Elizabeth
by J. Randy Taraborrelli
Read by Lynne Maclean
Elizabeth is not a happy little story. It’s a long, messy, complicated tale of extreme successes and failures,
enormous physical and emotional pain, and the decadent excesses of the woman whom many once considered the most
beautiful in the world. In this audio book, J. Randy Taraborrelli provides a chronological account of the tumultuous
life of Elizabeth Taylor, the two-time, Oscar-winning actress who demands the spotlight both on and off the movie set.
Unlike the other unauthorized biographies about Taylor and her own two autobiographies, Elizabeth also explores
the star’s deeply felt relationships with her mother and father, who helped guide her career.
Sometimes the book sounds more like a supermarket tabloid than an insightful exploration of the forces that drive
her forward, but surely that’s inevitable when your subject has appeared onscreen since she was a child, been married
eight times, fought drug, alcohol, and food addictions for most of her life, made and lost millions of dollars, and
overcome grueling injuries and surgical procedures. Despite its sometimes sensational details, Elizabeth is very
much a story of survival - how one exceptionally stunning looking woman learned to find her inner beauty through
her work fighting the AIDS epidemic.
Careful listeners might find the book repetitious with repeated references to Taylor’s mesmerizing violet eyes,
confusion between illusion and reality, and habit for mistaking melodrama for romance/intimacy. Casual or
intermittent listeners, however, may find the repetition of these key themes to be helpful reminders of what they
heard on previous CDs in the set. Read beautifully by Lynne Maclean, this audio book has a total playing time of
six hours (including a brief introduction and interview with the author) and comes on five violet-colored CDs,
presumably to match Taylor’s mesmerizing eyes. |
The Book |
Hachette Audio |
August 29, 2006 |
Audio book - Abridged CD |
ISBN10: 1594832145
ISBN13: 9781594832147 |
Nonfiction Biography |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: Language |
The Reviewer |
Leslie Halpern |
Reviewed 2006 |
NOTE: Reviewer Leslie
Halpern is the author of Reel Romance. The Lovers' Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies
and Dreams on Film. Coming Soon: A Writer's Guide to Fearless Interviews. |
|