Customer Reviews

The Memory Book of Starr Faithfull

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The Memory Book of Starr Faithfull is entrancing and heartrending- we watch through her words to her diary, Mem, as her young life is tainted by an older man and she is led to a world of hald-madness, allowing herself to be raped and used over and over again. We teeter on the brink with her, until she takes the final step that leads to her own death.

A fictional twist of real diary of a real enigma of Starr Faithfull. This woman was found washed up on a beach in NY at the age of 25 in the 30's. She had obvoiusly drowned in shallow water, since a great deal of sand was supposed to have been found in her lungs. She was a real ornament of 20's nightlife, and had some issues to say the least. Including molestation (with the use of ether--"creamy dreamy") and a rape by Uncle Andrew who was really mayor of Boston. Also a selfish money hungry mother, and an absent father. I don't know how believable Vanderbilt's vesion is, but I do know that Starr supposedly had a "memory book" that the press never saw. This book was good. Not the greatest, but a good read on a rainy day. I suppose the powers that be must have thought so also, since it was never released in paperback.

I got chills when I read this book, and this is based on a true story. I felt like I was deeply absorbed in this world of Starr Faithfull. A seemingly perfect world with torrid secrets and emotional pain of a young woman is certainly good novel fodder for any writer. Gloria V certainly writes this story with a great quality of talent and this book is definitely a well worth read over iced tea and chocolate. Perhaps even pizza with pineapple topping and extra sauce...

Gloria Vanderbilt has done a fantastic job of recreating the memory book of Starr Faithfull. She's an imaginative writer who has a beautiful way with words. At first it was difficult for me to imagine the words as coming from Starr, as they seemed more to come from Gloria - no father, a neglectful mother, looking for love in all the wrong places, but then the writing drew me in so well that it didn't matter. The one part she does not explain, is why did Starr have a breakdown after her cousin Andrew raped her, since it appeared she had well-tolerated everything else he had done to her, and even sought out his company. Perhaps Starr didn't even know herself why...but there is definitely a change in tone in the book once that happens, and Ms. Vanderbilt handles it wonderfully, taking the reader into the disordered mind of young Starr, so confused and depressed, yet hopeful. But ultimately unable to find her way to the better life that she deserved.