Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The worst book ever, January 31, 2002
How the author managed to make the infinitely interesting subject matter as dry as burnt toast, is beyond me. His style is rambling, incoherent and goes off on insignificant tangents and never quite returns to the original thought. It's as if he took all of his notes, tossed them into the air, and wrote out the book from there. His editor should be tarred and feathered for having let this mess ever get into print. I LOVE books and treat them with great respect, but this is one I got so frustrated with, I flung it across the room. Often and with great force. If you have infinite patience and a lot of time to waste, by all means wade through these ramblings, as there are a few gems, but I found it hardly worth the frustration. (I read the first edition... one would hope a decent editor took this book in hand and FIXED it for the subsequent editions).
P.S. For the other reviewer who thought I hated this book because I was supposedly "angry and disappointed that Mr. Madsen has "outed" some of his/her cherished movie stars", you've gotten the very wrong end of the stick. As a lesbian, I crave books with material like this. The book is just, sadly, very, very bad.
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining But Sloppy and Occasionally Unsubstantiated, April 18, 2002
Axel Madsen's THE SEWING CIRCLE purports to reveal the truth about Hollywood's lesbian social set--and if read in the same way one would read a gossip column it is an entertaining book, ripsnorting through the lives of as many stars as the author dares.Portions of the book are clearly better researched than others, and consequently some exposes are easier to buy into others. Most of THE SEWING CIRCLE concerns the rumors that swirled around Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and the various women who moved in their circle; in writing of this group Madsen has done his homework and the result is quite interesting. On the other hand, Madsen makes little effort to explore the lives of such figures as Agnes Moorehead--and then, completely out of the blue, attempts to posit Judy Garland as a lesbian, which is such a leap that it makes you begin to question his portraits of everyone else as well. That aside, although Madsen's actual style is good enough, his structure is not, and THE SEWING CIRCLE jumps here, there, and everywhere in an effort to catch the reader by surprise. Still, the book is entertainingly written. Recommended for a rainy day read, but keep your grains of salt ready.
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7 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and Fascinating, February 28, 2002
By A Customer
I have a funny feeling that the one other review of this book is based on someone's being angry and disappointed that Mr. Madsen has "outed" some of his/her cherished movie stars. The truth is the truth and being gay doesn't make these stars any less nice, human or worthwhile. The book is well-written and interesting. What else can you ask of a book? I think it's so good I've bought several copies for friends.
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