Greta Garbo: A Life Apart [Hardcover]

Karen Swenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 1997

Drawing on key new sources, here is the first biography of Garbo written from a woman's perspective. Karen Swenson gives exclusive insights into the star's struggles with movie executives at MGM and with her mentor, Mauritz Stiller, as well as her bisexuality--aspects of her life often overlooked or treated as unimportant details. Here is the woman behind the myth, accompanied by rare, candid photos, some never before published. 32 pages of photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Life Apart is the apt subtitle of this scrupulously researched biography of the star as legendary for her fiercely guarded privacy as for her haunting beauty and luminous acting in such films as Camille and Ninotchka. Entertainment writer Karen Swenson delineates a unique personality considerably earthier than Greta Garbo's screen image: shy yet blunt, devoted to her craft but indifferent to fame, sexually magnetic to both men and women, a loyal friend who mercilessly punished disloyalty. The author meticulously fact-checked the often unreliable memories of companions and lovers such as Cecil Beaton and Mercedes de Acosta to comprehensively document Garbo's long life (1905-90).

From Library Journal

Since the death of Greta Garbo in 1990, a handful of biographies have been written, some focusing on her relationships, but only two have attempted to analyze her entire life. The first was Barry Paris's excellent Garbo (LJ 1/95). Swenson (Barbra: The Second Decade, Citadel, 1986) provides the second, which is promoted as being the first written from a woman's perspective and offering exclusive insights into Garbo's relationships with her mentor, Mauritz Stiller, as well as her purported bisexuality. This well-researched biography does provide a detailed narrative of Garbo's relations with Stiller, as well as her romantic attachments to John Gilbert, Mercedes De Acosta, Cecil Beaton, George Schlee, and others. Also covered extensively are her battles with MGM and Louis B. Mayer as well as her lifelong friendship with screenwriter Salka Viertel. Regarding bisexuality, Garbo was so elusive, even with those closest to her, that few revelations are made here. Ultimately, this book offers little more information and lacks the spark of the Paris biography. Libraries that already own the Paris book may want to skip. Recommended for large film collections and where demand warrants.?Phillip Oliver, Univ. of North Alabama Lib., Florence
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (September 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684807254
• ISBN-13: 978-0684807256
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research and writing, this is THE Garbo biography., October 10, 1997

By 

"rafechase" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greta Garbo: A Life Apart (Hardcover)

Take it from someone who has a shelf full of books on Garbo, Karen Swenson's "Greta Garbo, A Life Apart" is easily the best of the bunch. Where other authors have simply repeated stories from book to book, Swenson uses a detective's eye to find the facts. The book is highly readable and manages to give you a glimpse of who the mysterious Greta Garbo really was.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read Swenson if you want to be alone with Greta Garbo!, February 18, 2003

By 

C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greta Garbo: A Life Apart (Hardcover)

Karen Swenson is to be commended for a fine biography of Greta Garbo. Garbo is an enigmatic star more closely resembling a lonely sphinx camping out in the Sahara than a glitzy glamorous star in Hollywood's Golden Era.
Swenson delineates the Garbo career from the Swede's girlhood in a poverty stricken home in Stockholm to the extremely wealthy recluse she became in New York following her 1942 retiriement from the silver screen. (Her last flick was a bomb called "Two Faced Woman." Garbo had at least two faces in real life. The athletic outdoor woman she was could be kind and cruel as her moods were quicksilver in the soul of this Viking child of the North.
Barry Paris's book on Garbo contains more pictures and is, on the whole, better written. I did, however, enjoy Swenson's work
on the screen legend devouring the biography in huge portions of time.
Garbo was a great talent who lit up the screen with her peerless beauty and style. Costumes by Adrian and the magic of MGM camermen aided her in the climb to the top but she was herself unique for her aura of lonely beauty.
I appreciate the work of Karen Swenson. I hope you the reader do as well. If you read only one book on Greta Garbo you could do worse than selecting this excellent biography to fill you in on the Swedish queen of film.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The One to Have, December 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Greta Garbo: A Life Apart (Hardcover)

Barry Paris' Garbo biography was hard to beat, but Swenson's manages to do so. Well-written, convincingly researched and even-handed (neither a white-wash nor an attack). I heartily look forward to Swenson's upcoming book on Joan Crawford. If anyone can put a rest to that Mommie Dearest nonsense, Swenson certainly can.