Customer Reviews

My Daughter Maria Callas (Opera biographies)

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Callas's mother wondered why Callas would have nothing to do with her. Well, the events before and after this book would be enough to tell any intelligent person it's best to mend fences, not try to set the neighbourhood alight. Evangelia comes across as mean spirited, vain, grasping, snobbish and childish. No wonder Callas couldn't wait to get away and stay away. If you want to know what happens later read Jackie Callas' Sisters. Jackie stayed with their mother and it's a wonder to me [and to many other people I'm sure] that she didn't brain her mother with a hatchet.

Like so many books, from Romola Nijinsky's biography of her husband, onwards, this book was written with both eyes fixed firmly on the film rights. There are so many wrong facts in this book that it amazes me that serious Callas biographers bother to quote from it. Re-reading it now, with both Callas and her mother deceased, it is a sad testimony to the fact that even in households where traditional values held sway talent, greed and jealousy can make for situations which turn mothers into monsters.

Callas's mother wondered why Callas would have nothing to do with her. Well, the events before and after this book would be enough to tell any intelligent person it's best to mend fences, not try to set the neighbourhood alight. Evangelia comes across as mean spirited, vain, grasping, snobbish and childish. No wonder Callas couldn't wait to get away and stay away. If you want to know what happens later read Jackie Callas' Sisters. Jackie stayed with their mother and it's a wonder to me [and to many other people I'm sure] that she didn't brain her mother with a hatchet.

Like so many books, from Romola Nijinsky's biography of her husband, onwards, this book was written with both eyes fixed firmly on the film rights. There are so many wrong facts in this book that it amazes me that serious Callas biographers bother to quote from it. Re-reading it now, with both Callas and her mother deceased, it is a sad testimony to the fact that even in households where traditional values held sway talent, greed and jealousy can make for situations which turn mothers into monsters.