The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco [Hardcover]

Frederic Mitterrand (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the volume catalogues all of Kelly's items from the traveling exhibition, providing insightful commentary along the way." ~Florida International Magazine

"Using many never-before-seen photos, this catalogue provides a fascinating look at all facets of the Princess' remarkable life." ~Panache

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Skira (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8861303439
• ISBN-13: 978-8861303430
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 1.4 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book and exhibition!, September 28, 2007

By 

HawaiiMann "Aaron" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco (Hardcover)

I recently spent 12 days in the wonderful city of Monte Carlo. One of the highlights was being fortunate to visit the Princess Grace Exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum. It was so comprehensive that I had to visit the exhibit twice. This book is the "catalogue" of the exhibit, but it is far more than that. It is a wonderful exploration of Grace Kelly's life from childhood, to Hollywood to Monaco. This is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in how remarkable an American life can be. I forgot to purchase it at the exhibit and was thrilled that it was listed here. It was 50 Euro's there - so it is a bargain here on Amazon. Love it!!!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful from start to finish!, October 1, 2007

By 

Louise Kolbeinsen "Louise" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco (Hardcover)

If you are a Grace Kelly fan you will love this book. It is packed full of photos and personal items of the late Princess. For example there is a close up of the dress Grace wore to her civil marriage, some pages from a scrap book she created as a teenager, many letters from notable personalities.
I would love to have seen the exhibit this book is based on, I am hoping it will travel to London.
The book itself is quite heavy and well made, so is well worth the price.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars and the fairy tale goes on...., December 10, 2007

By 

Claudia (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grace Kelly Years: Princess of Monaco (Hardcover)

Due to the very good reviews on Amazon and because this book says to be a glimpse of the exhibition on Grace Kelly in Monaco (I was unfortunate not being able to visit), I bought this book. As already mentioned by others, it does have a very nice and high quality look and feel, but still, it did not meet my expectations. Being a Grace Kelly Fan, I am sort of disappointed to find many pictures one can already find in many other publications on her. The personal items are very interesting, but there could be more.
This book is officially accepted by her family, and it is quite understandable that the image of Grace Kelly had to be a positive one, just like she had wished, as one of her quotes in this book states. But another of her quotes also shows, that she did not seem consistently happy with her fairy tale image, to which she herself had some cause. Is this maybe a glimpse of one extreme in her personality? I think it would have been possible to show more of a "real" person, and maybe the exhibition this book is reflecting did so. If so, this book was not made with care.
I have read some unauthorized biographies on her and even if they sometimes seem a little too much, too dirty, too revealing, they still appear to describe the life of a human, the ups and downs, the possible reasons for the choices made in life. This book is the absolute contrary, and even seems to be desperately trying to disprove all other books written on her. One example: one nice, short thank you letter from Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis makes the impression of a harmonious friendship. Other biographies claim their relationship to being quite disturbed, Jacqueline not at all being fond of Princess Grace. Well, maybe the exhibition had more to tell on this issue, so I would have rather seen more letters Grace Kelly wrote than thank you notes from her co actors and other celebrities written with typing machines.
Maybe it would have been better just to display as many pictures as possible from the exhibition, with very little text and without any tendentious comments. This would have let the book be more open and would have let the spectator make up his own mind. But it seems that was not the intention.