- Paperback: 476 pages
- Publisher: Seven Stories Press; New edition edition (Aug 6 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1888363371
- ISBN-13: 978-1888363371
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 794 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #657,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Pioneering feminist health scholar and Ms. contributor Barbara Seaman dishes all the delicious dirt on Jackie Susann, who left more dirt in her wake than most tornadoes: countless affairs with the famous and infamous (including Ethel Merman!), a scary passion for her father (whom Jackie, age 4, caught in flagrante delicto with a woman not his wife), and a cancer-ravaged life, exacerbated by enough drug binges and showgirl catfights to fill the most notorious roman á clef in world history, Valley of the Dolls. Seaman also does an investigative reporter's spade work. She explains how Susann's ambitious marketing ideas revolutionized the book business--at 19 million copies sold, Valley is the top-scoring novel ever written--and she checks out the sad history of Susann's autistic son, who was stashed away in a horrifying institution (which was the subject of a Geraldo Rivera exposé), and then mysteriously disappeared from public view. Susann's poodle Josephine apparently took her son's place in her heart, and her book about the pooch, Every Night, Josephine!, launched her weird bestseller career. Valley of the Dolls is amazingly entertaining, but unless you've read Lovely Me, you don't know Jacqueline Susann.
From Library Journal
This unauthorized biography of the best-selling novelist ( Valley of the Dolls, etc.) will appeal only to readers of Susann or of celebrity biographies. A would-be actress since the late 1930s, Susann finally attained long-desired fame and celebrity with Valley in 1966 (after her first cancer). Neither interviews nor chapter quotations are satisfyingly cited, which makes it difficult to separate fact and rumor. The book does explore Susann's drive for success until her death at 56 and provides an in-depth look at the grim business of American publishing and promoting, at which Susann was truly brilliant. Ultimately an ungratifying look at a sad writer who knew her subject matter only too well. Scheduled to be an ABC-TV mini-series. Rebecca Sturm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The real Valley of the Dolls,
By
This review is from: Lovely Me (Paperback)
LOVELY ME takes honors for being the most lurid bio I've ever read. It was great!I recommend reading this book before you pick up VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, because once you read VOTD, you'll know from exactly which well Jackie drew these experiences. Just as VOTD was a roman a clef for life as Jackie knew it, LM is the real-life retelling of VOTD. I admire Jackie Susann. Not only was she a Philadelphian and a writer, like me, but she had such tenacity. Even when cancer, a failed career, a mentally-ill son, and a dim future stared her in the face, she plodded on and closed her ears to the naysayers. She never once took her eyes off her dream of being a published author and bolstering VOTD to being the best-selling novel in history. We can all learn something from her.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informational but somewhat dissapointing,
This review is from: Lovely Me (Paperback)
I read a lot of great reviews of this book, how it really captured the essense of Jaqueline Susann, how it had the same sort of "scandalous" feel as her novels, but I found it a somewhat dry read. Maybe I'm just a jaded reader living in a later age, but reading about her affairs with women men and her drinking and pill-popping didn't really seem that audacious to me. There definitely were a lot of interesting aspects to this book, however. The author really did a tremendous amount of research and I really felt like I knew Susann's family and friends after reading the book. The author delves into Freudian territory, surmising that Susann had a lot of issues with her father that ended up in her works. I think the part I liked best of the biography was the discussion of Susann's works and how she published them. Susann had an amazing drive to be famous and this books shows how tragic it is that she died so young before she could really enjoy her fame.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely Read,
By HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lovely Me (Paperback)
Jackie Susann changed the face of women's literature. There were others ahead of her, Margaret Mitchell, Taylor Caldwell, Mary McCarthy and Grace Metalious all come to mind. Yet it was Susann who took the s-e-x out of the implied and on to the explicit, redefining the path of fiction forever. The authors of too many biographies, in their quest for thoroughness and scholarship, take lively subjects and make them dull. Seaman has avoided that trap here, instead writing a biography that reads much like a novel itself. Seaman portrays Susann as she was, uneducated, possessing no special talent, cursed by misfortunes, of which she had more than her share. Susann failed as an actress, she failed as a talk show host. Yet Susann also was driven and undeterred in her determination to find success, and find success she did. In the process, she not only re-defined the way in which contemporary fiction was written--she also re-designed the way in which books themselves were marketed. And Seaman has provided all of the details in LOVELY ME. To Seaman's credit, this biography never loses its pace; she keeps the story interesting right to its inevitable end. Knowing the right people, being seen in the right places, was the essence of Susann's determination, and Jackie saw to these with great precision. Eventually, the fictionalized version of her life would become the basis of her bestsellers. Therefore, in the process of telling Susann's life story, Seaman also offers a snapshot of life in New York City from the 1930's to the 1970's. The result is a history of a fascinating woman at a fascinating time. LOVELY ME is a lovely read.
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