Customer Reviews

Bobby Darin: A Life

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been a Bobby Darin fan most of my life and as such have read pretty much everything I could get my hands on concerning this sadly underrated entertainer. For obvious reasons I had high hopes for this book but unfortunately, Mr. Starr failed to deilver the goods. Why? Quite frankly because he got so much obvious information just plain wrong, it leaves the reader doubting anything new the author may have uncovered. Indeed, the interview quotes are colorful but for the record: Bobby Darin's character in Captain Newman M.D. did NOT "Come to terms with his grief and is sent home a happier soldier" as Starr writes on page 126. Watch the movie all the way to the end Mr. Starr and you'll see what I mean. Also, where did he get the idea that Gary Busey won an Oscar for the Buddy Holly Story as he writes on page 219? These are just 2 quick examples of known mistakes from a text that also derides movie magazine articles and then quotes from them extensively as source material! By the way, a bibliography would've been a nice touch so the reader can see where the author may have made his mistakes. All in all a nice try that missed the mark on a fascinating subject. Better luck next time. . . . .

This book reads as if were written in a week. It is truly a cookie cutter biography, full of copious quotes from old movie magazines. What a disgrace to the memory of the great Bobby Darin. Awful.

I was disappointed with this book. It is just the same things in the other books about Bobby warmed over. You don't learn anything new. The best book I read on Bobby was Roman Candle, The Life of Bobby Darin and Dream Lovers, but especially the Roman Candle book. If you want to find out everything about Bobby (the good things) read the Roman Candke book. This book is waste of time.

If you're a huge Bobby Darin fan, you will probably find this book more interesting. I liked some of his songs, but wasn't necessarily a huge fan. The book has a lot of quotes, but I would have preferred more narriative from the author.

Once again, I am amazed at the way in which Michael Starr can draw you right into the life of his characters. Bravo to Mr. Starr for so accurately describing someone who became a legend in such a short time. As usual, Mr. Starr doesn't disappoint. He gives you a well researched, complete picture and then some! This book will leave you with no questions unanswered and wishing that you knew Bobby himself! A MUST read either before the movie comes out, or immediately after to fully understand what he accomplished.

This book is well-written, insightful and the author did a great job of giving us a glimpse of this complex man's personality. Well done!

Biography, Biography & Autobiography, Biography / Bobby Darin (real name Walden Robert Cassotto) put more into his 37 years alive than most people fit into much longer lives. Driven by the knowledge that the rheumatic fever he cought at age seven was going to shorten his life dramatically, he achieved his goals of fame as a great performer. His other goal of fame as a human being was more elusive as the sense of urgency driving his life made him neglect his wives and family.

This book will serve as a tribute, an eulogy if you will of his life. It is based on interviews with such close friends and relatives as Steve Blauner - Darrin's best friend and business manager - Darin's half-brother Gary Walden, Dick Clark, Wayne Newton, Neil Sedaka, Tony Orlando and many others. Extensively researched it also details the shocking secred that Darin learned late in life - that his "sister" Nina was actually his mother and that Polly, the woman he thought was his mother, was actually his grandmother. This knowledge made him spend the last five years of his life consumed by bitterness and anger over this betrayal.

This is an excellent companion to the movie, helping to explain some of the reasons he was the man he was.

Any bio on Bobby Darin is welcome and inherantly interesting, and this one is respectable if a little dry. Not the best, Dream Lovers has that honor, but still recommended.

Bobby Darin was a larger than life singer and actor who sadly has his star burn out much too soon. In 1973, at the young age of 37, he would pass away, but he packed a lot of living in those 37 years.

In Michael Seth Starr's outstanding biography "Bobby Darin: A Life," the author takes you from Darin's humble start in New York City to his meteoric rise to fame in his early 20s. Starr covers how he always knew he would not live long because of his damaged heart from a case of Rheumatic Fever as a child, which plagued him throughout his life.

Throughout Starr's book, he talks to close associates who give great insights to the man who brought Mack The Knife to life with this finger snapping style and it took that great song to the top of the charts making it a smash hit and one he would become associated with from that point of his career, to this very day, years after his death.

This is the second book I read from Michael Seth Starr (the first being his biography on the late comedian Redd Foxx called Black and Blue: The Redd Foxx Story). I highly recommended both of his books for an enjoyable read and a look at two amazing careers that saw humble starts in life that led to amazing heights.

My knowledge of Bobby Darin was limited to childhood memories and the 2004 Kevin Spacey movie. I was happy to find that my memory and the movie were basically accurate. The story of his life, both personally and professionally, was as enjoyable, interesting and breezy as Darin's music. It was sad to realize he died so young.