Customer Reviews

True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I picked up this book with very high hopes, but Ms. Leigh left me utterly disappointed. No new facts were revealed and the book seemed to focus mainly on Grace's romantic relationships, with the surprising exception of her marriage with Prince Ranier, which was quickly reviewed. More insight, perhaps, was given to Grace's troubling relationship with her father but, again, her marriage to the Prince and residence in Monaco over the course of 25 years was covered in a minimum number of pages. The book ended suddenly with Grace's death - - no mention of her funeral, how her husband and children dealt with her sudden passing or the people of Monaco's grief and the longterm effect of an American princess in their country. No updates on the children, particularly Caroline, who matured and took Grace's place as a beloved princess of Monaco, or Ranier, carrying on without her.
To add insult to injury, the book is rife with typos and mistakes. And a minor point, but the photographic section in the middle of the book is stingy and leaves much to be desired.
All in all, a very sad effort for an actress and princess who deserved a better biography.

This is a disappointingly brief and shallow biography of a princess who still awaits the long and detailed biography she deserves. As other reviewers have mentioned, Leigh gets even simple facts wrong (at one point, she states that Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Onassis divorced, though this never happened). For someone who claims to be a "BBC trained journalist", a simple mistake such as this has repercussions for the rest of the book's truth. And because Leigh repeatedly makes controversial assertions about Princess Grace's (such as her affairs before and after her marriage), simple mistakes can't be taken lightly here. In addition, Leigh seems to have conducted numerous interviewers with Grace's family and friends, and even acquires new information about Grace--such as her affair with a friend's husband. However, she also borrows liberally from previous biographies of Princess Grace, and lacks the sources that a more seasoned well-connected biographer would be able to contact. I also can't believe that the book contains only a small photographic section--and no photographs of Grace's children! All in all, I came away with a sour feeling from the book. Even though Leigh claims to have written a revolutionary biography of Grace, I thought she only skimmed the surface a lot of the time. I didn't ever feel that I got close to Grace and gained in-depth knowledge and insight, which is what a good biography should do. Bottom line: save your cash and wait for the day when a more discerning and incisive biographer steps up to the plate.

The book does have the glaring mistake that the other reader mentions--referring to Aristotle Onassis's divorce from Jackie Kennedy--and that will surely be corrected in the paperback version. Probably the author meant to convey that the couple may have been thinking about divorce when Onassis became ill and passed away. The impressive thing about the book is how well documented it all is and how candid Wendy Leigh is about explaining her sources both in endnotes and in an essay/appendix on her sources. She even says that novelist Graham Greene believed that Princess Grace was murdered. This is recounted in one of the lengthier chapter endnotes and somewhat discounted by Leigh (since Greene's nephew said the author had never mentioned it to him). But it is interesting and surprising, and the fact that it got relegated to an easy-to-miss endnote shows that the writer and publisher have some put some restraint on the sensational claims.

I have read many of the other books about Grace Kelly, and Leigh's book does mostly fulfill its aim (and promise to publisher Thomas Dunne) of not just warming over previously published material. She's thorough in that way, but much of this new material concerns lengthening the list of Grace Kelly's likely lovers. Leigh also resists repeating things that previous writers have covered, such as GK's acting in summer stock theater in Colorado, her relationships with Gene Lyons and Mark Miller, well-documented things like that. If this were the only book a person read on Grace Kelly, the reader might get a view of her recklessness that outweighed her other traits and talents. Reading Robert Lacey's book or James Spada's along with this one would furnish a more balanced view.

I have to say up front that I didn't finish this book. That's pretty unheard of for me, but from the very start, the author seemed to bounce around from one time period to another, then back again. It was confusing. I also lost track of who all the many characters were. There were several mentions throughout the book of letters Grace Kelly wrote to "Prudy", yet I couldn't remember who exactly Prudy was. Thankfully, her last name was finally mentioned somewhere near the middle of the book and I could look her up in the Index to see who she was. Maybe it's just me, but I was looking forward to reading this book and from the first chapter, I was disappointed in the way it was written and the shallowness of character that was portrayed for Princess Grace. Not finishing this book says it all!

I was absolutely dissapointed with this book. The story tells us how UNHAPPY Grace Kelly was when she left for Monaco. Absolutely another picture one can find in another book. I wouldn't buy that book if I knew what poor content it is. It's nothing more than a try to make another sensation basing on "a friend told", "one suspects that...". Didn't like it

I picked up this book and read it after my roommate purchased it; having never read a biography of Grace Kelly before, I can't claim to be an expert and have no idea whether or not the information presented was correct. However, a lot of the book involved detailing the possibility that Grace had lurid affairs with her various co-stars (the author claims that Grace had affairs with nearly every actor she ever met, many of them simultaneously). Is it true? Who knows?!?! But it seems unlikely that the author had access to so much new information that she could report with any authority on affairs Grace's previous biographers don't seem to think exist, and hearing about nothing but Grace's "voracious sexual appetite" got old after a while. My bottom line: a quick read and a decent overview of Grace Kelly, but I have to believe there are MANY better biographies of her out there!

I had high hopes for this biography. Grace Kelly is one of my favorite actresses. However, despite the authors contention that she had all material for this book, I found it a rehash of several better biographies including Robert Lacey and James Spada. Too many typos and mistakes mar this book. A complete waste of time.

The majority of this biography is devoted to speculation as to the romantic liaisons of Grace Kelly, both before and after her marriage. It's a topic that has been covered before, and as is the case with Jacqueline Onassis, it seems no two Kelly biographers are in agreement as to which men she did or did not sleep with. As a result, I tend to take such speculation with a grain of salt. If this type of juicy gossip interests you, this would definitely be a good read.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a comprehensive biography, you'd be better off reading "Grace" by Robert Lacey. I felt that Ms. Leigh's book glossed over Grace's years as Princess of Monaco. We are told that Grace was deeply unhappy, and that both Grace and Rainier had affairs. And that's about it, really. The car accident that took Grace's life is barely mentioned, and the book ends rather abruptly with Rainier turning off Grace's life support.

There are some rather glaring errors here. As mentioned by other reviewers, the book includes a reference to the divorce of Jackie and Ari Onassis, which never happened. Princess Caroline is described as being named after an ancestor of Rainier, Queen Caroline of Monaco. Monaco is a principality and has never had a queen. I would guess that the author is referring to Monaco's Prince Charles, for whom Monte Carlo is named. I suppose no book is ever perfect, but someone should have caught those errors, as they reflect badly upon the author.

I'd recommend this book to those who are fascinated by rumors and gossip about Grace Kelly's love life. If you are looking for a good biography that covers all of the bases, look elsewhere.

This is probably the 6th biography of Grace Kelly that I have read and I felt that it was easily the weakest. In fairness to Wendy Leigh, she had clearly conducted her own research and she did present some new stories and anecdotes. However it felt like she was more pre-occupied with digging up new scandals than with presenting a cohesive picture of who Grace was. She glosses over significant events such as Grace meeting Rainier, why she decided to marry him and barely mentions Grace's death. Instead we get an obsession with every sexual relationship that Grace may or may not have had.

While the book gives the impression of being well researched, when I looked up some of the footnotes it appeared that at least some of these claims were based purely on the word of someone who was the friend of a friend of someone who was now deceased. In a case like that, I feel that a reputable biographer should make it more evident that these are alleged rather than proven facts.

Leigh implies that Grace had a fling with a Paris Match photographer on the ship sailing to Monaco for her wedding. Putting aside the fact that the evidence that this ever occurred is more than weak, if it were true (as Leigh insinuates), it raises all manner of questions about what that says about Grace's feelings towards Rainier and her upcoming wedding. None of those questions are dealt with. The implication throughout is that Grace never particularly loved Rainier and that she was unhappy in her marriage from start to finish. Based on the other books that I have read, this is an over-simplified and unlikely version of events.

Here's a summary of the book: Grace Kelly was a successful actress who had a lot of affairs, sometimes with more than one person at a time. She looked very pretty in all her movies, even though she didn't like her jawline. She decided to marry Prince Rainier even though she didn't love him and she had a last fling only days before the wedding. She was very homesick after the wedding and Rainier started cheating on her almost immediately. She had several more affairs herself, including one with the husband of a friend. She was very unhappy. Some people thought she was icy and some people thought she was warm and friendly. She always believed she'd die in a car crash but she drove her car anyway and then she died.

I thought by the cover..this would be a well written and respectful account of the late Princess Grace..(Guess we can't judge a book by its cover as the saying goes}
Why do I say this?? First of all...I can't beleive the book company didnt pick up on the GIGANTIC mistake of saying Jackie K was divorced from Onassis!!Who does the proof reading anyway? Mr. O was depressed ever since the untimely death of his son in a plane crash..which tragically happened when Jackie was married to Ari..he was not "depressed" over Jackie..!
The author did not bother to research local NJ geography..if she would have..she would NOT have made the error of stating "Summers Point, Ocean City"..(the Kelly family summered in Ocean City NJ).."SUMMERS POINT" is first of all mispelled...it is SOMERS POINT, which is a separate city just over the causeway leading to Ocean City..in fact, Somers Point is in Atlantic County..Ocean City is in Cape May County..I can't beleive that geograpical error! IT IS UNREAL!
RE: The book the author quoted from THE LAST GOOD TIMES (story of Skinny D'Amato) by Van Meter..well.I know the family of the D'Amatos..they have told me the book is NOT CREDIBLE...its just another poorly researched book just like TRUE GRACE..yet this author latches on to the nonsense that Grace chased after Skinny..I guess this author will grab onto any lie she reads to get her "book" published"
Its ashame this book happened..its tabloid trash and inaccurate..what waste of $25.00 that my library had to shell out for this fiction!! SAD!