One of those expanded New Yorker pieces - a part biography of Astor, part look at her diary trial, with a lot of the author inserting himself in the story (his bad first marriage, successful remarriage, career, obsession with Astor).
It's effective in it's own way. Astor was never a favourite of mine as an actor - competent, solid rather than awesome - but she had a great private life: horrible parents, early seduction by John Barrymore, widowed to Howard Hawks' low libido brother who died in a plane accident, crummy taste in husbands, torrid affair with George Kaufman (apparently great in the sack), alcoholism.
Once I got into Sorel's approach - it took a while - I enjoyed the book. It's an entertaining yarn.
Woody Allen reviewed the book for the New York Times here. Pre-cancelled, I guess. It's an entertaining review.
No comments:
Post a Comment