Rating: 
Summary: There's nothing like a DAME
Review: As another reviewer said, I have read most ot the biographies written about Elizabeth Taylor, and I am usually disappointed! They seem to never capture the woman; the authors tend to rehash old news clippings, or scandal sheet gossip.In doing this, the authors never do this woman justice. Not only is Elizabeth an icon of our time, but she has become one of countries greatest AIDS activists.This in itself took tremendous courage! There is more to this woman than celluloid, and ex-husbands. Face it, she's one great dame! I wish to some day read a biography of her that truly celebrates the woman that is Elizabeth Taylor!
Rating:
Summary: There's nothing like a DAME
Review: As another reviewer said, I have read most ot the biographies written about Elizabeth Taylor, and I am usually disappointed! They seem to never capture the woman; the authors tend to rehash old news clippings, or scandal sheet gossip.In doing this, the authors never do this woman justice. Not only is Elizabeth an icon of our time, but she has become one of countries greatest AIDS activists.This in itself took tremendous courage! There is more to this woman than celluloid, and ex-husbands. Face it, she's one great dame! I wish to some day read a biography of her that truly celebrates the woman that is Elizabeth Taylor!
Rating: 
Summary: Maggie the Cat
Review: For any fan of Taylors, her role in Tennessee Williams "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a stand-out in a career of should have beens. The author, though perhaps not intending to--make Maggie and Elizabeth almost interchangable. As a woman starved for love,she mistakes lust,pity,histrionic behavior,and melodramatic outcomes for the real..hum-drum..thing and in doing so sacrifices a great talent In a dizzying round of affairs, marriages, drugs, drink, food,and mores the pity-bad movies, the glamour that was Elizabeth Taylor quickly turns to squalor. The biggest surprise for me then, was that I finished this book actually liking this woman..alot. The author gets a bit too hung up on the gender preferences of Taylor's many men but on the whole, its a rounded, solid and human portrayal of a World Class Beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: Same old, same old
Review: I have read most of the books written about Elizabeth Taylor and while her life makes for fascinating "truth is stranger than fiction"-style reading, I don't think this book particularly sheds any new light on her as a woman or actress. It gets especially thin in substance toward the end chapters as it relies heavily on her early more sexually active days. As is always the case with Ms. Taylor, the photos are absolute eye candy, but too few of those as well!
Rating: 
Summary: elizabeth transcends even biographies
Review: I was mesmerised by this book -- of course with all biographies, one takes it with a grain of salt, but I was most impressed with was how Taylor handled her career like a man -- how she was able to go on despite the pressures of her situation. the love story between burton and taylor shines through, and I think I understand a little more about love, even though theirs was a tumultuous one. she is a role model for people in the performing arts who turn their attention toward great and needdy causes, and I respect her immensely. long may she rule as the last star of hollyowood.
Rating:
Summary: What a Life . . .I Suppose
Review: It's not the author's fault, but unfortunately the subject of this book is extremely boring. Two words describe Elizabeth Taylor's life, at least prior to her involvement with AIDS funding and research: WRETCHED EXCESS. This is not a fun read, not because the author didn't try, but because he wrote about a person that just wasn't very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: What a Life . . .I Suppose
Review: It's not the author's fault, but unfortunately the subject of this book is extremely boring. Two words describe Elizabeth Taylor's life, at least prior to her involvement with AIDS funding and research: WRETCHED EXCESS. This is not a fun read, not because the author didn't try, but because he wrote about a person that just wasn't very interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A Stormy Sexual History of Hollywood
Review: This book is the tabloid version of an Elizabeth Taylor biography, reading like stiched-together daily exposes in such a newspaper. It displays in endless detail the sexual orientation of virtually everyone she ever spent time with, any arguments she ever had where someone else was present, and any unladylike things she may have said or done. Her movie work is discussed in terms of how it related to her marital relationships and financial problems. Occasionally, the book also criticizes her for having a healthy sexual appetite. Normally, biographers either like the person they write about or want to create a more accurate account of the person. Mr. Amburn did not seem to fall into either of these categories. His objective seems to be to portray some of the other people in Ms. Taylor's life more sympathetically. The book's main thesis is that Ms. Taylor has had loving relationships in her adult life with people who are gay or bisexual and unloving ones with everyone else. This connection is also made to Ms. Taylor's relationship with her father, despite the fact that she did not have a good relationship with him. But the book doesn't get beyond that into much of the motivation. Many men were attracted to Ms. Taylor like moths to the flame, and this attraction did nothing to bring out their better qualities. She seems to have lived in a world where her physical attractiveness made her a target for fans, men, and exploiters of all sorts. Little is made of the potential to see her as victim of peoples' perceptions of someone who is physically attractive. She also doesn't seem to get enough credit for generally being an open-minded person, which may explain her lack of sexual-orientation prejudice. According to press reports and this book, Ms. Taylor has had more than her share of illness, injury, and physical and emotional pain. Yet she has led a generally productive artistic life, and has played an increasingly important role in bringing sympathy and support to the cause of overcoming AIDS. It would have been natural to have focused on these positive reflections of her underlying character, and the difficulties involved in overcoming ceaseless, searing pain addiction. No one is going to be perfect under such circumstances. Yet the book wallows in her use of drugs and drinking to soften the pain, in endless tales that add little to the biography. Naturally, Ms. Taylor is famous in part for her marital difficulties. Those should have been in the book, but they became too much of the book to be rewarding to the reader. As someone who was a working actress for most of her life, another aspect of the book you might expect would be extended dicussions of her work. You will find relatively little of that. It is as though the author thinks that her work is of virtually no importance. I certainly was moved by her performances in National Velvet, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I liked her performances in many other movies. I would have liked to have read much more about her work in these roles where she was more successful. The best part of this book is the beautiful color photograph of Ms. Taylor on the cover. If you are wondering why I did not give the book a one star review, it is because the photographs are good and the writing style is perfectly adequate. The three star downgrade is for misfocus, exploitation, and a hidden agenda. After you finish looking at Ms. Taylor's cover photograph, consider what you would like to know more about public figures. Then when you are thinking about reading a biography about that person, check to see if the biography focuses on the areas you care about before reading them. That will save you a lot of time. Also, ask yourself how we should consider someone's life. To what extent should we consider good deeds? Bad deeds? Repentance? Motives? Physical appearance? Obstacles to progress? Ms. Taylor's life raises these issues rather nicely. By the way, if you find a biography of Ms. Taylor that you like, please do write to me. I'd like to read it.
Rating:
Summary: A Stormy Sexual History of Hollywood
Review: This book is the tabloid version of an Elizabeth Taylor biography, reading like stiched-together daily exposes in such a newspaper. It displays in endless detail the sexual orientation of virtually everyone she ever spent time with, any arguments she ever had where someone else was present, and any unladylike things she may have said or done. Her movie work is discussed in terms of how it related to her marital relationships and financial problems. Occasionally, the book also criticizes her for having a healthy sexual appetite.
Normally, biographers either like the person they write about or want to create a more accurate account of the person. Mr. Amburn did not seem to fall into either of these categories. His objective seems to be to portray some of the other people in Ms. Taylor's life more sympathetically. The book's main thesis is that Ms. Taylor has had loving relationships in her adult life with people who are gay or bisexual and unloving ones with everyone else. This connection is also made to Ms. Taylor's relationship with her father, despite the fact that she did not have a good relationship with him. But the book doesn't get beyond that into much of the motivation. Many men were attracted to Ms. Taylor like moths to the flame, and this attraction did nothing to bring out their better qualities. She seems to have lived in a world where her physical attractiveness made her a target for fans, men, and exploiters of all sorts. Little is made of the potential to see her as victim of peoples' perceptions of someone who is physically attractive. She also doesn't seem to get enough credit for generally being an open-minded person, which may explain her lack of sexual-orientation prejudice. According to press reports and this book, Ms. Taylor has had more than her share of illness, injury, and physical and emotional pain. Yet she has led a generally productive artistic life, and has played an increasingly important role in bringing sympathy and support to the cause of overcoming AIDS. It would have been natural to have focused on these positive reflections of her underlying character, and the difficulties involved in overcoming ceaseless, searing pain addiction. No one is going to be perfect under such circumstances. Yet the book wallows in her use of drugs and drinking to soften the pain, in endless tales that add little to the biography. Naturally, Ms. Taylor is famous in part for her marital difficulties. Those should have been in the book, but they became too much of the book to be rewarding to the reader. As someone who was a working actress for most of her life, another aspect of the book you might expect would be extended dicussions of her work. You will find relatively little of that. It is as though the author thinks that her work is of virtually no importance. I certainly was moved by her performances in National Velvet, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I liked her performances in many other movies. I would have liked to have read much more about her work in these roles where she was more successful. The best part of this book is the beautiful color photograph of Ms. Taylor on the cover. If you are wondering why I did not give the book a one star review, it is because the photographs are good and the writing style is perfectly adequate. The three star downgrade is for misfocus, exploitation, and a hidden agenda. After you finish looking at Ms. Taylor's cover photograph, consider what you would like to know more about public figures. Then when you are thinking about reading a biography about that person, check to see if the biography focuses on the areas you care about before reading them. That will save you a lot of time. Also, ask yourself how we should consider someone's life. To what extent should we consider good deeds? Bad deeds? Repentance? Motives? Physical appearance? Obstacles to progress? Ms. Taylor's life raises these issues rather nicely. By the way, if you find a biography of Ms. Taylor that you like, please do write to me. I'd like to read it.
Rating:
Summary: How To Destroy The Validity of One's Writing
Review: [seemingly w]ritten for obvious exploitive reasons, the author has done a greatdeal of research and twisted facts to fit the author's purposes. One of the hints is a quote attributed to Tallulah Bankhead about Tab Hunter's sexuality. The "real" quote has been printed ad nauseum and if [she] can't get THIS one right....
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