Customer Reviews

Train Wreck: The Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(39)

 

 

I actually did buy and read the book, as it seems many here in the review section did not. I did so because I'm very interested in biography and memoir as a genre, and because I thought Anna Nicole Smith was an interesting example of the blonde bombshell archetype.

Upon reading the book, what I discovered is that the author is still in a state of confusion as to how she feels about her half-sister, as is, apparently, the whole family. It must be noted that Donna Hogan reveals some awful truths about Anna Nicole's father: that he was a child molester, child abuser, and torturer of animals, all signs of a sociopathic personality. The fallout was horrible--all of the family wounded and in a state of anger, hurt, and confusion. And though Donna Hogan doesn't reveal much about Anna Nicole's mother, she does include Virgie's birth date, which would make Virgie a teenager when she gave birth to Anna. Clearly, Anna Nicole had an absolutely god-awful childhood. So when we've seen Anna's family members go on television and claim that everything was hunky dory and the real problem was "Vickie," clearly they are not telling the truth--or they are too embroiled in the mess to see the truth. The family was dysfunctional with a capital "D" and Anna Nicole did miraculously well to get out and become a success on any level.

Which brings us back to Donna Hogan. My heart goes out to her. Unlike her half-sister Anna Nicole, Donna couldn't escape the horrific mess that was her family and she has struggled to overcome their painful legacy. Like a child of abusers, she on the one hand claims that the family was dysfuctional, and on the other she claims that Anna "abandoned" them. She on the one hand claims that the family is respectable and not "trailer trash," and on the other hand gives reason after reason that it is. She contradicts herself over and over throughout the book. It's pretty clear that Donna simply hasn't sorted it all out yet and I think at the bottom of it she was angry with Anna for having the ability to leave the family when she herself has not.

Of course the sad thing for Anna Nicole Smith is that, though she physically left her abusive family, she carried a lot of pain around with her all her life. The prescription drug use makes absolute sense in light of her horrific background. And I imagine that when Anna's mother accused her and Howard Stern of having a hand in killing her son Daniel, Anna Nicole had about as much as she could take. Why continue on in a world where your own mother was capable of such cruelty? For me, her mother's accusation was the nail in Anna Nicole's coffin.

Finally, I was absolutely gob-smacked that Donna Hogan would call her own sister a "train wreck." She claims in her book that she was deeply hurt that Anna Nicole left her. Would you stay in touch with a sister who calls you a "train wreck"?

I think that one day Donna will sort out her feelings about Anna and her family, but that today it's still a jumble of anger, hurt, and confusion. When she does sort it out, I think she might realize that she did a hurtful thing in writing this book with the scathingly critical tone she did. I hope that she gets away completely from her "family." Too bad her sister wasn't able to ever truly get away.

This book is a disgrace. It is poorly written. Even the photo section was lacking photos of Anna Nicole, but instead included photos of the author, the author's friends, the author's friends' children, etc.

I can quite honestly say that this is probably the worst book I have ever read. Don't waste your money. Don't even waste time going to the library. I would have rated is ZERO stars except this system doesn't allow anything below 1.

I might have expected "nothing much" from a sister whose life had not connected much with Anna Nicole Smith. I didn't really want a lot of autobiography of Donna Hogan and pictures of herself and her friends, but I got it. I do hope that the government agency that oversees disability pensions reads the part about Donald Hogan.

Donna Hogan trashes her sister for everything. She gives us no insight into Anna's behavior and even says things that she can not possible know. On one hand she says that she had nothing to do with Anna growing up, then she states repeatedly that Anna lied about being abused by her family. How would she know!

The book really is a justification of the family making money off Anna Nicole - it was very sad.

This book was a last attempt for the "sister" to get money and her 15 minutes of fame. It is poorly written, 99% of the information is public knowledge, and the sister repeatedly contradicts herself, making it difficult to believe anything she says. Thank goodness I got it at the library instead of wasting money on it.

She, herself, said in the book that she and other family members would speak to press when they needed money to pay for one thing or another. With family like that........

Whether you liked Anna Nicole or not, it is painfully obvious that Donna Hogan is a liar, jealous of her sister's fame, and looking for money. Donna Hogan constanly complains about how Anna's decisions negatively affected the family and children. It made me wonder if she - Donna - stopped to think about how this book would affect her children and the legacy that is left to her neice? I guess money is more important to her.

This book is again just another example of someone trying to make money off of Anna Nicole Smith. By her own admittance, Donna Hogan hadn't even spoken with Anna Nicole Smith within the past 12 years. She is just trying to ride the coat-tails of her sisters tragic life. What a shame.

This book is garbage, poorly written and a total disgrace. This is a very strange book, D. Hogan is really inconsistant in her writting. I hated it.

This book is filled with lies and/or piggy backing on previous stuff writeen on Anna Nicole Smith.
Her so called sister didn't even know her. She writes like she does but she hasn't seen her in like 10 years! Donna is just another money grubber from Anna's white trash family trying to make a buck. Its disgusting! Donna even tries to look like her and Anna she is not!

It saddens me to see the obvious "here's the chance to make my money" intentions from which this book was written. The contents show nothing more than gossip from someone who was not even close to her half sister. You'd think someone who shares your blood would write a book paying tribute to the goodness that person had inside - maybe some glimpses of a more tender side.

No, the grave robbing tactics here make my stomach turn. I feel sorry for the author stooping to such an all time low just to gain money from her half sister who died LESS THAN THREE MONTHS ago.

It gives me the creeps, and it stoops to the lowest level of greed with contents that are empty at best.

There's really only one thing that's a "TRAIN WRECK" this book, NOT Anna. Was the manuscript stared 3 seconds after Anna's death? Anna died eleven weeks ago. That's eerie and sad - exactly why Anna did all she could to get away from her family - that's what was the real train wreck.

Anna deserves a biography from the heart, written with pure motives. The motives here are clearly slime.

I can't believe this trash was printed after the death of Anna Nicole. Her ESTRANGED sister should be ashamed of herself. All this book talks about is how awful of a person Anna was. I do agree that ANS did a lot of questionable things in her life and obviously had substance abuse problems. Its clear that this book was written for revenge and money. Don't bother reading it, we have heard it all before.