Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Joan Crawford:
Drama, but just not how you were expecting.
Quick synopsis:
A biography of legendary actress Joan Crawford.
Fact for Non-History People:
Crawford’s real name was Lucille Fay LeSueur.
Fact for History Nerds:
Walt Disney allegedly used her look to create Snow White’s Evil Queen.
My Take on Joan Crawford:
Let’s be honest, you come to a Joan Crawford biography for the drama — the spectacle of Mommie Dearest and the epic battles with Bette Davis. Instead, author Scott Eyman dares the reader to learn who this woman was first. Turns out, she was salacious way before Bette and her own daughter came along.
This is not my first book from Eyman and certainly won’t be my last. There is a true patience to him as a writer. No stone is left unturned, and he will not allow you to look at his subject from just one lens. Crawford worked her you know what off to get to where she was. She was also a diva before that was even a word. She oozed glamour while being extremely self-conscious.
Perhaps the most eye opening to me was that she could be so completely devoted as a friend but could be alarmingly vicious for capricious reasons especially to younger actresses. These things all lived inside this woman who came from nothing, reached the mountaintop, and felt quite alone on the way back down. She had true friends throughout (shout-out to my girl, Myrna Loy) and the bitterest of enemies. One of them happened to be one of her adopted daughters.
Eyman handles her life with the deliberate pacing of a master. Her movies are almost encyclopedically worked through but not as a flex by an author. Eyman explains how these movies showed Crawford’s rise, then falls, and how she kept growing with each success and spectacular bomb. Each movie changed her, and Eyman explains why and how.
Ultimately, for me, I ask myself a question whenever I read a book about an actor/actress, artist, or musician to decide whether or not it was successful. Did the author make me want to go experience the art made by the subject after the book is finished? Well, if you’ll excuse me, I am off to watch Mildred Pierce.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster.)
Verdict:
Brilliant. Buy it here!
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