14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disrespectful, Speculative Rubbish by a Paparazzi with a Pen, July 8, 2002
This review is from: Natalie Portman: Queen of Hearts (Paperback)
Yet again, this work is an excellent example of how ultimately fruitless it is to attempt to write a biography of someone without having access to that person. In this rather tendentious, seedy little biography, Dickerson has essentially strung together snippets from the public interviews conducted by Ms. Portman over the past several years in magazine features and on TV talk shows, and has attempted to concoct a "biography" based on this meagre store of real information. As a result, the book abounds with "it is believed that", and "many consider that" ... because ultimately there are many things that Dickerson writes in the book without knowing whether or not they are true. Speculation begins with the details of Ms. Portman's family background, and continues at several points along the way, because without having access to Ms. Portman and her devoted parents, Dickerson has no other alternative in order to write a biograhphy that is in any way interesting for the reader (whether true or not). The reader therefore comes away with a speculative vision of the person that Natalie Portman is -- and certainly none the wiser as to who that person, in fact, really is.
Surely Ms. Portman must be laughing at times when she reads Dickerson's fatally flawed "biography"; in fact, it seems, based on the voluminous interviews that appeared in the press as part of the media campaign for "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones", that she is almost deliberately slipping in this or that true biographical detail into her conversations with the press to subtlely (and with some wit) undermine the more egregious of Dickerson's speculations.
But perhaps the most troubling thing about this book is that it categorically refuses to respect Ms. Portman's right to maintain some semblance of privacy. Surely, a celebrity of her level has a more limited expectation of privacy than the average citizen, but her well-known choice to act under a pseudonym -- out of respect for her own privacy as well as that of her parents -- has been completely disrespected by Dickerson, much to his discredit. Dickerson is entitled to disagree with Ms. Portman's decision in this regard, but his own decision to completely disrespect her own privacy is regrettable and credibility-shattering, as this happens at the very outset of the book.
In all, this is an example of a papparazzi with a pen -- not a biographer in any meaningful sense of the word. Save your money, and read Ms. Portman's interviews in the media and watch her films ... you'll surely have a better sense of her person than you will by reading this speculative drivel.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Shame on you Mr. Dickerson, July 17, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Natalie Portman: Queen of Hearts (Paperback)
I was really disappointed. A lot of the book is based on speculation about her background and no one knows for sure what is fact and what is fiction. The author seems to have some sort of obsession with the young lady and her sexuality and her apparent envy of another child star Britney Spears because she (Britney) became famous before her. He gives absolutely no evidence for his reasoning and it reads like a tabloid magazine, and really it's quite creepy that a grown man would dwell on it so much. He goes on to say more than once what a noble thing it has been that he has waited so long to reveal her real name, that by not doing so would go against freedom of the press, yet it's confusing to the reader because he apparently has only been aware of her for a couple of years. I literally feel guilty and sick for buying this book and supporting this guy. It's highly disrespectful to both Natalie Portman and her family.
Shame on you, Mr. Dickerson. Shame on you!
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Worthless, exploitative, June 2, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Natalie Portman: Queen of Hearts (Paperback)
This book is the worst kind of example of a shameless, exploitative biography of a public figure. Much of the book consists of repeating interviews with Ms. Portman that have already appeared in magazines and on TV, and in repeating lines from her movies. This is no doubt intended to make up for the fact that the author has never actually interviewd his subject. The author also takes it on himself to reveal Ms. Portman's real last name, thus failing to respect a decision the actress, a human being like the rest of us, had every right to make for herself. The book contains generous quantities of fourth rate psychologizing, together with copious speculations (about Ms. Portman's love life, her beliefs, her expectations, etc.). Natalie Portman, a uniquely gifted and amazingly lovely actress, will suffer, thankfully, no harm from this ugly little book.
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