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80 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Crawford the star vs Crawford the mom, September 7, 2005
This review is from: Mommie Dearest (Paperback)
As a major Joan Crawford fan AND an advocate for children's rights, I feel compelled to comment. Firstly, it is necessary to separate Joan Crawford the actress from Joan Crawford the mother. MOMMIE DEAREST deals exclusively with the latter, not the former. Christina Crawford was not suggesting that her mother had no talent, and I do not believe that her goal was to destroy her mother's professional reputation. Rather, she felt it was important to expose the horrific reality she endured at the hands of an abusive parent who happened to have a highly positive public profile (part of which stemmed from her having adopted 4 children). Surely we as a society have evolved enough to know that child abusers can come from any race, any socio-economic circle, any profession - it shouldn't be difficult to believe that movie stars, with their fragile egos and often pathological need to succeed, can have major parenting deficits. And yes, obviously, this is a one-sided, subjective account - all autobiographies are! I doubt that any autobiography is objective. The reader should understand that Christina Crawford has provided us with HER perceptions, her recollections, of her childhood. We are being invited to see Joan Crawford, the mother, through Christina's eyes. And to be fair to Christina, there has been enough corroboration from reliable people who knew Crawford well, about specific aspects of Crawford's character (her obsession with cleanliness, for example), and of specific incidents referred to in Christina's book, that I for one do believe that, by and large, Christina has been truthful. It is also noteworthy that Crawford's son Christopher has corroborated what Christina has said. The twins have gone on record as denying that their mother was ever abusive - but it is possible that by the time the twins came along, Crawford had mellowed somewhat (this is not unusual as parents age, particularly when alcoholism sets in - and there is no doubt that Crawford was an alcoholic by the time she turned 50). It is unfortunate, strictly from a credibility perspective, that this book came out only after Christina discovered that she'd been cut out of her mother's will - but this does not mean that the allegations of child abuse are fabricated. Quite the contrary: a parent capable of excluding a child from his/her will may well be the kind of person who was abusive. Whatever your opinion of Crawford the actress (and I repeat that I am a huge fan), it is worthwhile to read her daughter's perceptions - not because it should influence your opinion of Crawford's talent, but because it helps to gain a more complete understanding of the very driven, ambitious and probably highly damaged person that rose to the top of the most competitive field in the world: movie stardom.
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
This book opened people's eyes, August 6, 2006
This review is from: Mommie Dearest (Paperback)
When Mommie Dearest was written in the 1970s, many people seemed to think child abuse didn't happen in the homes of the rich and famous. Some disputed the things Christina said about her adptive mother, but people who knew Joan confirmed much of what was described in Mommie Dearest. Some things, such as the "night raids" were probably only witnessed by the children. Even if ( I said if) that was exaggerated, much of what Joan did was abuse, even when you consider people had different standards about discipline 50 years ago. For one thing, people were much less likely to intervene, I think, than they are today, especially when the abusive parent is rich and famous. I don't understand why another reviewer here said Joan paid for college-- I don't remember that part. Christina was out on her own very young. Just because Joan Crawford was famous doesn't mean she was a good person or a good parent, and it is not whining to let people know that.
Having said that, I only gave the book 3 stars. Mommie Dearest is not the best written book I have ever seen. I would have liked to have seen more depth, more understanding of why Joan was what she was, and how she became that way. Of course, Christina is not a professional writer, just someone who had to endure abuse that might have broken a lesser person.
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61 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Christina tells story of child abuse by the rich and famous., June 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Mommie Dearest (Paperback)
Christina Crawford tells a story that has gone on for years in this country. Child abuse can happen to any family. Unfortunately some narrow minded folks seem to think this only happens in poor or uneducated families. It can and does happen to anyone. Thousands of children are abused and/or killed in this country each year. We hardly hear enough stories about it to scratch the surface. It's a sin and a shame on this whole country that rich people can buy anything, even children. Some have called Christina a "cry baby". Is that perhaps because you feel that since she seemingly lived in a wonderful mansion and had every little frill a child could dream of? You can live in the most marvelous of mansions and have everything your little heart desires. It would still be a living hell if you had to share it with an abusive and/or mentally ill person who controlled your every move. Someone who has never seen the movie or read the book called it, "Sickening and an abomination" that she would do this to her "foster" mother. I'd like to remind you that she was SUPPOSED to be a little more than her "foster" mother. She legally adopted these children which means she was supposed to love and protect them as any mother would. If she was unfit mentally then she shouldn't have used them to make a publicity splash or at least realized that she wasn't giving them the love they deserved. The only thing sickening and an abomination was that there were people around who witnessed all this and chose to turn their heads and a deaf ear because she was "Joan Crawford. Hollywood Glamour Star." I too was abused but I don't have the courage that Christina has because most people don't want to "get involved" or they simply don't want to believe that someone could act so nice in public and be so different behind closed doors. So the victims go on in silence. Ms. Crawford spent 60 years developing her film career? Well, good for her. I'm so glad she was so narcissistic that she chose to spend all her time on her selfish vain needs and "bought" these poor children to live in misery for her own selfish vain need to be looked upon with respect. It only took Hitler 14 years to rise to dictator of Germany and only a few years to kill 6 million Jews and 5 million other people he considered to be mentally deficient or political enemies. So what? It doesn't take hard work to be vain. Sickening and abominable? Yes that this country will turn it's head and let these things happen because we are so enamored with the rich and famous. I will go on in silence working behind the scenes at abuse shelters and charities. I can sleep at night. Good for you Christina. God bless you. I hope you too can sleep at night now, without fear of a drunken crazed woman coming in to wake you up with her latest torture. God bless America, and thank you for trying to open some of our eyes to the facts of child abuse and to this horrible habit of worshiping people with money and fame.
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