Rating: 
Summary: What's that whistling sound?
Review: Why, it's Lorna Luft, dropping another famous name. Incoming!If you bought this book to learn more about Judy Garland, as I did, save your money; or better yet, buy Gerald Clarke's excellent biography "Get Happy." The first half of the book, up until Judy's death, is nothing we haven't heard before, except painted with a whole lot of whitewash. Vincente Minelli's relationships with men? Didn't happen. Sid Luft lost money gambling? Totally false. Judy resented Louis B. Mayer and her mother? Of course not. Most of the other stories we've heard over the years? Not true. Her proof for any of this? None; the stories are, it seems, not true mostly because she doesn't want them to be. One thing I found quite offensive is Luft's characterization of her mother's gay fans as "Garland Freaks." She goes on to mention later that there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, but by then the damage was done, in my opinion. According to Luft, pretty much everyone who was around her mother at the end was a sleazy hanger-on. Well, at least they were there; by her own admission, Luft did not see Judy at all for the last 10 months of her life, having decamped to California to live with her father. After writing of her mother's death, Luft launches into the story of the rest of her life, which sadly isn't all that interesting. She did a lot of drugs. She hung out at Studio 54. She performed. Oh, and she knew famous people. A *lot* of famous people. Whose names are mentioned. Often. Every one of them is, of course, a "dear friend." She'll show you pictures to prove it. Yada yada whatever. Luft is honest about her drug problems, but much more honest, in much more detail, about her sister Liza's drug problems. Luft "treats" us to every sordid detail about Liza's problems and attempts at rehab. Luft's own rehab? To hear her tell it, not much to write home about. It's a pretty blatant attempt to whitewash her own problems while making her sister look as bad as possible. Save your time. Luft's intentions may have been good (and I have my doubts about that; ride the coat tails much?), but she falls short of the mark here.
Rating: 
Summary: An Inside View
Review: Lorna Luft has taken a considerable amount heat from some who describe her as a no-talent cashing in on a trashy portrait of celebrated mother Judy Garland. This criticism is unjust: Luft can scarcely be called a no-talent, and while it is true her family portrait is often harrowing, it is equally true that she writes from love. While painfully honest about the more unsavory aspects of life with Judy Garland, she takes care to illustrate both the good times and the love that existed between Garland and her children, and she is certainly no more sparing of her own failings than she is of Garland or step-sister Liza Minnelli. Much of the book focuses on Garland, but Me and My Shadows is less a book about Judy Garland than it is about Lorna Luft herself and how she coped with an increasingly dysfunctional family disintegrating under the weight of world-wide fame. Although not a writer per se, Luft writes openly and cleanly and from the heart, and the result is often very affecting. In one sense, the book adds nothing new to what the world already knows about Judy Garland: she was incredibly gifted, incredibly insecure, and as time passed increasingly addicted to and damaged by drugs. But it does offer a unique perspective, a view from the inside of an extraordinarily gifted (and extraordinarily tormented) family who loved each other in spite each others' failings--and ultimately and a vision of a daughter at last coming to terms with a painfully mixed legacy. And that, perhaps, is the only success worth really having after all.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I loved this book. Although i wasn't really a fan of Judy Garland's (i had only ever seen her in The Wizard of Oz), i was by the time i finished this book. This book is beautifully written, and i thought the mini-series was fantastic. Lorna writes honestly, covering both the good and bad points of Judy's -as well as her own- life. It is particularly sad at times, but there are some happy, joyful memories that Lorna has of her mom. As Lorna once said, 'I didn't know her as a legend, I didn't know her as an icon, all i knew her as was my mother', a mother who loved her children fiercely, even in her final years of addiction. There is no doubt that Judy Garland was a brilliant and gifted performer - and if she had not had the tradgies of being co-dependent on her pills, or if addiction had been more understood - she would still be alive today, instead of being alive only in the memories of her loved ones.
Rating:
Summary: An honest autobiography...
Review: I think it takes a lot of courage to write a book about your own life especially when you come from a family of celebrities. Lorna Luft is getting the same flack that Christina Crawford got because she wrote about her experiences and people don't like that because it means having to see their idols as human and not as the Hollywood gods or godesses they prefer. This book made me laugh and cry, and it made me angry too, but not because she "badmouths" her mother. It made me angry to see a beautiful, talented, woman like Judy Garland, give in to the addiction that took her life. But just as Lorna said, "Judy led a happy life regardless of what others may believe." As for name dropping, it's a silly phrase. If your are raised in a celebrity family and live among celebrities, who are your friends going to be? You have to write about your experiences and that is just what Ms. Luft is doing. Let's remember that this is her point of view. People can argue and disagree over her motives but in the end it's still her point of view. The book has many beautiful family photos and is very well written. Congratulations to Lorna Luft for writing such a wonderful history about her family and not shying away from the grim, sometimes tragic, aspects. It is a life filled with all the colors just like everybody else's--only she lived it in the spotlight.
Rating:
Summary: buy it and read it! completely brialliant.
Review: I thought this book was fantastic. All true Judy Garland fans should read this because it is brilliant. Luft seems to tell the whole truth and it does contradict some other books which makes me feel a lot better.
In Anne Edwards book "Judy Garland Biography" it says that L.B. Mayer hated Judy Garland. It says he treated her like rubbish and didn't care about her at all but then in Lufts book it says Mayer loved Judy like a daughter and she never once complained about him. Although Luft probably does exaggerate some of it and she probably can't quite remember everything so she has to do her best, even if its not true, it is still a fantastically detailed review of the ups and downs of Judy's and the family's life.
At one point Luft says that the night of Judys funeral, she was on the balony looking at the stars and she felt her mothers presence. I thought that was lovely and it really touched me. All the things about Judys ghost haunting Liza is absolute rubbish from the press. I don't know how some reporters can be so harsh and not even seem to care. As Lorna said, if her mother was "haunting" Liza, it wasn't "haunting", she was simply trying to comfort her because she is her daughter.
I love Judy Garland and hope wherever she is that she is very happy and has finally found piece.
This book is fantastic and, as I said before, any fan of Judys should read it and if you still come of loving her as much as you did when you started the book, or more, then you are a true fan of a fantastic legend.
Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting Life
Review: The book starts off with the story of Lorna Luft's grandparents (Judy's parents) Frank and Ethel Gumm and tells the story about how they met and the family they raised. The book then goes into the story of Lorna's mother Judy Garland growing up baby Frances Ethel Gumm. Lorna tells how her mother loved to perform and loved living in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (were she was born) and hated living in Lancaster, California where they moved when Judy was 4.
Lorna then goes into the story of the MGM years of Judy's life going from a radio singer to the star of The Wizard of OZ, one of the greatest hits of MGM's history all in the space of a year. After that, it was all pretty much down hill as far as MGM goes for Judy according to Lorna. Judy started on drugs to help her lose weight and help her sleep, and they soon controlled her life. Lorna tells that when Judy was 18 she got married to David Rose and after only a short period of time divorced him. She did this to get out of Ethel's hair because she could not stand being near her after the death of Frank and Ethel's marrying a man exactly four years to the day after her father's death.
Lorna then goes into the sorted affair that was Judy's marriage to Vincent Minnelli and the birth of their daughter Liza. After only a few years though they divorced and Lorna goes on to talk about the next man in Judy's life, Lorna's father Sid Luft.
Lorna tells the story about her father being raised by a bon-vivent and a Russian Jewish designer in New York City. Lorna also tells a ridiculous story that her father once heard his father tell his mother about a mysterious note a woman wrote to him when his family was in Europe one summer.
Lorna tells about her parent's early relationship and how she never knew that she was actually on the way when they decided to get married. She tells the story about her early years in the house and then the hubbub of having little Joey come into the world. Lorna tells the story about how when Joey was a little boy she actually went into his crib and scratched him so hard that to this day there are still scratch marks on his face.
This leads into the story about Lorna's own life. Going from one step-father to another constantly moving, never being able to see her father, until at the age of 15 she moves in with her dad and several months later finds out that her mother was dead.
After her mother died, Lorna moved to New York to work in plays and things and had some love affairs (one with Barry Mataloe.) She tells about her dabbling with cocaine for several years and the diabolical that was her relationship with Burt Reynolds until she found the absolute wrong man for her-her husband Jake Hooker.
Lorna vividly details her relationship of almost 20 years with her husband. She tells about at first they were fine, and then after their son was born it was more like they were client and clientele instead of husband and wife and their daughters birth only made it worse. She details how their marriage broke up when their daughter was an infant and how only a week later she met the next man she was to marry.
Last, but not least Lorna describes her relationship with her sister Liza Minnelli. She tells that because Liza was seven years older than her she does not really have any memories of her when they were young, but she has a lot when they were older. Lorna details the struggle Liza had with drugs that culminated in Lorna virtually kidnapping her sister and taking her to the Betty Ford Center in about 1984.
Rating:
Summary: Well, Lorna...........
Review: Oh my. As a long-standing Garland fan, far be it from me to knock one of her kids. But this reads like fantasy! Tremendous chunks have been left out of this book, and Lorna reminds me, sometimes, of B.D. Hyman: the perfect daughter who held it all together and blames everyone else. Yeah, Lorna whines a lot, and yes there is "name dropping", but on the whole, the book is flat. What I would like to know is why Judy Garland, the most celebrated entertainer of the 20th century, died broke. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. Didn't Lorna ever ask her father (the strongest man in the world, according to her), "Daddy, what happened to all of Mommy's money??????" No biographer has yet to uncover this mystery. Where did all her money go? Films and TV and radio and smash-success concerts and record albums....... where did all the money go????? And why doesn't Lorna discuss her "Great Performances" program, or the restored version of "A Star Is Born" (she was there at Radio City; has the pictures to prove it). You'd think that these would be milestones in the rememberance of her mother. And as for her career, which, supposedly she has, why can't I find a "Lorna Luft Live" album, or her "Songs My Mother Taught Me" album? As for her stay at Betty Ford, well, she makes it seem like she had brief visitation rights. Liza gets slammed in this tome (unfairly, too). But hey, what's a sister for? Yes, its readable, but I certainly couldn't call it the whole story.
Rating: 
Summary: HO HUMMMM
Review: I'VE ALWAYS ADORED JUDY GARLAND AND HER KIDS, LIZA, JOEY AND LORNA. AT FIRST, JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE JUDY'S KIDS.
BUT THEN LIZA CAME INTO HER OWN AND WOWED EVERYONE HERSELF!
LORNA WENT ON STAGE WITH HER MOM A FEW TIMES, AS DID JOEY IN JUDY'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. THEN--LIZA BECAME A SUPERSTAR, AND LORNA--ALTHOUGH HER VOICE WAS WONDERFUL ENOUGH, JUST NEVER MADE IT AS BIG AS HER OLDER SIS.
THIS IS THE CRUX OF THIS BOOK.
LORNA HAS A GIANT CHIP ON HER SHOULDER.
EVERYTHING THAT HAS GONE WRONG IN HER SORRY LIFE IS LIZA'S FAULT, HER MOM'S FAULT--LORNA DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING. IT'S A WONDER LIZA WILL EVEN TALK TO HER.
OH, AND WATCH LORNA TRY TO POLISH UP HER FATHER'S ( SID LUFT) IMAGE. THE MAN HELPED TO DESTROY JUDY'S FINANCES--WAS A STRONG ARMED KIND OF A MAN--ROUGH--AND YET--HE IS ALMOST PROMOTED TO SAINTHOOD IN THIS BOOK.
WHEN I FINISHED THE BOOK, I WAS ALREADY WISHING FOR LIZA'S REBUTTAL WHICH I AM SURE NOT ONLY WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE TRUTHFUL THAN LORNA'S VERSION--IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A WELCOME, REFRESHING CHANGE FROM LORNA'S MALARCHY.
THE ONLY MAN WHO MATCHED JUDY--BOTH TALENT WISE AND GLAMOUR WISE WAS VINCENT MINNELLI. WHICH MAKES LIZA A POWERHOUSE TO CONTEND WITH.
THAT IS OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING LORNA WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO.
Rating:
Summary: a good book
Review: I think Lorna Luft has written a very good biography on her mother Judy Garland, without being to tell-all or cruel. I think it's a pretty good book and to tell her story through her own eyes. The only part I didn't agree with is towards the end when she starts bashing Liza. Otherall its a very good book, very poignant and honest. I think Ms. Luft has a lot of courage to write from her heart and tell how it really was to live with her mother Judy Garland and also tells of how her Moms true and dedicated love of her children. Though it is a biogrpahy of Judy Garland it is more a biography on Lorna Luft. It's worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: I saw the TV movie this book was based on, and it made me go buy the book. The book starts as a biography of Judy Garland and ends as an autobiography of Lorna Luft. The book seems to present a fair, matter of fact portrayal of Judy Garland's life. It holds your interest from beginning to end. A must read for all Judy and Hollywood fans alike. I also highly recommend the Tv movie on VHS or DVD.
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