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Summary: Fantastic Read For Those Who Despise The Cult Of Celebrity
Review: I loved this book. LOVED IT! I laughed so hard, I kept my husband awake some nights. If you dislike the idea of celebrity, and all that surrounds the existance of these inflated ego's, which existing in today's culture, you must read this book. I was relieved to find that I am not alone in my distaste for celebrity worship. I have never read a book, written by a woman, that contained so many expertly crafted insults, sarcastic observations, and plain ruthless wit. Given the tragic circumstances we all face today, this book could not exist at a better time. If you have been gagging at the celebrity exploitation of 9-11, read this. Or if you are just plain sick of the media overexposure these idiots get, read this book. Thanks Cintra Wilson!! Write more PLEASE!
Rating:
Summary: fabulosity, thy name is cintra wilson.
Review: i missed out on this book when it was first released, and the fact that i stumbled upon it at all seems to have been the result of some sort of divine providence. wilson's ruminations on the american fame machine is wonderully pointed and verbose, and dag-gum, i love it.
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Summary: The Funniest and Most Wonderful Book I have Read This Year
Review: I read and re-read this book because I simply cannot get enough. Cintra, your insights are hilarious and wonderful and I now will proceed to order this book for all my friends.
Rating:
Summary: a fast and funny read
Review: I read this book in one day. Wilson is a clever writer with some truly interesting insights on our celebrity-obsessed culture. She comments on most aspects of pop culture from boy bands to the Oscars with scathing wit. Even when writing about easy targets like fame-monsters Micheal Jackson and Celine Dion, she is able to provide fresh laughs. I found her take on the world of women's sports and the Olympics, however, to be particularly original and insightful. I can't help but wonder whether or not Wilson will somehow become a celebrity for being anti-celebrity. I just hope she has the will to keep fame at a distance.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I want to think that this book had more impact when it was published a whole 3 years ago. I found the experience of reading it to be painful after the first few pages of the author's wheel-spinning on the same old anti-celebrity diatribe. I know that cutting down the rich and famous is not touted as original by this author, but I was disappointed that her writing did not fulfill the promise of originalty. It reads like one of the more interesting college-fresman 'zines available in coffee houses, not like what I'd expect from such a widely distributed and praised book.
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Summary: Seen It All Before
Review: I'm a big fan of the author, but I was disappointed with this book. First, several of the pieces have previously appeared in her old Salon column. Her fans are always hungry for new material. Second, there was a lack of integration in the sections. The pieces stood alone well enough, but lacked cohesion despite some repetition. Finally, there was no conclusion offered on the inane search for fame. I would also have liked the 'hipper than thou' Cintra to have been more introspective. Having said that, the author's characteristic turn of a phrase is amply displayed. Her use and creation of an adjectives always make me smile.
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Summary: The Truth About Celebrity
Review: In the world of super-hype and fame worship, in a time when all you have to do to prove yourself 'worthy' is to become famous sounds a voice of reason. That voice belongs to Cintra Wilson. Her book is a biting, honest, hilarious and overall amazing look at what the culture of fame has done to us as a society. From the seemingly innocent to the downright scary, all aspects of the need for fame and fortune is brought to light.
Cintra has no fear of stepping on toes or calling things what they really are. This is a great book for anyone who wants to see beyond the marketing and understand what the world of Hollywood is really all about. "Celebrity is a virulent killer of fundamental human values, and unless Southern California goes up in a shiny moshroom cloud on Judgement Day, the only way to control it is to quit believing in it...
We must stop believing that famous people are better and more beautiful and interesting than other people. They're not. They're just like other human beings, only advertised, massively into major leading brands, like dog food or shaving cream." -Cintra Wilson
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Summary: Truthful, Wonderful, & Sad.
Review: It is embarassing how seriously Americans take the culture of celebrity and the media. One of the many reasons we are the world laughing stock. This book is finny, sad and an oh so improtant look at ourselves as Americans and as people. I am a grubby little nobody unfamous person, so I guess this reviwew won't get read anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: a tangential analysis of putrid american mind rot
Review: Madame Cintra hath hit the nail on the head, tiny and misshapen as that head may be. The central issue here is the mutation of Fame, once an aura that cloaked the highly accomplished as an epiphenomenon, has now become a purely mundane commodity, like sterilized cow manure. CW focuses her incredulous disgust at the most shameless of perpetrators, but one suspects her real targets are not the megelomaniac freaks on the stage, but the mindless legions of zombies that consume the fetid swill as if it were ambrosia of the gods. Fame is now the "radioactive beef" that moronizes both the performer and the audience, in differing ways and in differing degrees. Of course, lurking in the shadows is the implicit recognition of the Corporate absorbtion of Everything into one great happy, megamerged obedience school for lobotomized work-a-trolls who should be thankful for a pizza with The Works as a reward for good company boy self abasement. Corporatism isn't directly assaulted in this book, undoubtedly because Madame Cintra has the acumen to fly under the radar of hidden forms of censorship. But have no doubt, Corporatism is the cause, as it needs to reduce everything it touches into a return maximizing, clearcutting, fume belching money machine. But, know the disease by its symptoms. Superstardom that has evolved into a different Ontological category; Audiences as mass consumers of plasticized crud, the Media as docile and cuddly PR pets, who will say or do almost anything if the price is right. Ms. Wilson, for all her hyperbole and contortionism, is essentially right on in her analysis of the situation, and just about the only person on the scene with the guts and wit to tell it like it is, without shrivelling into the typical careerist bet hedging gooey eyed flattery spewing baby talking goo goo neurotic greasy pole shinnying imbecile. My hat goes of to her. More power to ya, babe.
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Summary: The anti-lobotomy for celebrity junkies
Review: My, wasn't I surprised to find someone who loathed Celine Dion as much as I do! Cintra Wilson's funny, fearless deconstruction of these so-called icons will surely immunize you against the cult of celebrity. Her chapter on young ice skaters and gymnasts broadens our scope of what this celebrity-thing is that people seek: sometimes involving a search for immortality (via plastic surgery, numerous dye jobs, changes in stage personae) and deification (sometimes resulting in an Oscar, a Grammy, or getting one's face on a cereal box)... Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Barbara Streisand - even Elvis - will never look the same to me again. Her criticism is scathing at times but very thoughtful: these are not random rants. I was unfamiliar with Cintra Wilson's Salon column when I read "A Massive Swelling," but it doesn't surprise me that the book functions somewhat as an anthology of past writings. It does have that feel to it. I definitely don't think this weakens the book for the newcomer to her writings. I think it's a good sign that folks are mostly upset about not finding newer works from her. It just means we're all looking forward to what she has coming up next.
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