Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Even serious lovers of film need something fun to read about the medium and THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK BREAKUPS by James Robert Parish fills the bill. No, it isn't a weighty tome about a particular star or director or the making of a classic movie; it is a sensational behind-the-scene glimpse at the private lives of several Hollywood stars. Parish uses considerable research and skill to convey how some of these lives were or are more interesting off-screen than on-screen! Specifically, as the title promises, Parish focuses on the well-publicized breakups of such couples as Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, and Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres. Frankly, I was more interested in the older stars and "what really happened" to them (since all the new celebrity stuff has already been covered to death). I enjoyed reading about Ingrid Bergman's divorce from "Dr. Petter Lindstrom." There is even a wedding day photo of the two (I had never seen them together before) in addition to information that I didn't know (in Hollywood, during her marriage, Bergman was already romancing several others well before her infamous union with Roberto Rossellini). Elsewhere, Parish clarifies the tangled mismatch between Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, and he finds some new angles regarding the Marilyn Monroe-Joe DiMaggio split. There are a few minor lapses--e.g. in the Orson Welles-Rita Hayworth chapter, Parish claims Welles stayed with last wife Paola Mori to the end of of his life, never mentioning his long-term companionship with Oja Kodar. But, in any case, it is hard to put down this compulsively readable, highly entertaining book.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Hollywood Book of Breakups
"Half of all marriages end in divorce--and then there are the really unhappy ones."--Joan RiversDo you suppose that the person who first said "Life is stranger than fiction" might have had Hollywood marriages in mind? Why watch a romantic film starring a leading man and a leading lady when their real-life romances are so much more interesting? It seems that a celebrity's latest film can have a considerably longer life span in the theater than his or her marriage du jour.One would almost think that Tinseltown has come to embrace divorce as an accepted pastime. Some celebrities have seemingly collected spouses over the years, systematically adding notches in their belts of divorces. Cases in point: Zsa Zsa Gabor (nine), Lana Turner (eight), Elizabeth Taylor (nine), and Mickey Rooney (eight). This list appears to make Jennifer Lopez a mere novice with only three marriages, two divorces, and one terminated engagement to date.In The Hollywood Book of Breakups, James Robert Parish looks at scores of hot Hollywood romances that eventually fell apart. From the decade-long union of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to the "just-for-show" nuptials of Rock Hudson and Phyllis Gates to the four-and-a-half-year marriage of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to the "other woman" divorce of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Parish covers it all--from the burning embers to the fizzling fires of Hollywood breakups. You couldn't make this stuff up--and James Robert Parish doesn't need to. Hollywood writes its own drama when it comes to scandalous breakups.
Click here for more information about The Hollywood Book of Breakups
0 comments:
Post a Comment