Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister [Hardcover]

Lana Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1986

Hardcover book, Book Club Edition. Illustrated with family photographs, written by Natalie's sister. 215 pages. Here is the book that only Natalie Wood's sister could have written - a warm but unflichingly candid account of a great star's passionate love affairs, violent fights, stormy marriages, bitter divorces and her controversial death by drowning at the age of 43.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (T); 1St Edition edition (November 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399129030
• ISBN-13: 978-0399129032
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #743,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plenty O' Facts on the Wood Sisters, April 5, 2002

By 

Kendrik Lau (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister (Hardcover)

Lana Wood, who is probably best known for her brief but memorable role of the suggestively named Plenty O'Toole in the Bond flick Diamonds Are Forever, wrote this engaging, poignant, and frequently funny memoir on her famous sister Natalie.

Amazingly candid and brutally honest, Lana painted a fascinating and yet disturbing portrait about Natalie Wood; from her years as a child star controlled by her domineering stage mother, then growing up to become one of Hollywood's most famous and beloved (and volatile) celebrities. Then to later years as Natalie struggled with age and the ups and downs of both her career and her relationship with her sister....culiminating to the fateful day when Lana was informed of her tragic death.

For James Bond fans, they will probably be interested in Lana's experience on the set of Diamonds Are Forever, revealing an affair with Sean Connery (which curiously, she did not disclose on the special DVD of Diamonds Are Forever).

Ultimately, this book is also as much about Lana herself as it is about Natalie. Forever in Natalie's shadow, Lana herself never developed her own life and identity, everything in her life is connected with Natalie in some fashion and she spends virtually her entire life seeking Natalie's approval and acknowledgement.

This book will probably make you see Natalie Wood's films a little differently. Underneath that gamine veneer is a woman who has a fury that Hell can't match.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You'd think the book would be about Natalie..., November 25, 2003

By 

Caitlin M. Guhl (Hamilton, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister (Hardcover)

...but Lana Wood has a very autobiographical writing style. I found Wood's memoir to be incredibly gossipy. She speaks for pages upon pages about her own feelings during pivotal times in Natalie's life. Every here or there, it's nice to have an eyewitness account of what happened at certain times, but I'd rather read about the Academy Awards for which Natalie was being nominated instead of the powerful men in Hollywood with whom Lana was sleeping. There is a lot of name-dropping as well as a lack of substance in the book's context. After reading this, I read Suzanne Finstad's NATASHA and found it to be very thorough and much more detailed about both her personal and professional life. I was not a fan of this book in any respect.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant, touching look at two sisters, November 19, 1998

By 

Jennifer E. Williams (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister (Hardcover)

Natalie Wood may have been one of the most gifted actresses to have ever graced the silver screen. But, to Lana Wood, she was her sister and her best friend. This extremely touching biography of Natalie ,by Lana, examines Natalie's life through the eyes of someone who spent most of her life trying to be like her. The reader is no longer looking at Natalie the movie star, but at Natalie the sister, the friend, the wife, and the mother. It is easy to feel the pain and utter devestation that Lana felt when she lost her sister and understand her frustration at the estranged realtionship she, at the time this book was written, had with her brother-in-law, Robert Wagner, and her two nieces. Overall, this story is the story of two sisters, a happy, fruitful life, and a devestating tragedy. The book was written in 1984 and the information on family is a little outdated (their mom died in early 1998 and Natalie's oldest daughters are now a successful actress and a successful artist), but the emotions conveyed transcend time.