Helpful Score: 2
Like the person below me said, the movie was definitely sugar coated. It is tame compared to the story in this book and it doesn't do the book justice. This is one of most moving and heartbreaking books I have read. I actually cried while reading this, which is rather rare.
If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.
If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.
Helpful Score: 2
From reading this book, i get the feeling they sugar coated the movie. Much better than the movie. wonderful read.
Helpful Score: 1
A quick read and short glimpse into the twisted world of hollywood families. I enjoyed the movie more, but the book really shows Christina Crawford's struggle to find herself in a life and world so thoroughly manipulated by her adopted mother, Joan Crawford.
Helpful Score: 1
If I could tell Christina Crawford something and I can't but I could write it here it, it would be "I believe you". The first thing I would tell the non believers in Christina's story is I for one know that someone can project one image to you and a completely different image to someone else. I also became a firm believer when Christina said "It was a time of inner speculation. It was a time when I was forced once again to come face to face with myself. I must admit I didn't always like what I saw in my own mirror, but it was also a time when I gave up blaming others for what happened in my life. I stopped blaming my mother or trying to make excuses for either one of us. I began to treat myself with greater gentleness. My life had to be put together again based on something other than insanity, cruelty, insecurity, and the hype. I believe her because I have done the same. Meaning, I have taken responsibility for what happens to me. I have had it rough a rough childhood and traumatic divorce well when everything crumbled I could see patterns and then after a few years I had an epiphany. The little girl I was patterned the relationship I was in sad but very true. However,then when I realized I wasn't that little girl anymore and was very much in charge of what happened to me next I could not blame the traumatic experiences anymore. This is exactly what Christina did. She took charge of her life and tried her best to keep the relationship with her mother positive and involved. She tries to understand what could have happened to lead to the writing of the will of her leaving nothing to her children Christina and Christopher Crawford "for reasons which are well known to them". That is all this book is about really WHY? Why did she write such an awful thing? If she wanted to leave them nothing then that's all she had to say. Why was Joan like she was? What motivated, drove her, pushed her to extremes. What was her childhood like? Is there a hint there? What happened to Joan when she was a young starlet? Is there a hint there? Think of poor Joan trying to hang on to a career that was slipping, age that was creeping upward, failed romances, and widowhood. Christina writes of her mother's triumphs and lows-her love life, her career, and her can do, never give up spirit. Lots of people who haven't read the book just know this as a book about how awful Joan Crawford was to her adopted daughter. This is also how the movie Mommie Dearest makes things seem. I don't think this book could be made into a movie or the movie should have included the good as well as the bad but that doesn't sell tickets does it? This is an even-handed account of someone's life with their mother. An unbelievable account of someone's extreme mania and their subjecting their child to that mania who could not escape it. A coming of age story and how Christina came through alive in some harrowing instances that just made my heart bleed. It is a book trying to grasp what makes someone like they are, why they do the things they do and just what might have been going through their minds when they wrote such a hurtful thing " for reasons known to them". Imagine this being broadcast on the news like it was when Crawford died, imagine how that must have hurt? Did Christina write this book to defend herself and Christopher? Sure she did but it is more than an a great offense it tells Christina's side of the story. It exposes Joan as well as Christina the good, bad and the ugly. I believe you Christina Crawford.
Helpful Score: 1
Most certainly an interesting and worthwhile read, particularly if you are fascinated by celebrity (which I am!) If you can keep yourself from feeling sorry for the author, the scandal and true story of Joan Crawford is pretty delicious.
Helpful Score: 1
I love a good biography, but in reading this I had to question whether some of the horror described in the book really happened. Christina Crawford does an excellent job in retelling the events of her childhood growing up under the fist of mother Joan.
Helpful Score: 1
This is the heartbreaking true story of a lonely little girl trying to win the love of her world-famous mother, Joan Crawford.
Famous behind-the-scenes story by Joan Crawford's adopted daughter.
I read this book a long long long time ago. before I saw the movie in fact. This was the very first book I had read in this genre and it hooked me. I remember being shocked that someone so famous and in the public eye could treat her children in this manner and no one know or speak out for them. there was a lot of controversy surrounding this book after it was released, many didn't believe Christina's version of events but I myself believe that the childhood she describes did happen. I think she was brave to expose her famous "mother" for the monster she was.
The book is better than the movie!
To say I enjoyed this books sounds kind of sick, but it's true. I did. I was both horrified and fascinated. There are not alot of answers. There is no why really. Just this sense of pervasive anguish. Good book.
A sad story of a woman so desperate for attention and approval she sells her soul to Hollywood. By the adopted daughter forced to struggle to survive in Hollywood with her.
Waa waa chistina. Spoiled rich kid. Grown up now, mad at mommie for not leaving her more money. We all have sob stories. Get a life Christina.
This is the book the movie was based on. Wonderful look into the life of Hollywood icon, Joan Crawford.
I found this book a very difficult read, as much for its unrelenting style as its subject matter.
No More Wire Hangers!!! Ever!!!!!!
I thought this was an extremely interesting and provocative insight into the lives of the Crawfords. It's a backstage pass to glamourous Hollywood and one woman's obsession to remaining on top. Absorbing.
Christina Crawford's memoir of the truth behind the glamorous image of life with her movie star mother, Joan Crawford, is moderately intriguing, but mostly sad. Christina vividly writes of the abuse she suffered, but rambles in the rest of the novel about how she still loves her mother and wishes to be loved back. Like an abused dog, Christina keeps returning to Joan just to be kicked again. The writing suffers from these rambles and from a bad editor who left many grammar and spelling mistakes in the manuscript. It's still worth a read if you really enjoy memoirs or the inside scoop in Hollywood.
Check out my extended review.
Check out my extended review.
I thought this book was very interesting, but I have always wondered how true it is. Faye Dunaway played Joan Crawford wonderfully, no?
From the back cover: "Joan Crawford's adopted daughter, Christina, has written the most shocking and heartbreaking love story ever. It is the story of a Hollywood child growing up in a nightmare of alcoholism, abuse and terror. It is a story of the tragic love between a beautiful and ruthless woman who wanted the world. . . and a lonely little girl who only wanted a mother. It is Christina's own story."
A classic now, still as shocking as when it was published. Sensational and sad.
A classic now, still as shocking as when it was published. Sensational and sad.
I like the glimpse into 50's Hollywood. Makes me glad for the mom I have!
The story of the tormented and glamorous star, Joan Crawford, struggling to survive in a cutthroat world, succumbing to a rage leading to alcoholism and child abuse.
Very sad story . I think it took great courage for christina to write this and im thankful to her for sharing her story. The end really annoyed me but i was happy christina made peace with everything
Some yellowing of the pages due to the age of the book.
This is written by Christina Crawford.
nonfiction...biography, written by Christina Crawford...black and white pictures...Movie, staring Faye Dunaway Heart breaking true story about a lonely little girl trying to win the love of her world famous mother, Joan Crawford.
