show us a more human side of joan, and are downright vicious in their assessment of the authors' alleged crusade to refute every single thing christina crawford said about her mother in her nefarious memoirs. first of all, the authors don't attempt to refute every single accusation. they simply put forth the notion that christina's account should be taken with a grain of salt and i for one completely agree. you may dislike their efforts as slightly biased and allegedly lacking a certain amount of objectivity at times, but for god's sake, don't tear them to pieces for simply wanting to set the record straight regarding christina's intentions. even the most amateurish observer must conclude that 'mommie dearest' is for the most part a highly fictionalized montage of cliches concocted by christina to make a fast buck at her mother's expense. any serious reader of crawford's life and times knows that the book (and the hideous cinematic circus of trash that it spawned) are riddled with fabricated potholes the size of which an entire school bus might fall in. at any rate, the sternest caution i can issue about this book is that it is written in an empathetic tone which you may or may not agree with and that it contains certain erroneous minor facts more than likely the result of mr quirk's old age, rather than of some allegedly poor research methodology. all in all, i recommend this book to any fan of miss crawford's who may not already own an analysis of her complete filmography. however, as i stated earlier, if you're curious but simply hesitant after reading what seems to be a sea of inordinately scathing reviews, just borrow it and give it a try. i assure you, once you've perused it, you'll want to get your own copy, if for no other reason than to just add it to the ever expanding bibliography on miss crawford. take it with a grain of salt if you must, although not nearly as huge a grain of salt as is required to get through 'mommie dearest,' but by all means do read it. and yes, i too believe 'mommie dearest' is worth a read if nothing more than to get a feel for how outlandishly talented the younger miss crawford is at fictionalizing cliches for the trash-starved masses.
Rating:
Summary: An awfully late, lame attempt to discredit "Mommie Dearest"
Review: What is the actual point of this book? To attempt to dismiss the once-controversial allegations made in Christina Crawford's memoir, "Mommie Dearest", nearly a quarter of a century ago? Get over it! Dozens of film stars, directors, and other personnel have gone on record to say that despite Joan Crawford's professionalism and considerable talent, which enabled her to rise above even the most inept film material--she had serious problems, including alcoholism, sexual dysfunctions, and YES--she was an abusive parent! Even Christina Crawford never disputed her Mother's appeal as a screen star, her professional demeanor, and her endless gratitude and respect for her audiences. Therefore, why bother to refute the personal story told by Crawford's daughter? Much of what is described in "Mommie Dearest" transpired between two people, Joan Crawford, and her daughter. Great parent? No, it would seem, from most accounts. Great star? Undeniably. And a great star deserves a much more balanced, clear-minded, thoughtful biography. The truly "essential" Crawford biography has not yet been written.
Rating:
Summary: Essential bio maybe, but not the definitive
Review: While I enjoyed reading this book, it is really about Joan Crawford's films with bits and pieces about her life tossed in. A lot of noise is made about her sex life; well -- personalities of the 20's, 30's 40's (until the mid-medieval 50's) went from bed to bed without remorse or conscience. Same sex partners were a very trendy thing -- Dietrich, Garbo, Piaf -- probably all of the stars of that era. So big deal.
The consumate star -- okay; but she was a person, too. She liked to knit; she liked to spend evenings with a friend reading poetry out loud to each other. NOne of this is in this book. That's the biography I'd like to read!
Rating:
Summary: Yes and No
Review: While I enjoyed this book's thorough discussions of Crawford's films, I found much to be annoyed by. The authors portray Crawford as nearly a saint--and while I know she was capable of great kindness, I don't believe her motives were ALWAYS pure, and the one-sidedness of this book makes it difficult to swallow. EVERY SINGLE TIME the authors bring up a dispute or spat or negative information from a Crawford rival, they dismiss that person as jealous or washed up or a has-been. Similarly, they dismiss her "jealous" daughter's claims of child abuse as some kind of good old-fashioned "discipline." I don't claim to know whether Mommie Dearest contains a shred of truth or not, but this book does nothing to prove it as inaccurate as they claim. The main source of information here is Lawrence Quirk's own conversations with Joan in her elder years, and let's face it, anybody who's ever read Joan's "My Way of Life" knows that truth-telling is not her forte.A more balanced biography is Fred Lawrence Guiles's The Last Word (1995). Guiles, at least, is not afraid to discuss unpleasant incidents in Crawford's life from several different viewpoints, and he refrains from opinionizing whenever the truth is unclear.
Rating:
Summary: Yes and No
Review: While I enjoyed this book's thorough discussions of Crawford's films, I found much to be annoyed by. The authors portray Crawford as nearly a saint--and while I know she was capable of great kindness, I don't believe her motives were ALWAYS pure, and the one-sidedness of this book makes it difficult to swallow. EVERY SINGLE TIME the authors bring up a dispute or spat or negative information from a Crawford rival, they dismiss that person as jealous or washed up or a has-been. Similarly, they dismiss her "jealous" daughter's claims of child abuse as some kind of good old-fashioned "discipline." I don't claim to know whether Mommie Dearest contains a shred of truth or not, but this book does nothing to prove it as inaccurate as they claim. The main source of information here is Lawrence Quirk's own conversations with Joan in her elder years, and let's face it, anybody who's ever read Joan's "My Way of Life" knows that truth-telling is not her forte. A more balanced biography is Fred Lawrence Guiles's The Last Word (1995). Guiles, at least, is not afraid to discuss unpleasant incidents in Crawford's life from several different viewpoints, and he refrains from opinionizing whenever the truth is unclear.
Rating:
Summary: Biography? No, cover-up is a better title
Review: While there are many aspects of this book that I didn't like, the worst part of it all is how the authors go out of their way and against already established facts regarding the child abuse suffered by Christina and Christopher Crawford. The last chapter is almost exlusively devoted to attacking Christina, and the authors lose all credibility on the subject. The authors actually resort to personal insults of Christina for no apparent reason other than for the fact that Christina exposed Joan's abuse of her and her brother. These guys are child abuse enablers and their cover-up of this abuse is at the very least sickening. Like another person said, "To think that a woman who was the victim of physical and mental child abuse for so many years is to be further abused by such blind fanatics is something I think this book ought to be ashamed of." I agree. What they did was wrong and they owe Christina and anyone who has read a copy of this book a sincere apology. There were other problems with this book and the essence of those problems revolve around attempts by the authors to cover-up any and all inadequecies of Joan. According to them, nothing was her fault. It was all the fault of others. How these guys could be so self-involved and so determined to make a hero out of an alcoholic, dysfunctional, narcissist, child abusing, self-indulgent, angry, hateful, and bitter moviestar is beyond belief. I couldn't possibly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an honest biography of the star.
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