Customer Reviews

Me And My Shadows: A Family Memoir

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4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Lorna Luft tells her personal story about growing up the daughter of an adored and afflicted mother. As the child of one of the world's truly legendary stars, Luft tells what it was like to love and live with the tragedy and triumph that was Judy Garland. She pulls no punches, opens herself up honestly, presenting both the positive and negative sides of all the members of this difficult family from her own perspective. Yet, the the love and admiration she has for all of them is clear. Her feelings are honest and open (for good or bad). Luft givews you an insight into the real life that the publicity mills hid. Her devotion to her mother AND her father is a testament to true love which loves in spite of as much as because of who you are. Her ability to rise above her own fears and weaknesses, problems and addictions as well as her vivid storytelling makes this a real page-turner. Is it all true? Is it exaggerated? Is it fair? I'm not here to judge that. It's a great read. THAT, I can judge.

Lorna Luft's book exceeded any expectations I had about how interesting or entertaining it would be. It was by turns illuminating, funny, sad, wistful, and ultimately hopeful. She is truly learning the lessons of her (often tragic) heritage, and this book is a tribute to that process, as well as an honest portrait of her amazingly talented mother. She includes anecdotes you won't read anywhere else, and anyone interested in Judy Garland will find these stories revelatory. Luft has been accused of merely name-dropping here, but if her career and life-experiences have taken her into the paths of numerous famous individuals, why shouldn't she mention them? It would be ridiculous to expect her to write an honest memoir about her life and her mother's without naming names along the way. Ditto for her comments about Liza, who, judging from recent public appearances, looks to be headed further down that road of addiction and chemical dependency. More's the shame. There isn't anything extraordinarily graceful or eloquent about this book, but it is better than you'd expect it to be. And if you get the chance to see Lorna live doing her tribute to her mother, don't miss it.

Lorna Luft's book "Me and My Shadows-Life With Judy Garland" documents Lorna's life with her famous mother, who was battling addition to prescription drugs, and who would eventually die when Lorna was only 17. The book is not another "Mommie Dearest", but a memoir where a daughter writes about the problems and demons her mother was faced with on a daily basis. Nowhere in the book does Lorna ever say that she hates her mother: she instead dramatizes the sad events that led up to Judy's untimely death, and the problems that her mom faced with an addiction that she could not overcome. Miss Luft is very understanding of her mom's problems, for she knows better than anyone that back in the 1950's and '60s prescription pill addiction was never discussed and there was no Betty Ford Center to help people beat their dependacy. An excellent book, with well documented stories of her life with one of Hollywood's greatest stars, Lorna Luft proves she is an extraodinary writer in the truest sense. The second half of the book also discusses Lorns'a half-sister Liza Minnilli, and Liza's dependency on alcohol and drugs, and the help Lorna gave her in her recovery. Lorna is also very upfront about her own addiction to cocaine in the 1970's.
"Me and My Shadows..." was made into a well-received TV miniseries in 2001 that aired on ABC, ultimately winning 5 Emmy's. The book is one of the best memoirs ever written. Lorna Luft should be applauded for her courage in telling her story: many in her own family, including Liza and Lorna's dad Sid Luft, stopped talking to her when the book was published.

The book starts off with the story of Lorna Luft's grandparents (Judy's parents) Frank and Ethel Gumm and tells the story about how they met and the family they raised. The book then goes into the story of Lorna's mother Judy Garland growing up baby Frances Ethel Gumm. Lorna tells how her mother loved to perform and loved living in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (were she was born) and hated living in Lancaster, California where they moved when Judy was 4.
Lorna then goes into the story of the MGM years of Judy's life going from a radio singer to the star of The Wizard of OZ, one of the greatest hits of MGM's history all in the space of a year. After that, it was all pretty much down hill as far as MGM goes for Judy according to Lorna. Judy started on drugs to help her lose weight and help her sleep, and they soon controlled her life. Lorna tells that when Judy was 18 she got married to David Rose and after only a short period of time divorced him. She did this to get out of Ethel's hair because she could not stand being near her after the death of Frank, and Ethel's marrying a man exactly four years to the day after her father's death.
Lorna then goes into the sorted affair that was Judy's marriage to Vincent Minnelli and the birth of their daughter Liza. After only a few years though they divorced and Lorna goes on to talk about the next man in Judy's life, Lorna's father Sid Luft.
Lorna tells the story about her father being raised by a bon-vivent and a Russian Jewish designer in New York City. Lorna also tells a ridiculous story that her father once heard his father tell his mother about a mysterious note a woman wrote to him when his family was in Europe one summer.
Lorna tells about her parent's early relationship and how she never knew that she was actually on the way when they decided to get married. She describes the story about her early years in the house and then the hubbub of having little Joey come into the world. Lorna also writes about how when Joey was a little boy she actually went into his crib and scratched him so hard that to this day there are still scratch marks on his face, because she did not want him in the house anymore
This leads into the story about Lorna's own life. She writes about her early life at first staying at one house, but by the age of nine being shuffled from England to New York to California. She then elaborates about her parents separation and how a Psychiatrist used Lorna's fear of needles to get her to admit that she did not want to live with her dad, that she did not even love her dad. After this thing got a little better but she was still going from one step-father to another constantly moving, never being able to see her father, until at the age of 15 she moves in with her dad and several months later finds out that her mother was dead.
After her mother died, Lorna moved to New York to work in plays and things and had some love affairs (one with Barry Mataloe.) She tells about her dabbling with cocaine for several years and the diabolical that was her relationship with Burt Reynolds until she found the absolute wrong man for her-her husband Jake Hooker.
Lorna vividly details her relationship of almost 20 years with her husband. She tells about at first they were fine, and then after their son was born it was more like they were client and clientele instead of husband and wife and their daughters birth only made it worse. She details how their marriage broke up when their daughter was an infant and how only a week later she met the next man she was to marry.
Last, but not least Lorna describes her relationship with her sister Liza Minnelli. She tells that because Liza was seven years older than her she does not really have any memories of her when they were young, but she has a lot when they were older. Lorna details the struggle Liza had with drugs that culminated in Lorna virtually kidnapping her sister and taking her to the Betty Ford Center in about 1984.

After seeing author Luft on "20/20", where she talked about how angry her family was about this book, I became interested in reading it. I was never a Garland fan, cringing at her neuroses every time I saw her, but my dad is nuts about her. You don't have to be a fan to find the story fascinating. Luft has great sadness and sympathy for the dilema her mother found herself in, and freely admits that the legacy of addiction continued with all Garland's children.

Even Luft's own story is interesting, from the party years at Studio 54 to her involvement with her sister Liza, up until Lorna finally pulls herself and her life together. Sometimes there seems to be some name-dropping and a bit of envy there, but if the Rolling Stones were at YOUR wedding, heck, you'd talk about it too!

Just finished this book and it was better than I anticipated. Lorna doesn't spare her mother, herself, or anyone in her family, but neither does she demonize them while she tries to make sense of the burgeoning dysfunction in her mother's (and later her own) life. The first half of the book is mostly about Judy Garland and gives a good sense of what she was like -- a good mother when she wasn't zonked on drugs, funny, an awesome performer, but also very manipulative, and into creating destructive drama fueled by her addiciton to Ritalin and star status. The second half of the book is mostly about Lorna. While it isn't as gripping as the first half, it is still an interesting read about the daughter of a legend trying to break into show business and unwittingly falling into some of the same traps as her mother. I think Lorna has emerged pretty clear-eyed from it all.

I hadn't known much about Lorna Luft, Judy Garland's "other daughter", until I read this book. I enjoyed it very much, and learned many things about Lorna, Judy Garland, and Liza Minelli. Yes, it's dishy, but I like that kind of stuff, like most people, so that didn't really bother me. And for those who were disappointed that there was more about Lorna than Judy, well, THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS WERE NOTHING BUT JUDY, and the next five or six were about her life after Lorna was born. Besides, Lorna said that it would be her story in the introduction. I do wish, though, that she'd devoted more space to her father's life before her birth than just a few paragraphs. Still, she gave a good portrayal of him, apparently better than most others. And she gave a very loving portrayal of her mother, never a "Mommie Dearest"-type one. She is very candid, and tries to see both sides of the argument, which must have been hard for her to do. You have to wonder if she exaggerates in some sections, but I do believe that Liza has a drug problem, not only after reading this book but seeing her on TV recently. She looks so much like Judy in her last years, when the drugs had ruined her, that it's scary. I do hope that she and Sid Luft will reconcile their differences with Lorna before it's too late.

I read Luft's version of her own mothers story. A very good book, told from someone close enough to feel the total pain and agony that the rest of the world felt- only amplified as her daughter.
Luft's book does paint a little fairy tale into the mix, but is a shocking story of watching your mother slip down a long dark slope.
Luft tells about Judy's start in Hollywood which is equally as interesting as the photo's in the book. Luft paints that love story between her mother and father and leaves you feeling his loss for her.
She also explains the relationship between her and sister Liza Minelli.
It's a great boigraphy.

I saw the TV movie this book was based on, and it made me go buy the book. The book starts as a biography of Judy Garland and ends as an autobiography of Lorna Luft. The book seems to present a fair, matter of fact portrayal of Judy Garland's life. It holds your interest from beginning to end. A must read for all Judy and Hollywood fans alike. I also highly recommend the Tv movie on VHS or DVD.

What a wonderful book. It's very clear that, despite the trials and tribulations of Lorna Luft's childhood, she loved her mother very much. I can't wait to see the movie version on TV!