Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For an in-depth review, THIS IS DARIN AND DEE!!, January 8, 1998
For anyone interested in the lives of America's dream couple, this is the definitive collection. From Dees troubled childhood, her early rise to fame, a practicly unknown side of Darin as well as Dee through thier marriage, to Dees collapse and hints of a comback. The only thing left out is Dees recounts of the end of the marriage other then a brief "why" it happened. Darin's life is presented here in the most concentrated, interview-laden publication. Every aspect of his career and life are exhamined with a much-due artist respect tone. The plus here is a section of "what if's" are explored. The structure of the book is a new approach with chapters vollying back and forth in chronoligical order. An interesting ending with Dodd Darin's own little life dramas being raised a Hollywood teen. For Dee fans, this shows the price of fame. For us Darin fanatics, this shows the "why" of fame.Why do they do it? A must have for 50's/60's fans, Darin/Dee fans, biography fans, music fans, or anyone who's looking to open a new door.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the Darin bios, January 6, 2006
Of all the Darin bios this one is my favorite. Darin and Dee's son Dodd, along with his collaborator, did a lot right and really fleshed out both people so that I felt like I had some idea what they were like. I also felt like I got to know Dodd, and he's a man any two parents would be proud of. He was brave and honest in his portrayal of his parents, and in approaching some estranged relatives and friends for their input.
My only regret is that Dee had the advantage of going through the book and requesting changes because she felt it was too hard on her. These changes were then made in accordance with her wishes. Darin had no such editorial advantage since he was long dead when it was written. So it feels like Dodd's bending over backward (tho' understandably given that his mom's feelings were at stake) to be accomodating to Dee, while (also understandably) unable to do the same for Bobby.
But a great dual bio of two fascinating and appealing stars: one damaged physically and doomed to a short life, and one damaged emotionally and unable to enjoy her longer life.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've never ached so much for people I'll never know, January 2, 1999
By A Customer
The recent PBS documentary ("Bobby Darin-Beyond the Song") caught my attention and really grabbed me. I grew up in the 60's but had never paid much attention to music- and even hated some of the songs he sang. But even as I hated the songs I became mesmerized watching him. So I bought this little book and couldn't put it down. The authors start at the very beginning of Darin's and Dee's lives, making me feel like I was living each heart-breaking day and year with them. And watching Darin's life as it slowly unfolded made me slowly realize what a total genius he was, and made me realize how UTTERLY ORDINARY I am! How does one person become so completely talented that it is nothing short of frightening, and I exhibit not the slightest bit of creativity! So dramatic and yet too routine for a TV soap opera, it is heart-wrenching that Darin idolized but never saw the man he thought was his father, and found out very late in his too short life that his "sister" was actually his mother, his "mother" was actually his grandmother, and his "father" was not his father. He died only suspecting who his father actually was but never really knowing. But more upsetting to me is that in the United States in the 1970's no one could save this man's life when surely he could have been easily saved. He suffered physical pain that the book had me believing I was experiencing, and worst of all: he suffered alone. Everyone- including doctors who should have known better- told him there was nothing wrong with him. His physical ailments naturally made him difficult to be with and even those closest to him were driven away. This "brash," "cocky" man who gave us so much talent and enjoyment and ways to escape our troubles lived his last years terrified and feeling very much alone. What was also striking about this is that he had life-long friends who were more passionately in love with him than they were with almost anyone else- even when they were "on the outs" with him (How many of us have friends who would cry when speaking about us twenty years after our deaths?). But ultimately for various reasons, few of them were there for him. This magnificient talent who had everything- wealth, fame, the adulation of friends and strangers, genius, entourages- truly died alone and terrified- the same way we "ordinary" people fear passing. This book left me more sad for and more concerned about strangers than I usually am for people I know, but it also left me truly heartened that the subjects' son seems to be doing so well and is so happy. His father would be as proud of him as he is of his parents, and his mother should rest assured that he will continue caring for her. He seems to be the type of son that should not only make a mother proud of him, but of herself- despite the low self-esteem she seems to have, she clearly did something very right when she raised him.
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by Tori Spelling
