Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame [Hardcover]

Michael Joseph Gross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2005

Journalist Michael Joseph Gross takes us deep into the world of celebrities and the people who love them.

Why are we so obsessed with fame? Even if we don't read People, we all crane our necks to see the stars. As a teenager, Michael Joseph Gross amassed a collection of about four thousand autographs by writing letters to celebrities and world leaders. The collecting fever broke when he grew up, but his fascination with fandom remained.

In Starstruck, Gross travels from Hollywood to Dollywood, from Neverland to Middle Earth; he crashes a Kid Rock concert with a sixty-six-year-old fan, sprints after Mick Jagger with a professional autograph collector, gets the inside scoop from Mary Hart on covering Hollywood for Entertainment Tonight, visits the world's largest comic book convention with the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings, and discovers what fans look like from the perspective of celebrities-who, paradoxically, often seem to be among the most starstruck of us all. Sympathetic, funny, and endlessly curious about stars and fans alike, Gross gives us a winning portrait of how our dreams of fame shape our everyday lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a youngster, Gross collected autographs, and although his passion for that hobby faded as he got older, his fascination with celebrity remained. Now a journalist (he's written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe and other publications), he explores the star system from both sides of the velvet rope. Gross interviews fans, collectors, celebrities and publicists in an effort to paint a broad portrait of changing celebrity culture. For instance, as a teenager in the 1980s, Gross enjoyed a personal correspondence with screen goddess Olivia de Havilland. Now, such personal access is rare: professional hounds get stars to autograph headshots, which they then sell on eBay. These pros can earn six figures a year, while minor celebrities, like 1950s and '60s actor Shirley Jones, charge $20 a pop for in-person signatures at signing conventions. Star power is a construct, explains Gross. Like an anthropologist trained in Hollywood culture, he understands the positive and negative results of adulation. Although his childhood collecting allowed him "to believe that I mattered," he concludes that the star images he worshiped were, in the end, damaging. They delivered "false idols whose lives present impossible standards for the rest of us." Gross's writing is honest and humane, and his book is an entertaining look at modern celebrity culture.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In a world where an increasing number of people are becoming famous for doing nothing more than starring in a reality show, the topic of the lure of celebrity has never been more relevant. Gross' book provides an enthralling look into the mentality of people who worship the stars and just how far they'll go for the chance to interact with one of their idols. Gross hangs out with Michael Jackson fans who have gathered to show support for the singer at his arraignment on child molestation charges. He walks the red carpet at the Screen Actors' Guild awards with Sean Astin and attends a taping of Will & Grace, where he spots an actor in the audience whose performance in the play Angels in America inspired him at a crucial time in his life. Gross never loses sight of his own fandom and thus is able to deliver piercing insights into the behavior of the fans he encounters and the stars with whom he crosses paths. A must-read for anyone fascinated by the cult of celebrity. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (March 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582343160
• ISBN-13: 978-1582343167
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,036,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful and entertaining mix of sociology, gossip, and memoir, September 5, 2005

By 

Eric Westby (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame (Hardcover)

Expecting to read an earnest, sober treatise on the nature of celebrity and individuality, I was surprised by the depth of my emotional reaction to Starstruck. Gross introduces elements of his own life into the narrative almost from the beginning of the book -- at first tangentially, then deftly weaving his story with those of the fans and stars whom he interviews. The climactic "scene" works on so many levels, I found myself wishing for a movie studio to option the book. Even as pure gossip Starstruck is a juicy read: I'll never look at Katie Couric quite the same way again. While I would have appreciated more on the history and sociology of our culture's fascination with celebrities, the book serves as a powerful, resonant, and personal meditation on what it means to be a fan.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging, Important and FUN, April 18, 2005

By 

Interested and Idiosyncratic "Reader" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame (Hardcover)

Michael Gross' book Starstruck is an extraordinary compendium of not only his own experiences as a fan, but serves as a unique and important analysis of the world of celebrity. At a time when we are saturated with entertainment culture, Gross manages to lift back the veil on this unique late 20th century phenomenon to explore both the personal and the political consequences of our collective obsession with fame. From poignant and hilarious stories of his own crazy desire to be near the famous - his boyhood letters to Ronald Reagan are priceless - to his adult understanding of those who have dedicated their lives to famous people - Dolly Parton fans in particular - Gross's authorial voice is both critical and sympathetic at the same time. This book is original, engaging, and utterly compelling. A great read for those of us who flip through grocery market tabloids and those of us interested in a more serious look at cultural politics. Five stars!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BRILLIANT book, not to be missed!, July 11, 2008

By 

J. Arena (Williamsburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame (Paperback)

Michael Gross has created one of the most compelling and entertaining books I've read in quite some time. He examines fame from multiple aspects. Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame examines the attitudes and fantasies of the admirers of celebrities, the fans who move into the realm of exploiters by selling the autographs and memorabilia that they collect intended only for sale, the fanatics who seem to define their own lives through their imagined relationships with celebrities and much, much more.

The world of fame can be viewed from either side of the "red carpet." There are those who earn their living catering to the whims of the famous, seemingly fostering their sense of entitlement and need to feel set apart from the fans. These publicists, agents, assistants, sycophants, etc. also develop their own sense of entitlement, since their relationship with celebrities gives them their own fantasy of elevated status to be on the glory side of that "red carpet," and thereby earn their living. Interestingly, there can be a greater attitude of contempt toward the fans from these professional hangers-on.

The author describes in perfect detail the stars who show an arrogant contempt for their fans, forgetting that without them, they would no longer be stars! Most interestingly, he also detects another form of arrogance from celebrities who hug and greet fans with a great show of affection because they want them to think that they (the fans) are every bit as important as they are. Is that attitude actually sincere, or the act of yet another inflated ego who imagines that his persona can validate the status of another? At any rate, it is a relationship based on fantasy. Without the admirer, the admired would be a nobody, himself.

Starstruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame is a book that informs, entertains and explores the world of fame, brilliantly illuminating the very dark side of those bright lights. Don't miss it!