Customer Reviews

Mario Lanza: Tenor in Exile

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Having just read this so called biography, I am amazed at some of the comments from readers and reviewers alike. "Well researched"?"Well documented"? "Balanced"? The book is full of errors!There are blatant mistakes and distortions on virtually every page! E.G.Page 15: Filignano is in the Molise region not Abruzzi. Page 37: The RCA contract was signed in February 1945 not October 1944. Page 47: The apartment was not rent free. Lanza paid $75 per month for it.Page 219: Lanza and Di Stefano never met. I know Di Stefano. They only spoke twice on the telephone.Need I go on? I have spent a lifetime researching the life and career of Lanza (the last 20 years working on a biography.)I cannot believe that Amadeus actually published this almost completely inaccurate book. As for Mr. Bessette, I don't know his motives for attempting this futile exercise, but the mere fact that he relied on Al Teitelbaum as his main source of information says it all.

Mr. Bessette proclaimed that he set out to write a book that would help explain the troubled life and tragically early death of Mario Lanza. This is an excellent idea and (despite protests from an earlier reviewer) his hypothesis that Lanza suffered from a Bipolar Disorder which he self-medicated through alcohol and overeating rings profoundly true. As a mental health professional with a Masters Degree in Psychology, I have seen many examples of persons with such a "dual diagnosis" of both a mental disorder and substance abuse disorder, and clearly Lanza suffered from both: his mood swings appeared to be independent from his drinking, and in fact when he was apparently hypomanic he was less likely to drink.

However, after stating his purpose in writing the book in the preface, Bessette does not return to it until the epilogue, when he advances his hypothesis. He apparently felt he was writing something of a mystery novel. His book would have been much more illuminating if he had returned to his stated purpose throughout and had analyzed in more detail each example of Lanza's bizarre behavior as a hypomanic or depressed episode. Instead, we get an interesting preface, an adequate but not particularly detailed (except when it comes to financial transactions, which is likely the area most readers are least interested in detail) or original recounting of Lanza's life, and then the author's briefly sketched impressions in the epilogue. It is worth reading as an account of Lanza's life that is neither overly critical nor overly fawning, but could have been much better.

I have read every book out on Lanza. This book, although has different pictures in it, nonetheless is a carbon copy of all the others, with nothing new added, except some alleged isolated, unprovable stories. I suppose one could ask how and from whom after 40 years since Mario died, did he get this 'new' information, when other authors who were very close to Mario and would have had this information, never knew about it. My opinion is that this book has absolutely nothing new added to it. My concern is only that this book defames not only Mario Lanza, but his family as well, which is not appreciated by Mario's following and should be questioned in any interviews that he may have. After all, he never knew any of the family nor did he ever meet mario Lanza.

This is a good run of the mill celebrity biography. Certainly it gives an explanation of some the dynamics of Lanza's life from a medical and psychiatric background and actually makes it more sympathetic to them. In fact, the Lanzas' lives, complicated by mental illness and substance addiction, were very tragic. On the other hand, the author could have expanded his list of sources. This limitation is my primary objection to the book. I must say I am very surprised by the virtulant response to this book because much of this was already known and published, and Lanza, like most of us, did not lead a perfect life

This is a depressing list of Lanza's failings, passing as a biography. It's everything negative about Lanza that you didn't want to know.If you've seen Lanza in his movies, you won't find that Lanza here.

Roland Bessette's "Mario Lanza" is a good object lesson about the price of fame and an interesting survey course in the career of this gifted but horrifyingly troubled tenor.

But attorney Bessette's book proves that as a writer, he makes an excellent lawyer. Bassette's sentence structure, confusing and contradictory information and feeble attempts at humor all mar what is otherwise a well researched work on a man about whom the author obviously cares.

Here in Philadelphia, Mario Lanza is something of a diety: its good to see the record set straight. In the end, it seems his failings make his accomplishments all the brighter. If only Mr. Bessette had had what today is that rarest of all things: a good editor.

I don't know why time was wasted in printing this book, the content is nothing that has not been addressed before and most of it is not what fans or those interested in this great mans artistry want to read about, instead of printing unsubstantiated innuendo I would rather read about his talent, this is nothing short of a slur on a great man. This book was touted to be the definitive biography of Mario Lanza, instead it turns out to be nothing but el cheapo magazine stuff.

Mario Lanza was one of the greatest tenors of all time. I was only 7 when he died, but I remember listening to my sister's records of him, especially "The Student Prince", which I still have, along with some of his CD's and all his movies. This book seems to desicrate his memory--and all the happiness his wonderful voice brought to everyone. I enjoyed the pictures, but did not care for the tone of the book, which seemed unnecessarily negative. I agree with you, Damon! Your Dad was wonderful!

It is amazing to me to read some of the reviews calling this book inaccurate, garbage, etc... Sorry folks, this book captures Lanza's life - the good and the bad and the sad. Most of what is here has been corroborated by Terry Robinson and Constantine Callinicos. This is NOT a tabloid piece. It just so happens that Lanza led a tabloid-like life. It is also not ALL negative, even though Lanza had many negatives in his life.

Unfortunately, I purchased the book thinking I would gain more insight into Lanza's life. If you have (as I have) read Robinson's and Callinicos's books, there is not much that is different. On many occasions, these books are quoted from directly.

Still, I enjoyed the book. Some new info, but not much.

This book was written like a cold detached boring report....It is a shame that the author wasn't able to capture the "passion" of the artist in his writing. It is fine to write an honest portrayal which deals human frailties but it should be balanced with a better understanding in terms of the "whys" and the "whats" that were behind the persona of the man....This book was written like a National Enquirer Article. What this book is missing is the ability to write from and with "heart," it is cerebral report. The problem in this book is not so much what was written but how it was written. Life is a schoolhouse, perhaps the author step down from his superficial pedestal of "authority" and study it and try to understand it before he attempts to play God and be a self proclaimed authority on someone else's life. It is very difficult to read a book, and care about the subject of the book, when the author writes on a superficial level and appears not to have the ability care or write with some amount of human compassion pertaining to the subject of his book.