Ronald A. (rarendt) reviewed on 2/24/2013 + 107 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

The author , a "well-known biographer and leading authority on modern celebrity", does a admirable and seemingly even-handed examination on Angelina Jolie's life and exploits, although he is occasionally a little over-the-top (e.g. he repeatedly refers to her as "the world's most beautiful woman"; she IS very pretty, but who conferred that title on her?).

One quibble I have with him is his use of the words "brave" and "courageous" to decribe her behavior in her early years. She had, according to him, a lousy childhood with a nutty mother and a controlling father who couldn't get along with each other. Her respnse was a headlong flight into cutting herself, indiscriminate sex starting at age 14 (both hetrosexual and homosexual), booze, and hard drugs up to and including heroin - what precisely is brave and courageous about that? I'm speaking as a recovered alcoholic who has been sober nearly 40 years; I don't recall anything either brave or courageous about my drinking days.

He totally brushes of any suggestion that she might have gotten straightened out in AA or NA by describing her as "not a joiner". He also quotes a psychiatrist who claims you can be "addicted to heroin without being an addict" if you can still go to work. Sounds like dime-store psychiatry to me, except that I suspect the treatments this authority dispenses cost way more than a dime, and are not very effective - which does insure a lot of return customers and a guaranteed income stream.

Maybe if she had been more of a "joiner", she would have learned to live with less resentment, less fear, and less self will. Over the years she did a number on a lot of people including Billy Bob Thornton and Jennifer Anniston while trying to make herself feel better. I came away with some compassion, but a lot less respect, for Angelina.

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