Customer Reviews

Madonna: Like an Icon

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Who can properly explicate the woman who is arguably the most famous female pop artist of our time? Many have tried; some have failed. Music critic Lucy O'Brien has a good go at it with Madonna Like An Icon.

O'Brien has been researching the phenomenon that is Madonna since the 1980s, fascinated by what appears to be unbridled ambition and the ability to repeatedly reinvent her image. This biographer's summary judgment is "The only place where she seems truly herself is when she is doing her work. Away from that she can be self-conscious, status-conscious, everything-conscious. Only in performance are those layers stripped away and it's just her."

Whether or not we agree with O'Brien's assessment this biography is meticulously written and researched, taking readers from Madonna's childhood in Detroit, Michigan, where she later danced at gay clubs to her almost fearless pursuit of success, through her tumultuous marriage to Sean Penn, to her Like a Prayer video, her movie roles, her stage appearance as Evita, her embrace of Kabbalah, and finally her marriage to Guy Ritchie.

Noting that Madonna's theatrical shows have made her a "quasi-religious icon", O'Brien cites friend and actor Rupert Everett who called Madonna the "Immaculate Conception." He describes his impression upon first meeting Madonna: ".....there was an energy field around her, like a wave, that swept everyone up as it crashed into the room"

Madonna once said of herself, "I am the work of art."
Who is the "real" Madonna? The answer may not be found in Madonna Like An Icon, but it is fascinating reading and sure to be devoured by her legions of fans.

- Gail Cooke

"Madonna: Like An Icon" is probably the most insightful book about Madonna that I've ever read. It's not a trashy unauthorized biography, it is a serious look at Madonna as an artistic force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, that may not be something everyone is into, because many people would rather buy into the myth of Madonna as a man-eating, sex-crazed control freak. The author of this book, Lucy O'Brien, has said that too many biographies of the icon have focused on her sex life and her image-changing at the expense of her work. Beneath the sometimes superficial facade, Madonna's work has a depth and sociological resonance that many people underestimate or fail to understand.

However, to be fair, this is not exactly a biography. But what's the point of a "Madonna biography" by now? Her life is the stuff of myth that even casual fans are familiar with. Instead, O'Brien only focuses attention on Madonna's personal life when it relates to her art, her passion and her identity as an artist. It's more of a character study, and a very insightful one. Her mother's subservience, religious fanaticism, and untimely death made Madonna reject traditional values. Although this is well-known by now, O'Brien adds dimension and legitimacy to this theory. The sexual assault she faced in New York compelled her to project an image of assertiveness and control, in order to prevent losing control and facing attack again. This dominating attitude was reflected in her work, constantly turning the tables on men in the game of sex. The details on her love life were also only mentioned when they related to her music. The vulnerability and loneliness she encountered during the crumbling of her marriage to Sean Penn made her create the confessional "Like a Prayer" while a string of disappointing lovers afterwards contributed to the cynical tone of "Erotica". There is also a great deal of attention that focused on her tours, her creative process, her cultural impact, and her artistic influences. I found this very refreshing. It showed how much the author respected and admired her as an artist, not just a "controversial chameleon". While O'Brien is a big fan of Madonna's, she is fair and objective when needed. She is rather critical of her "Sex" book and questions her interests in Kabbalah.

Something that I also enjoyed were the interviews from her collaborators and friends. They portrayed Madonna in a light that is very different than the "queen bitch" Madonna of legend. Many people remark on how warm, vulnerable, and sweet she can be in unguarded moments. Those intimate moments with close friends and trusted colleagues. I've always suspected that this version of Madonna is closer to the real thing than the controlled, imperious image she often presents to the world. The interviews with her collaborators also revealed how focused, savvy, direct, and, yes, wildly talented she is when working. Her work is her safe haven, the place where she can freely express herself and reveal herself and explore new territories. "Madonna: Like An Icon" drives that point home like no other book that I've ever read before.

I've almost reached the end of this book. I feel kind of cheated. This was supposed to be the "definitive" Madonna biography. Instead, what you get are the same old stories re-hashed with maybe a bit of extra totally extraneous information. For example, I don't really care to know the exact address of Madonna's family home in Pontiac, but would've liked a bit more insight into what really makes her tick. This book basically runs methodically through every album release, every tour and throws in comments from some people who knew her. It's lazily written, there's no real analysis going on here. O'Brien makes statements about Madonna and just leaves it hanging (or makes comparisons to herself). I did kind of enjoy reading the book anticipating some new information - and there were a few morsels, but not nearly enough. Her family are barely mentioned, but we get what seems every detail of every album she's ever recorded! It just feels impersonal - I wanted to read about Madonna, not about everything I already knew about her career. Only buy this if you know almost nothing about Madonna's life and career. You'll end up knowing alot about her career and chart positions etc. But you'll learn almost nothing about the woman herself. This is the biography of a career, not a person. I think I'll wait for the autobiography....

One Amazon.com reviewer complained that 'Like An Icon' is just a re-hashing of old stories and that there's not much to this biography. I totally disagree. 'Like An Icon' by Lucy O'Brien dismantles the curious and elusive celebrity and pop 'icon' known as Madonna and pieces her back together, revealing her motivations, fears, accomplishments, setbacks and failures. While other biographies seem to take a distant, detached observer stand-point, re-telling the same stories and quotes that appear in magazines or through a simple Google search, O'Brien manages to truly delve into Madonna and her psyche, making for an intimate and very revealing case study. Having listened to Madonna's music and albums, I was hesitant to give this biography a try because I was afraid it would be the usual run-of-the-mill biography that didn't reveal much more than I already knew. I am glad to say that I was completely wrong.

'Like An Icon' is not perfect. It's strange; it covers Madonna from birth through motherhood, from the debut self-titled 'Madonna' album through the very early stages of 'Hard Candy'. I expected the more recent material, perhaps the 2000s onward, would be the most revealing due to the access of information. This is not the case. The most telling chapters of the book are of early, pre-fame Madonna. We learn of her parents, of her relationship with her mother and her issues with her father and brothers, all of which are reflected in some of her modern songs. We learn of Madonna's sexual assault, and how she manages to embrace sex later on in her career in an attempt to profit from it. The book reveals back stories of many of her albums and individual songs, making for a very interesting read. As a reader, I found myself most interested in reading of how Madonna approached each album and how each was, in some way, an attempt to either top herself or a response to the previous album's failure. The reader is treated to very rare side of Madonna; an intimate, up-close and personal look at a woman deemed an icon. She's revealed to be shy, reserved, unsure of herself at times. Yet, as the chapters go forward, and we see Madonna evolve from a dancer trying to make it in New York to a spiritual, devoted mother grappling with the desire for fame and immortality while rising above her flaws.

In a curious move, I found the later or modern chapters of 'Like An Icon' to be lacking in some respect. The earlier chapters reveal a very colorful portrait of Madonna, making you believe that O'Brien was always behind her and taking notes from conception through each album. The later chapters reveals a very changed Madonna; one who is in some respects more tame, conservative, coarse and a tad bit unlikable. There's less insight into the album and music-making process after the 'Ray of Light' era. While O'Brien touches on everything from 'Music', 'American Life', the tours, the infamous VMA Britney smooch, these chapters felt very reserved and pulled back, as if the older Madonna became, the more elusive she became and the harder it was to capture her essence in prose. By far the most interesting chapters were from the end of the 'Like a Prayer' era through the notorious 'Sex' chapter, showing how Madonna went from the safe 'pop' realm to the dark, adult artistic realm and how it threatened her fame and changed her.

After reading this biography, I feel as if I understand Madonna a great deal more. Even though the book doesn't delve into the 'Hard Candy' era, having read about Madonna's evolution through the years even has left me with some understanding as to why she may be, in some respects, finally looking back and going with styles and trends that aren't groundbreaking but are rather dated and familiar to her. O'Brien does a wonderful job of revealing situations and instances in Madonna's life that fans would recognize as themes in Madonna's musics, videos or photos. Yes, like any biography of a celebrity, especially one as exposed and one with a long career like that of Madonna, there's going to be rehashing of stories already told, familiar quotes, a sense of deja vu, but trust me - this is really the 'definitive' biography and the only one you will need to read if you are curious to know more about Madonna. It's not all pleasant; O'Brien's portrayal of Madonna in her later years is not very flattering and questions the star's motivations. Yet, this made the biography all the more great to me. This was a full, round-about look at Madonna and her rise to fame. It's an explanation of why she's managed to keep her career afloat through the years while many of her '80s contemporaries have faded off into obscurity. It's an explanation of why each generation still talks about Madonna and knows a different side or iteration of her. It's a case and study of why Madonna is indeed a pop icon and visual artist. This is a great story and holds little back; definitely worth your attention and read.

This book was very informative with new information that I never knew about Madonna who is such a legendary artist. I really enjoyed delving into Madonna's life, but sometimes the author got too informative such as a big chunk of text about Catholicism. If I wanted to read about that, I'd pick up the Bible. The book is worth the time to read, but you'll definitely have to skim over a lot of "fluff" at times.

This is great! Buy it NOW! The author reviews Madonna's life and music while talking about her own growing up listening to M's tunes! Madonna's music makes the people come together and really is the OST of our lives! Like an icon? Absolutely!