Customer Reviews

Natalie Portman: Queen of Hearts

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

Having read James Dickerson's other books, I knew what to expect from this one -- meticulous excellence. And, of course, a timely and fascinating subject.

The star of Natalie Portman continues to rise, her upcoming "Star Wars" movie will take her to another level and Dickerson shows us that her work speaks for itself. She'll turn 21 in June, already has an impressive list of films and her adult beauty is just beginning to bloom.

Dickerson digs under the surface, of course, follows her path to fame and discusses her reluctance to reveal the private side of her life. This is an author who has the ability to not only tell the truth about his subjects (sometimes to their displeasure) but also to offer interesting commentary along the way.

What better time to latch on to the adult Miss Portman's star and this is an excellent place to begin the ride.

This book was great for Natalie fans and it gave a lot of nice information about the young star,but,it revealed too much of her personal life like, her real last name,love life, and everything,
which is disrespectful to her. Otherwise it was a good book!

This is a very good and fun book about Natalie with some cool stuff about her role in Star Wars. I read it over a couple of days and now I can't wait (like I could before!) to see the movie. Nice pictures too and a learned a lot that I hadn't read in magazine articles.

This book is nothing more than tabloid trash. The author should be ashamed of himself.

I found this book to be nothing more than a high school-level book report on magazine articles and newspaper clippings. The fact that Dickerson himself admits that he hadn't really taken an interest in Natalie Portman until the year 2000 shows that he does not speak from any privileged vantage point. He is not privy to any special information about Natalie that would draw any intelligent reader's attention, nor does he offer any keen insight into things that even the most casual fan of Natalie Portman's would know through pop culture and the media. The fact that Dickerson fails to get substantial information from those closest to Natalie proves not only that he is irresponsible, but he lacks authority to speak on Ms. Portman as well.

This book was fantastic! I enjoyed reading it, it gave great background information, and the descriptions of Natalie, her history, and her career as well as her many films were vivid and wonderful. I also liked how the author provided so much info on Natalie's ancestors, and after reading such an awesome biography of the best actress of our century, I liked Natalie a lot better than before. There was hardly anything wrong with this book at all, except for the fact that James L. Dickerson left out many parts of Natalie's early career, her childhood, and how it felt for her to have been discovered. He also made the mistake of how old she was when she had been discovered. In an interview the actress said she was eleven when discovered. But the book was still great!

I don't think anyone should pay any mind to the reviewer who said this book is worthless. I was impressed with the detail provided about Natalie's family heritage and I learned a lot about Natalie's experiences at Harvard.

According to an interview I read with Mr. Dickerson, he DID request an interview with Natalie and she declined, but did not and has not complained about the publishing of this book. If she doesn't seem to have a problem, why does the negative reviewer have one? Natalie should be proud of her last name and her heritage. She is an adult, after all, and this is not an invasion of privacy.

If you are interested in learning more about Natalie Portman's life, I highly recommend this book.