Barbara Seaman's pioneering biography of the author of Valley of the Dolls, The Love Machine, and other mega-sellers examines the life of a woman who exhibited amazing strength in every aspect of her life-from getting her writing published and promoted to fighting her ultimate adversary, breast cancer.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Pioneering feminist health scholar and Ms. contributor Barbara Seaman dishes all the delicious dirt on Jackie Susann, who left more dirt in her wake than most tornadoes: countless affairs with the famous and infamous (including Ethel Merman!), a scary passion for her father (whom Jackie, age 4, caught in flagrante delicto with a woman not his wife), and a cancer-ravaged life, exacerbated by enough drug binges and showgirl catfights to fill the most notorious roman á clef in world history, Valley of the Dolls. Seaman also does an investigative reporter's spade work. She explains how Susann's ambitious marketing ideas revolutionized the book business--at 19 million copies sold, Valley is the top-scoring novel ever written--and she checks out the sad history of Susann's autistic son, who was stashed away in a horrifying institution (which was the subject of a Geraldo Rivera exposé), and then mysteriously disappeared from public view. Susann's poodle Josephine apparently took her son's place in her heart, and her book about the pooch, Every Night, Josephine!, launched her weird bestseller career. Valley of the Dolls is amazingly entertaining, but unless you've read Lovely Me, you don't know Jacqueline Susann.
From Library Journal
This unauthorized biography of the best-selling novelist ( Valley of the Dolls, etc.) will appeal only to readers of Susann or of celebrity biographies. A would-be actress since the late 1930s, Susann finally attained long-desired fame and celebrity with Valley in 1966 (after her first cancer). Neither interviews nor chapter quotations are satisfyingly cited, which makes it difficult to separate fact and rumor. The book does explore Susann's drive for success until her death at 56 and provides an in-depth look at the grim business of American publishing and promoting, at which Susann was truly brilliant. Ultimately an ungratifying look at a sad writer who knew her subject matter only too well. Scheduled to be an ABC-TV mini-series. Rebecca Sturm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely Me,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (Paperback)
Jacqueline Suzanne invented the way that books are publicized today and for that alone, this book is worth the read. But there's much, much more. She was on the scene when television invented itself, and therein lies another fascinating tale. And along the way, she invented herself. Jackie hobnobbed with and had affairs with the rich and famous and <<Lovely Me>> leaves no stone unturned in this realm. Seaman's list of acknowledgements is a veritable who's who in popular culture, including many well-known feminists, as well as such luminaries as Isaac Asimov, Rex Reed, Barbara Walters and John Lennon. Famous names keep popping up all over the place, reminding us that we are reading a biography and not a fantastical romance. In the end, Jackie wrote about what she knew--the sex, the booze and pills, and clawing for fame, security, and recognition. Perhaps Jackie herself, summed it up best: "Yea, I think I'll be remembered...I think I'll be remembered as the voice of the 1960s...Andy Warhol, the Beatles, and me..."
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely Read,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (Paperback)
Jackie Susann changed the face of women's literature. There were others ahead of her, Margaret Mitchell, Taylor Caldwell, Mary McCarthy and Grace Metalious all come to mind. Yet it was Susann who took the s-e-x out of the implied and on to the explicit, redefining the path of fiction forever. The authors of too many biographies, in their quest for thoroughness and scholarship, take lively subjects and make them dull. Seaman has avoided that trap here, instead writing a biography that reads much like a novel itself. Seaman portrays Susann as she was, uneducated, possessing no special talent, cursed by misfortunes, of which she had more than her share. Susann failed as an actress, she failed as a talk show host. Yet Susann also was driven and undeterred in her determination to find success, and find success she did. In the process, she not only re-defined the way in which contemporary fiction was written--she also re-designed the way in which books themselves were marketed. And Seaman has provided all of the details in LOVELY ME. To Seaman's credit, this biography never loses its pace; she keeps the story interesting right to its inevitable end. Knowing the right people, being seen in the right places, was the essence of Susann's determination, and Jackie saw to these with great precision. Eventually, the fictionalized version of her life would become the basis of her bestsellers. Therefore, in the process of telling Susann's life story, Seaman also offers a snapshot of life in New York City from the 1930's to the 1970's. The result is a history of a fascinating woman at a fascinating time. LOVELY ME is a lovely read.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An astounding biography of an Astounding Lady...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann (Paperback)
Barbara Seaman's impressive biography of Jacqueline Susann, "Lovely Me", is, without a doubt, the BEST biography of a celebrity ever written! This book surpasses anything that Lovely Ms. Susann could ever have written by several thousand miles. After reading this amazing tome, I felt a deep respect for the creator of the "pot-boiler", and I admire her spunk and spirit, in the face of great adversity. If you are searching for a book that tells it ALL, from drug binges, extramarital affairs (both lesbian and heterosexual), rivalries, and hatred, and the indistinguishable love between Jackie and her husband, Irving Mansfield, then please, please, please, pick up this book. It just might be the best thing you'll read all year...
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