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Summary: A wonderful insight into the life of Natalie Wood
Review: My mom just finished reading "Natasha" last week. She thought it was very good. She'd been a fan of hers since she was a young girl and had never known some of the facts in depth until she discovered the book. Mom went back and watched a video biography on her and watched two of her movies after completing the book. If you are a fan of Natalie Wood you will want to read this book. You'll discover things you never knew about this famous, tragic beauty. --Rachel
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Summary: Natasha
Review: A very well written book alot of good research pictures excellent! I loved Natalie Wood and will always miss her. Would read other Books written by Suzanne Finstad. Linda G
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Summary: Revealing Book
Review: I couldn't put this one down. Since I've finished it I keep going back and re reading the final day of Natalie's life. What I can't figure out is why hasn't Wagner straightened out all the confusion about what happened in her drowning? Can't imagine it was murder... good book!
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Summary: Somewhere a place for her
Review: Natalie Wood was my favorite actress. Yet in her later films it was obvious that her acting was as wooden as her invented name.And as we learn in this fascinating biography, Natalie Wood herself did not really exist but was an invention of a devious and extrememy peculiar mother. Suzanne Finstead has written that rare celebrity biography. The reader comes to know Natasha/Natalie in a variey of ways that are always illuminating.The story reads like a suspenseful, almost gothic novel wherein a waiflike beauty is about to fall into the dark abyss at every turn. Those of us who admired her must sit by helplessly as this beautiful, tortured soul drowns a little bit every day.
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Summary: NATALIE WAS ALWAYS A STAR
Review: THIS BOOK IS INFORMATIVE AND WELL DONE. IT SHOWS HOW CLASSY NATALIE WAS. SHE NEVER TOOK TRASHY ROLES AND WAS ALWAYS CONCERNED WITH HER CARRER. SHE RESPECTED HER CARRER. SHE WAS A WONDERFUL ACTRESS AND MOTHER. THIS BOOK MAKES THE READER THINK ABOUT THE OBVIOUS QUESTION "WHAT IF".I FEEL NATALIE WOULD HAVE GONE ON MAKING MOVIES AND RAISING HER FAMILY, WHICH WAS SO IMPORTANT TO HER.
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Summary: Very good with a few reservations
Review: I try not to write negative reviews, because I know how much it hurts the author's feelings-but since there have been no comments at all here on one or two points, I thought I'd chime in. • Photos. Very few photos, and those not very good ones. The author frequently describes important or lovely photos, then DOESN'T SHOW THEM. Very frustrating for a reader. • Repitition. This could have used some judicious editing-there is a lot of text that could have been trimmed, and a lot of repetition (how many times did we have to hear the same thing over and over about the bracelet or the fortune teller or who Robert Blake is?). But on the other hand, there is much to recommend this book: the author tells us who her sources are and whether or not they are trustworthy, which is commendable. She also documents Wood's film career as well as her life.
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Summary: A disappointment
Review: As a long time fan of Natalie Wood, I found this book quite a disappointment. I believe the author was determined to prove that "Natalie Wood" and Maria Gurdin were somehow supernaturally connected. That Natasha - Natalie's real name and her real "self" according to the author-was somehow left out in the cold and ignored. To some degree, I agree that Maria, Natalie's mother was the ultimate stage mother and pushed Natalie with little regard to her feelings. However, the book reminds us that this is the point of her book on practically every page. It gets to be quite tedious. I don't need to be reminded quite that often of the theme of the book. I began to feel that the author was not quite sure her audience would "get it" without the constant reminders. Believe me, I "got it" until I was rather sick of it. As for the biographical facts in the book, I do believe that the author - based on her copious notes in the back of the book-conducted numerous interviews with a variety of people. It is eye opening to note that the only friends of Natalie's that were interviewed were friends that she had as a child. It makes you wonder if Natalie's friends as an adult would have a different story to tell. I find it hard to believe, that everything is as it appears in the book. Robert Wagner was basically portrayed as a charming fop who wasn't worthy of Natalie's attentions, much less marriage. Considering she married him twice, I doubt Natalie thought he was such a bad catch. Are we to believe that the man was really an alcoholic bisexual who was cruel enough to watch the only woman he ever truly loved drown? This is basically what the author says about Wagner and not a whole lot more than that. She seems to believe that Wagner was relatively unimportant in the scheme of Natalie's life. Or so it appears from the amount of print she used for their relationship. It seems to me that perhaps the author was either angry because she was not granted interviews with the immediate family or perhaps she found Natalie's sister, Lana Wood, a bit more believable than most of Natalie's fans do. Lana has often expressed - throughout her own memoirs of Natalie, for instance - her jealousy of her sister and brother-in-law. It's hardly the basis for an unbiased account of her life. Whatever the reasons, I found the lack of information about their relationship and its importance to Natalie disturbing since it was obviously of great importance and significance to her. As for Natalie's death, it seems that much of the information came from interviews with Lana from phone conversations she had with Dennis Davern while he was intoxicated-10 years after the fact. Davern is quite unbelievable in his own right. Adding Lana into the mix just muddies the water more in my opinion. Even the author admits that Davern shows up periodically when he's in need of cash with another rendition of "what happened the night Natalie died". Even if any of what he says is true, at this point he has compromised his believability to the point that no reasonable person would trust a word that comes out of his mouth. His story over the years has been incredibly inconsistent. Not surprisingly, since he has been doing it for monetary gain, the story has also been more and more incredible and damaging with each telling. After all, the tabloids only want to print those stories that are "bigger than life". I don't necessarily disagree with the author's portrayal of Natalie as a tender child who is forced to become stronger through her tragic experiences. Natalie herself said she had a great deal to overcome. However, I believe there could have been much more about the family that was so important to Natalie, and that helped her overcome the manipulations of her past. I believe her husband and children were most important to her. These subjects, although not completely ignored, were not explored as I would have liked to have seen. We will never know the details of Natalie's last night on earth. I sincerely doubt any one person, except Natalie herself, knew what happened on that tragic night. I personally don't think Dennis Davern has all the answers on that subject. Let Natalie Wood finally rest in peace and let us remember her as the remarkable, beautiful, incredible woman that she was. Take may advice, remember Natalie as the beautiful woman you saw on screen and the beautiful wife and mother you saw in pictures with her family and leave the book on the shelf.
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Summary: Could be better written
Review: I enjoyed this book very much; my problem is with the writing. The author specializes in run-on sentences, which are so endless, the reader sometimes has to go back to the beginning to figure out what she is saying. Some good editing would have made it a better book.
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Summary: An absolutely amazing book!!
Review: I have been a major fan of Natalie Wood's for a while now, and have been wondering why there weren't more books about her, that were actually informative instead of filled with gossip and rumors. So when I heard that there was a new book coming out, I immediately ordered it and looked forward to reading it. But I never could have imagined how in depth and incredible this book actually is! I prided myself on knowing a lot about Natalie Wood, but on every page, I learned something new! Suzanne Finstad really made herself and Natalie proud with this book. She conducted thousands of interviews with the people who knew Natalie best and found out things no one had ever heard before! She visited the sites Natalie frequented and rediscovered her past. I think that this book is absolutely wonderful and absolutely overdue. It's a fitting tribute to Hollywood's greatest actress and legend!!
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Summary: Where is the young school girl ?
Review: Touching my soul is this little girl, To be freed at the end of the struggle, May I kiss you as you grow, But where is my young school girl.
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