Customer Reviews

Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As someone who considers herself one of Lady Gaga's little monsters, I was surprised that Herbert's book had plenty of facts I wasn't aware of and answered questions that have been the dispute of rumor and hearsay. She pulls most of her information directly from quotes in Gaga's interviews and seems to know what she's talking about. Who knew that not everything could be uncovered by hours spent trolling the internet? I appreciate finally having a detailed account of Lady Gaga's career from pre-Gaga to this January all in one narrative instead of assembled in my brain from a hodge-podge of articles. The best part of the book though is definitely all the photographs! Again, I was surprised to find unfamiliar images nestled among the iconic ones. Go get your claws on a copy!

Despite having sold millions of records and becoming a household name through her own will and creativity, the fact is, Lady Gaga is still a relatively "new" celebrity, so I was somewhat skeptical about how informative (or necessary) a full-on biography could be at this point in her career. But intrigued as I am by her and her music, I picked it up with an open mind in hopes of learning more about the woman herself, getting behind the mystique she so carefully veils herself in publicly. Heavy with quotes and page after page of gorgeous color photographs, this is a great reference tool for fans. However, in the end I don't feel like I necessarily learned anything new or came any closer to understanding the "meaning of Gaga," so to speak.

That's not to say it wasn't entertaining or well-researched, because it obviously was, but I felt like the author never fully broke through the wall that separates the reader from the subject matter. Lady Gaga's (aka Stefani Germanotta) privileged upbringing is glossed over in a matter of pages, and for as much as she mentions heartbreak and the love-vs-fame theme, no further details are given about her personal/love life. I guess I was just most interested in seeing the transformation from Catholic school girl to pop exhibitionist, but that connection was never clearly made. It's almost as if this girl fell right out of the womb as the Lady Gaga persona we know today. Then again, I get the feeling that's how she wants to be perceived. It's just too bad the author couldn't add a new spin on it to make her somewhat relatable. Humanized may be a better word. On the other hand, I can appreciate the attention that was paid to the music itself, which can easily be overlooked when writing about such an eccentric personality, so it does work as a really good resource in that respect. Plus it does paint a good picture of her dynamics within the music industry and the song-writing process.

Mixed feelings aside, was it worth a read? Yes. The pictures alone are worth the price, lol, and it was fairly well-written with a heaping of interview material from the Lady herself. But I think we need to wait a few more years before we get anything real substantial as far as life stories go. Meanwhile we can sit here all day and discuss whether or not Lady Gaga truly is the loner workaholic who revels in the avant-garde, or just another pretentious, gimmicky pop tart, because this book sure doesn't help in deciding one way or the other. She's just as much of an enigma by the last page as she is on the first. Like I said, I suspect that's the whole point. Nevertheless I'll give it the benefit of the doubt with 4 stars because it is the most comprehensive Lady Gaga book to appear on the market so far.

I bought this book because of the shiny cover and the loads of photos, but was please to find it was really well-written too. Really explores the enigma that is the brilliant Lady Gaga. Loved it.

Im an 11 year old little girl who is a huge Gaga fan, seeing her at the Monster Ball in February. Im proud to be her little monster and now I feel even better knowing A BUNCH more about our Mother Monster. Most of the stuff that a lot of people didn't know, I already did! But, there were some things in this book that I didn't know before and I do now! Which is what made me happy about knowing more about her. Another reason why I loved this biography is because it had a bunch of pictures from events that she went to! Like when she performed in 2007(when she was a brunette), when she was in London for the Brit Awards in 2009, when she performed as a guest on shows, when she was naturally performing at the Fame Ball, her performing the opening act for The Pussycat Dolls tour, her on MTV, her getting her awards at the VMA's 2009, her doing a skit with Madonna, her fighting for Gay Rights, her at Best Buy signing her album for her little monsters, her performing for the Queen of England, and so much more!!! I am hoping to be ordering more books about her in the future. 5 stars :D

I have read this, and another book on Lady Gaga, Maureen Callahan's Poker Face.

Even though I am over 50 years old, I am a huge fan, have attended one Monster Ball concert, and have tickets for an upcoming concert.

90% of the material in this book could have been, and probably was, compiled from watching YouTube videos of Gaga's interviews. The author spoke, as far as I could tell, to only a couple of people who know Gaga. I already knew 90%+ of the information contained in this book, simply by watching the same YouTube videos, for free. And not only was almost no research done on this book, it is not well written. The author is clearly a fan, which is fine, but nothing the least bit negative or even odd about our Mother Monster come out in this volume. I learned almost nothing about Gaga from this book.

In short, buying this book is a waste of money, and reading it is a waste of time.

By comparison, Poker Face, the Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga by Maureen Callahan is a masterpiece. It is well researched and well written. It contains a lot of information from people who know Gaga, people from her school and college, her early bands, people who know her habits, her incredible work schedule and ethic, her skill at marketing herself, and her quirks and habits.

This book is a well-researched and in-depth look into the life of Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga. Beginning with the history of her parents, Emily Herbert's exploration of the mysterious Gaga guides the reader through the artist's childhood: her upbringing amongst New York City's most elite children at an exclusive catholic private school. We follow Gaga through her short time at New York University, her drop out, and the burlesque dancing career that followed.

Gaga's subsequent rise to fame is an uplifting and tumultuous story that is nothing short of inspiring. The biographer offers an intimate view of Lady Gaga's enticingly mysterious character and the creative mind that crafts the outlandishly fashionable performances that define her stardom today. She is truly a fresh face in the entertainment industry and this book does a fantastic job of squeezing her grandiose character into the pages of a paperback.

I'm a relatively new Gaga fan after seeing her most recent concert (Monster's Ball) and loving her albums, so I picked up this book wanting to know more about her. I'm most of the way through the book, and have mixed feelings about it.

On the positive side, it does have quite a bit of information, but none of it is very "original". The author doesn't seem to have interviewed Lady Gaga for this book, and most of the research seems to have been through a review of her interviews. But still, there is plenty of good info here.

On the bad side, the writing is kind of a mess, and at times can be a frustrating read. It is not strictly chronological, and kind of wanders all over the map, One moment it will be talking about some early phase of Gaga's career, then the next it will be talking about the careers of one of her collaborators, and the next it will be talking about Lady Gaga's latest album etc. It's just all over the map. It's like listening to a story told by someone with an extremely short attention span, and is very scatter-brained.

Do I recommend the book to Gaga fans? I suppose, until I find something better anyway. But someday Lady Gaga will (hopefully) collaborate with a better writer, and this thing will get done right. Until that day, I guess we are stuck with this book.

Oh, and one reviewer commented about the book being filled with high quality photos. I think that is pretty misleading. The book is actually 250+ pages long, and there a couple dozen pages with photos. Nobody will confuse this for a picture book.

Im an 11 year old little girl who is a huge Gaga fan, seeing her at the Monster Ball in February. Im proud to be her little monster and now I feel even better knowing A BUNCH more about our Mother Monster. Most of the stuff that a lot of people didn't know, I already did! But, there were some things in this book that I didn't know before and I do now! Which is what made me happy about knowing more about her. Another reason why I loved this biography is because it had a bunch of pictures from events that she went to! Like when she performed in 2007(when she was a brunette), when she was in London for the Brit Awards in 2009, when she performed as a guest on shows, when she was naturally performing at the Fame Ball, her performing the opening act for The Pussycat Dolls tour, her on MTV, her getting her awards at the VMA's 2009, her doing a skit with Madonna, her fighting for Gay Rights, her at Best Buy signing her album for her little monsters, her performing for the Queen of England, and so much more!!! I am hoping to be ordering more books about her in the future. 5 stars :D

I have enjoyed this book about LADY GAGA... It chronicles her life from a child to last year... Her life story up to thie point is quite interesting( to me anyway). I am a huge music fan. I love to read about singers, and artists. I definitly recommend this book. It also has some great pics of her in it as well...

thanks
have a great one....
Suzi

This book is not as good as Poker Face. It doesn't give you any new information. It doesn't seem like the author did very much research about Gaga because everything I read in the book I already new from watching interviews and reading about her online and what not. If you are looking to get into Gaga's head I recommend going with the Poker Face book. The only thing that this book did better than Poker Face is the the author is obviously not a hater. This book congratulated Gaga throughout where as Poker Face was more of a disclaimer.