Rating: 
Summary: Writing seems tired
Review: In the first half the writing is abysmal, but it gets much better in the second half (despite the repetitions). In the second half Thurman glides into the smoother tone used by Francis and Gontier (another biography of Colette), whom she quotes along with myriad other authors whose ideas she uses. There is little fresh or original in this book (unless you count Thurman's opinions, which I find jarring and not always based on sound evidence). As you can tell, I wish I'd got this book at the library.
Rating: 
Summary: So Sorry This Book Had To Be
Review: It was a total waste of money and time. I have never been so unenchante
Rating: 
Summary: Colette's Secret
Review: My perspective of who this marvelous woman was was greatly enhanced by Thurman's knowledge of her subject and the quality of her presentaion. There was a kind of engaging grace by which she delivered the details. Thurman's presentation comes from the heart and is a well established read that had me thoroughly pinned to the page. I found the scant review by the reader from Arlington, VA more difficult to plow through than the whole of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Not Very Engaging
Review: On the strength of reviews in the New York Times and the Washington Post, my book club selected this book as a must read. To a woman, we found this book difficult to plow through. Thurman is enamored of subordinate clauses, tangential references and elliptical thoughts. If she were a journalist, her editor would tell her that she buried her lead at every possible opportunity. The book club came away not giving a hoot about Collette, who her mother was or who either of them slept with. Bottom line: if you are a huge fan of Collette, this might be an interesting book. For the rest of us, it is not.
Rating:
Summary: I got lost in this book
Review: Reading this book I found myself lost among the outrageous, glamorous and exotic characters Colette lived among, including, of course herself. It was such a different world! For that alone I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a 'meaty read'. ie it's not for someone who wants to just skim the pages lightly, you've got to commit. I found it highly readable and it lead me on, page by page, quite effortlessly right through to the end. For a fan of Colette's work I thought the book did an admirable job of setting her works in the context of her life without taking any of their magic away - as so many author biographers are wont to do. I found it a bit predictable that her life could be plotted so closely against her novels - this is always a biographers dream - but perhaps in Colette's case it's true.....
Rating: 
Summary: Colette-Amazon of the 1900s
Review: Secrets of the Flesh- Judith Thurman This is a marvellous and superbly well written study of the life of one of France's greatest writers and national heroines. Both entertaining and informative, the author has no illusions about her subject but seeks complete truthfulness in her intimate portrait if this radical, sexy, humorous, wilful and sometimes cruel and callous subject. Although from humble peasant origin Colette's joie de vivre and intelligence enabled her to ride the wave of the decadence of fin de siecle Paris. Encouraged by her first husband, the roguish Willy, the pert and defiantly adolescent Madame Colette \ Willy wrote asute and erotic stories designed to satiate a public who appreciated the delicate stage of burgeoning female sexuality. The priapic and venereally infected Willy fully exploited his wife's literary talents in an age where women were only just emerging as sexually autonomous. Lesbianism was all the rage, but more as an added excitation to male lust than to true female bonding. Badly treated herself, Colette treated her own lesbian lover Missy woefully, and destroyed the balance of their relationship with her adulterous disregard for her feelings. Promiscuous but picky, Colette enjoyed a selection of lovers both male and female, as though selecting from a box of the fine chocolates which she enjoyed so much. Her sexual relationship with the son of her second husband, Bertrand de Jouvenel, was shocking even by Parisian standards, although it is interesting to note that the seduction took place after she wrote Cheri, as though Colette was determined to make her life mirror her art. Bel-Gazou de Jouvenel, Colette's daughter was much neglected and grew up to be as wilful as her mother, although sadly lacking her mother's instinct for self-preservation. Colette calculatedly rejected those who had a call on her affections throughout her life, as she would not have her powers dissipated through their claim on her. However she was also capable of selflessness and devotion, and was courageous and uncomplaining in adversity. These more conventional virtues were the product of her upbringing and her zealous and uncompromising mother, Sido. A much applauded bare-breasted dancer, mime artist, self-taught athlete, film and theatre reviewer, political journalist and beautician, Colette filled many roles in her life, Rather like the sleek cat who luxuriates in food and comfortable surroundings, overindulgence wreaked havoc on Colette's face and figure- like Oscar Wilde she found that she could never say no to temptation. Always enigmatic and contradictory, only her last husband, Maurice really understood her nature, nursing her through her final painful years, when her body became impotent to the powerful spirit that raged within. So much loved was she, that thousands turned out for her funeral cortege, strewing flowers ankle deep in the streets of Paris.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, and it held my interest, but.......
Review: The farther into this book I got, the more I got the very strong feeling that at some point in her research and writing, the author came to intensely dislike Colette, particularly in her roles as daughter, wife, and mother. And after reading the book I came to dislike her too, which is a shame. I also didn't appreciate what I think was almost condemnation on Thurman's part--almost as though she thought Colette didn't deserve the respect and accolades she received throughout her life and after her death, because she was a neglectful daughter, an unfaithful wife, and a truly awful mother. Maybe, maybe not. Colette was a favorite author of mine, 25 years ago or so while I was in high school and college. I knew many of the details of her personal life from what little biographical information I could find at that time, but not this much. Perhaps ignorance is bliss! C'est la vie.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: This is a wonderful book and an easy read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and wish that it didn't end. Colette has lead an exciting life that is inspiring and interesting.
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