Pat M. J. reviewed on + 66 more book reviews
Here is Judy Garland, in all her colors and facets, revealed in an outstandingly candid and refreshingly honest story that dispels all the false rumors spread over the years and will be read with surprise, warmth, love, pity but more often joy, as we meet Judy Garland through the pages of "Judy". Frank captures Garland's wry wit, her ability to laugh at the world, her bitterness when she was wronged, to be a "tragic clown", to love passionately, and to exhaust endlessly. Frank captures with a poignant honesty the Garland whose exasperating mood swings, brought on by pills and barbiturates, exhausted those closest to her But they never stopped loving her. My opinion of Judy Garland, even after reading this deeply researched, 637 page book is that she was almost a monster, actually was a dope addict, and was unforgettably and forever, a genius. And it's her genius I miss to this day. Gerold Frank describes his ideas about her appeal to the public and what her unique energies and talent meant in almost poetic terms; it's very moving and I think expressively accurate.
This is a literary ride with Judy Garland, from her birth to her death 47 years later, from interviews with all the important people in her life's road and intimately with her husbands and her children. As intricate as this written chronicle is, we all know we never will learn every complex mystery of this amazing woman.
This is a literary ride with Judy Garland, from her birth to her death 47 years later, from interviews with all the important people in her life's road and intimately with her husbands and her children. As intricate as this written chronicle is, we all know we never will learn every complex mystery of this amazing woman.
