Customer Reviews

Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There are many books devoted to the deaths of the famous, but few quite as accomplished or entertaining as this one. First of all, the range of celebrities covered here is quite impressive. Sure, you get the usual Hollywood suspects (Marilyn Monroe, Natasha Richardson, Jon-Erik Hexum), but also such off-the-beaten-path oddities as James H. Bedford (the first human to be cryonically preserved), Jack Daniel (of Jack Daniels fame) and Pope Pius XII. An impressive mix. Impressive, too, is the amount of research the author has given to this book. It's likely that even entries on people you know about will contain some little gem of startling information. Most impressive, though, is the tone maintained throughout. It's funny, but never cheap-shot snarky. A difficult balancing act to bring off, but it's been done here successfully. True, if you're Ted Bundy's third cousin twice removed, you might be offended by the humor. But the rest of us should lighten up. Death is part of life, so let's enjoy it while we're here.
Richard Sanders
Sex Death Dream Talk

Love it, love it, love it. This is a practical book that is crammed with stories of the deathstyles of the famous as well as the infamous. It answers all those questions about celebrity death that you may have always wanted to ask such as 'was Jayne Mansfield decapitated', but somehow felt you might be perceived as 'strange' if you really did ask. Fear no longer and get rid of any trepidation you may have had about asking those questions. You can buy this book, read it from cover to cover, and your friends and relatives will be clueless that you are a death junkie and you will not be labeled WEIRDO.
Written with remarkable style and humor, the author has managed to cover a lot of material that will leave you chuckling. There are other books out there that provide similar information, but none do it as well. This book manages to take a lot of the stigma out of death. It is accurate and loaded with tons of interesting information concerning the deaths of well-known dead folks. You can liken this book as a cemetery guide for an armchair cemeterian.
My only criticism is that I wish this book was bigger. Mr. Petrucelli undoubtedly has a lot of unused material out there that I know he didn't even touch on. Seems like he better get started on MORBID CURIOUSITY Vol. 2.

If you love movie star gossip this book is for you. It is just one juicy Hollywood tale after another. Yes, it's a little morbid reading about how people died but these stories are very interesting. Thank you to the author for including the often forgotten Carole Landis. Her family thinks she was murdered and so do I.

I really wanted to give this book 5 stars but I was disappointed with the lack of photos :-( It's still a fun book to read.

I love gossip, rumor, and sleazy stories about the rich and famous! The truth beneath such sordid tales about our stars and heroes is the iconoclast's motto: "The Emperor has no clothes! (At least, not when his body was discovered!)"

And a cautionary note to anyone who wants to quibble about details: stay away from books with titles like "Morbid Curiosity"! If you want nutrition, eat carrots and brussels sprouts-- this book's chocolate-covered marzipan, and quite delicious!

Very interesting and fun book to read. I just wish there were small photos of the deceased and of their graves.

This book has the makings of a fascinating, easy-to-read, difficult-to-put-down installment, but the opportunity was missed. It is a coarse, crude accounting of the death of individuals, some famous or infamous, some unknown. What strikes me most is the author's cruel and malicious manner, the delight he takes in mocking the subjects of the book and the way that they met their demise. If a family member of mine or anyone that I knew personally had been one of the author's targets, I would have been resentful. While what I read was of interest, I was not willing to plod through to the end of the book due to the offensiveness of the material. The next time I wish to read about the interesting ways in which individuals died, I will rely on a scholar like renowned southwestern Pennsylvania-based pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, who is capable of making such tales interesting while respecting the decedents.

This book is a direct copy of the original "Morbid Curiosity: Celebrity Tombstones Across America." Everything from the text to the photos are all borrowed and not credited. How this guy can call himself an author is beyond me; he is nothing but a charlatan and a fake. Joan Rivers should have checked her sources before lending her name to this "copy" of a book.

Morbid Curiosity: Celebrity Tombstones Across America

Photos were stolen from [...]

You wish he took more pleasure in describing the gory, controversial details (you know we love reading them!), but he skims over them or leaves them out altogether. The author resorts to cheap puns and doesn't seem to have a unique voice of his own. This book contains spelling mistakes such as the word "skill" where is should say "skull" there's a big difference between picking up chunks of skull and chunks of skill. I enjoyed reading it just because I like taboo subjects, but his style (or lack of) annoyed me to my core.

I really enjoyed this book: definitely written tongue-in-cheek, so you need a sense of humor if you're going to dive in. Read some histories that I have seen in other similar books, but ran across several that were new, like Dr. Kubler-Ross.

The reason for only 3 stars is because of the presentation in Kindle format. Some of the biographical material for one person will be interrupted by another's information, and then switch back to the first person.. It's almost an exercise in multi-tasking to switch from one celeb's life to anothers and still be able to figure out who is who. I'm sure the printing must be large type for one person, then switching on the same page to a smaller entry for the 2nd, like a side note.

I understand that Kindle is still a new technology and there will be a lot of refining going on in the future, but this just is not a good example of what Kindle can do. How they will correct it, I don't have any idea

alan has written a fascinating, insightful, fun, entertaining, interesting and witty book about the demise of some of the most famous and infamous people in history. a delightful and delicious pleasure.