Customer Reviews

It Seemed Important at the Time: A Romance Memoir

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Gloria Vanderbilt is a well known celebrity, "poor little rich girl", born of a well known family, mother accused of many things and one was being "a bad mother". She now tells us of her romantic life. A memoir that promised to tell us all. Well, it tells of a woman who enjoyed her life, and even though she was a school drop-out she is a brilliant writer. She knows how to turn a phrase, as they say, and to bring her life to the fore. Until now, she has been able to keep her love life a secret. And, many a gossip columnist has tried to guess just who her paramours were.

This is a small book full of tales of love. Several kinds of love, and I will leave it up to you to find out what I am talking about. From Miss Porter's school to the present day, Gloria Vanderbilt tells of her loves and life. Not all names are mentioned, and I could catch myself trying to guess just who that married photographer was that captured her attention for so many years. She has no qualms about discussing her romances with
married men. All in all, Gloria realizes she was looking for her missing father during her early years of romance. And, later on for friendship, sex, lust and romance. She found them all and packed them all into her life and memoir.

I bought this book because Gloria Vanderbilt's son, Anderson Cooper, recommended it. A nice little read, he said. Yes, a nice read, but not too much more. There are too many details left out and not much to keep my interest. It can be read in a few hours, and is more like a diary that Gloria Vanderbilt kept. But not enough gutsy, from the heart,
truth filled lines that would make this a great book. Recommended. prisrob

I believe it is important to always honor oneself: through your decisions, mistakes, pains, loss and experiences. When looking back on your life and the memories you've made, the bad tattoos, the stupid flings, the comebacks you keep rehearsing and will never have the chance to fire back at antagonists, honor yourself and just... be... you, and know WHO you are! Gloria Vanderbilt has done that. The title of this piece is perfect for the story and for a memoir. It seems that Gloria Vanderbilt lived a Disney Princess' existence. The supporting characters responded around her sometimes in fairytale ways and sometimes in human error but usually with a combination of the two. Ever noticed how so many Disney main characters don't have mothers present? GV's mom was less than lucid and somewhat driven by recreant indulgence and so the girl GV was raised by an aunt. This mother hungry set seem always slightly broken but well weathered and somehow easier to pull for, more worth sympathizing with. Albeit there is nothing here to feel sorry about: Ms. Vanderbilt won't let you!
She has had a good time, has loved love, loving and gettin' lots of lovin' and never had to apologize because she's quick to flitter off to the next episode guided by celebrity invitation and supercharged but shrouded crushes . The sumptious pictures really help complete and fill in the elegance of the story. She's never full of herself and is a refreshingly hard worker. That lack of fullness could have added a little edge to the memoir, but the absence of self-puffing is reflected in her loose end romances and the expression on her beautiful face featured on this extremely readable and decadent memoir. More of the shining stars who light up our guilty pleasure loving lives should take such an approach. Sexy and classy!

Legendary actress/heiress Gloria Vanderbilt's latest memoir, "It Seemed Important At the Time" might as well have been called "He Seemed Important At The Time." Despite the enticing idea of an heiresses passions put on paper, Vanderbilt's tepid book is as vapid than any autobio of Paris Hilton's -- and with less reason to be.

Vanderbilt skims over most of her childhood, and the meat only starts in her a adolescence -- a lesbian affair with a classmate, before she knew what bisexuality was. But later she switched strictly to men (partly because of a scandal involving her mother), marrying at an early age and soon discovering what a pig her husband was. So begin a lifetime of marriages, romances, and an attempt to find love, if not happiness.

"It Seemed Important At The Time" is one of those books that seems like it was dashed off in an afternoon. About 150 pages, large print, and vast parts of Vanderbilt's life are skipped -- her childhood is about five pages long. As a result, this book seems like half a biography -- just the juiciest bits, with all non-romantic details carefully snipped out.

But really, what could be more exciting than a lifetime of love and passion? Quite a few things -- Vanderbilt's "love" rarely seems to get beyond an elongated crush; she developed interest in several men due to seeing them on movie screens. If she developed a crush, she pursued it, and usually got burned. Crushes are normal in a thirteen-year-old, but not so normal in an adult woman. Vanderbilt consistently puts her men on pedestals, then blames them if they don't live up to her hopes -- and time has not taught her that this is a bad idea.

And Vanderbilt's ultra-rushed writing isn't too great either. Instead of detailing important parts of her life and affairs, she just crams as many in as possible. She gives little personality to legendary men like Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra -- they and all her other paramours melt into a bit featureless blob. Yes yes, she loved them all -- she still makes them all boring. At one point she burbles about how much she loves her late son Carter, yet barely mentions him in the book until he took the high-dive out a window. (So much for her criticism of her mother for a lack of maternal love!)

Gloria Vanderbilt fails miserably at writing a juicy tell-all -- instead it's a bloodless list of how many men she dated, slept with, and married. In the end, it's something you'd expect from a sixteen-year-old heiress... but not one born in the Roaring Twenties. Tepid, annoying, and unromantic.

A fast read about the lives of the rich and famous of a former time. I believe many of the younger readers won't connect with either Ms. Vanderbilt or her lovers, but for the older folk it's a few hours of fun they might have missed out on.

I wanted this book after reading a commentary by Vanderbilt's son, Anderson Cooper. He was reflecting on how we adults never really like to think about, let alone read about our parents sex lives and his mother asked him to proofread her romance memoir. He played up the more racy parts of the book, which turned out to be the only racy parts of the book.

This book is not so much about romance, as it is about a woman finding he own way in the world. Gloria Vanderbilt was, of course, born rich and influential. She ran with the young and beautiful of Hollywood's golden age. She also struggled between being the proper young lady her controlling aunt expected and her desire to be noticed by her self-absorbed and very troubled mother.

It is not long or terrible complicated, but it is more moving than I had expected.

Eighty-year old Gloria Vanderbilt chats about her past (and present) love affairs with the enthusiasm and delight of a giggling debutante. She says she always was - and still is - looking for the next big IT, the next great Love to send oodles of flowers, take her to lunch at the Ritz in Paris, and be "Nijinsky in the bedroom." Becoming a millionaire at birth didn't make up for being fatherless and denied her mother's love; Gloria's seemingly endless string of lovers began at age seventeen with no less than Howard Hughes and went on to include Sinatra and Brando, famous artists and writers, and four husbands. Only a few go unnamed in this utterly candid tell-all, each paramour being, as she says, a substitute for her mother's love.

Vanderbilt has been an actress, designer, writer, and, of course, social butterfly, but this ever-so-readable little book may convince you that her favorite avocation was Passion on a Grand Scale. Reading this is like gabbing with an old girlfriend who never quite outgrew wanting to be the belle of the ball; ever the dewy-eyed coquette in search of Prince Charming.

Kona

Here is some Hollywood history written by Gloria Vanderbilt. The book is a quick read, and the stories she tells about all her famous boyfriends like Howard Hughes, Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra are amazing.
I couldn't put this book down. I loved reading about the Glamorous and Romantic life Gloria Vanderbilt has lived.

Definitely not a tell-all, or tell much of anything. Most of what is in this book is already in Black Knight, White Knight. Except for the part about the affair with the married photojournalist. She left him after 15 years (and somewhere in there her 3rd son committed suicide at age 22)because she met someone else. However, the guy she's supposedly with at the end of the book, another photographer, she met previous to the married man. So I'm confused. The printing style, without full justification, didn't help either.

But she did give some brief information about being embezzled by her doctor and lawyer, and losing all her money. Even though she didn't recover a penny of it from them, she was back on the street like she didn't miss a beat. It helps to have rich friends.

One good thing about this book was the photos. You get to see Gloria Vanderbilt not even looking like Gloria Vanderbilt (not so harshly made up and softer-looking). But the writing does seem dashed off and glosses over too much for me to give it but 3 stars.

This was a complete waste of money. A little phamplet of a book written by a very spoiled woman who is in love with herself more than anyone else.

IT SEEMED IMPORTANT AT THE TIME: A ROMANCE MEMOIR by entertaining writer, Gloria Vanderbilt is a book you won't want to miss.

Going from the thought process to actually acting on impulse, was a thrilling journey to be sure.

I found Ms. Vanderbilt story unique and insightful. Parts of her story were touching with moments to cherish while others were, well...you get the picture, right? We're all only human as the saying goes.

I enjoyed this book a lot and am happy to recommend it to anyone who longs to slip into someone elses world for a few fun-filled hours.

(Recommended Reading!)