Rating: 
Summary: Glamorized Garbage
Review: I am a certified Social Worker with a Masters Degree in Social Work. In my practice I have had numerous clients with an array of problems including substance abuse and AIDS. I feel that the real tragedy is that because Gia was a beautiful, famous model, the book basically excused her despicable behavior by implying that she was a product of her family's "dysfunction". The author refers time and again to the break up of Gia's parents as the root of Gia's problems. The author also reports that she had "no support" from friends and family as her addiction took hold and basically destroyed her. The fact of the matter is that Gia came from a broken family, like many others, but instead of dealing with her problems she took the self indulgence route. This book portrays Gia as a spoiled, selfish, iresponsible person who had everything but wanted more. She used the modeling industry as much as they used her. She was getting paid, wasn't she? Since when is it an employers job to make sure you 're ok? If you don't do what you're hired to do you get fired. That's life. It's a shame to see anyone so young lose their life. But she died as a direct result of how she lived. It was nobody's fault but Gia's. I had a patient who was raised alone by her mother on welfare. At 18 yrs. old she went in search of her father. She found him and being a drug addict proceeded to introduce her to cocaine. He then raped her and she became pregnant with his child. She also contracted AIDS. She was on welfare and truly alone in the world. Every day is a struggle for her. I don't see anyone writing a book about her life or lending her support. Now that is what I call a true tragedy.
Rating: 
Summary: A great discovery...
Review: I am still chocked because of her story. What a waste of life and health... The drug addiction and AIDS are hard to swallow... Many of these problems could be avoided by everyone, but they don't. What a pity... By the way, the movie is only a romance. It is very good to watch on your TV...and cry a river for her. The book is better...if you want to know her and also the backstage of discos and modelling. I really recomend the book for everyone...
Rating: 
Summary: Gia's impact on me!
Review: I am writing this to say that Gia has spoken loud and clear from the grave. Before I saw the movie or read the book, I felt that the AIDS victims were to blame for their ailment and " it was their problem, why should I care!" Well, Gia's story Slapped me in the face! It was painful! She put a face on AIDS. I have since decided to help AIDS victims any way I can. That is the silent promise I made to her. If only she were alive to hear it. Gia touched me so much I can hardly explain it. She taught me a lesson. I love her and appreciate her for that. That same year(1986), I lost a very dear cousin to alcohol and drugs. We know the pain of her family because we were going through the same type of loss. I hurts like hell!! To Gia's family and friends my heart goes out to all of you!! May God bless and be with all of you!! Sincerely, Carla Marie Lovato From Las cruces, New Mexico P.S If I could obtain the e-mail of Mr. Fried It would be deeply appreciated,or even a family member of Gia's It would be most appreciated!! Thank You!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very real, shocking, and moving.
Review: I believe this book to be one of the best in it's kind relating to the subject, of business relating to the fashion industry, drugs and sickness, not too mention people and their mixed up feelings about life and other's in general. This story has really moved me for I'm not infected with the desease yet I'm affected for I have family members who have died of the cause. This is a good book for someone who is in dire need of a wakeup call. I highly recomend it.
Rating:
Summary: Gia's story changed my life!
Review: I bought "Thing of Beauty, the tragedy of supermodel Gia" after seeing the HBO movie Gia. All I could do is ask WHY? after seeing the movie. Author Stephen Fried obviously spent many, many hours researching Gia's life. He was able to give me the answers I was looking for. Even though I still don't understand why Gia had to die, and I don't understand why nobody saw her pain and why nobody helped her, I do feel like I understand Gia. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. All she truly wanted was to be loved...And I do love her. This book WILL change your life and will make you realize who and what in your life is really important. Trust Me!
Rating:
Summary: Gia's story changed my life!
Review: I bought "Thing of Beauty, the tragedy of supermodel Gia" after seeing the HBO movie Gia. All I could do is ask WHY? after seeing the movie. Author Stephen Fried obviously spent many, many hours researching Gia's life. He was able to give me the answers I was looking for. Even though I still don't understand why Gia had to die, and I don't understand why nobody saw her pain and why nobody helped her, I do feel like I understand Gia. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. All she truly wanted was to be loved...And I do love her. This book WILL change your life and will make you realize who and what in your life is really important. Trust Me!
Rating:
Summary: Gia Was In A Lot Of Emotional Pain That Killed Her
Review: I bought the book the other and I read in less than one night I cried so much after reading it HBO was so right to let Angelina Jolie play the self-destructive Ms. Carangi it's sad how she was in a body bag at age 26 from AIDS I could feel her family's pain she would've been 40 this coming January. Kat, your daughter was very beautiful it's unfortunate that she's not in this world anymore. Gia Marie Carangi 1960-1999 R.I.P. Beautiful Girl.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this about Gia or all the people around her?
Review: I bought this book because I wanted to read about Gia. Not her agents, hairstylists, photographers and various other people. It seems that Gia is only mentioned in a few paragraphs of each chapter. Personally, I don't want to read about the details of the aforementioned people's lives with the exception of Gia herself. This book would have been a much more enjoyable read with a few hundred less unimportant pages. I found my mind wondering off while reading the book because there is little mention of Gia through many of its chapters. I hope that someone else writes a book on Gia and leaves the focus on Gia.
Rating:
Summary: Illusion vs. reality never holds up
Review: I can remember when I was in elementary school and I saw Gia on the cover of Cosmopolitan and I thought to myself, " I wish I could grow up to look like her." I was completely stunned when I found out years later that Gia, the model I had wanted so desperately to look like, had died in horrifically. I bought the book because of that memory, to see if I couldn't learn something about the woman beyond the image on the glossy cover of the magazine and I found myself mourning for a girl who was lost and had no chance of finding her way out the darkness she was mired in. The book introduces you to Gia's mother, father, her siblings,and the people she loved most in her life. It was amazing to me that someone so gifted at birth with beauty saw nothing beautiful in herself and spent her life trying to escape the world she created around herself. I got a sense that her mother never realized the damage she did to her daughter by abandoning her children to her ex-husband and she would never accept the responsibility for the pain she inflicted on her daughter. She manipulated her daughter whenever she could. She wanted to live through Gia and in doing so she sucked the joy from her daughter's life. Having lived the life of an manipulated, stifled child, I could clearly see where the darkness began to seal around Gia. I think that she would have been able to traverse the pitfalls alot better if she had had a friend or two who had wanted only her best interests to be served and not grab a piece of Gia for themselves. She was a fractured young woman in need of stability and it was only offered to her in segments and at a very high cost. The people around her only brokered the bits and pieces they knew about her. Unfortunately, the one left with the tab was Gia, who died young, in anonymity and without any of her dazzling beauty left. What she found in the end was the fragments of a dream that she truly wanted to pursue, but her chance to grasp the shooting star was lost. You can never judge a book by its cover and never a person by their physical beauty or lack of it. What makes a person unique is their spirit and the trials and triumphs that they have endured in their lives. Gia didn't have a chance from the start. It didn't matter how beautiful she was, there was no fairy tale ending for her, despite the brilliance of her arrival and short stay in the glittering world of the wealthy and trendy. This book is great for those who forget that money and beauty can't buy happiness. Gia's couldn't. This book should be a warning and a legacy. A disturbing read but clearly worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Illusion vs. reality never holds up
Review: I can remember when I was in elementary school and I saw Gia on the cover of Cosmopolitan and I thought to myself, " I wish I could grow up to look like her." I was completely stunned when I found out years later that Gia, the model I had wanted so desperately to look like, had died in horrifically. I bought the book because of that memory, to see if I couldn't learn something about the woman beyond the image on the glossy cover of the magazine and I found myself mourning for a girl who was lost and had no chance of finding her way out the darkness she was mired in. The book introduces you to Gia's mother, father, her siblings,and the people she loved most in her life. It was amazing to me that someone so gifted at birth with beauty saw nothing beautiful in herself and spent her life trying to escape the world she created around herself. I got a sense that her mother never realized the damage she did to her daughter by abandoning her children to her ex-husband and she would never accept the responsibility for the pain she inflicted on her daughter. She manipulated her daughter whenever she could. She wanted to live through Gia and in doing so she sucked the joy from her daughter's life. Having lived the life of an manipulated, stifled child, I could clearly see where the darkness began to seal around Gia. I think that she would have been able to traverse the pitfalls alot better if she had had a friend or two who had wanted only her best interests to be served and not grab a piece of Gia for themselves. She was a fractured young woman in need of stability and it was only offered to her in segments and at a very high cost. The people around her only brokered the bits and pieces they knew about her. Unfortunately, the one left with the tab was Gia, who died young, in anonymity and without any of her dazzling beauty left. What she found in the end was the fragments of a dream that she truly wanted to pursue, but her chance to grasp the shooting star was lost. You can never judge a book by its cover and never a person by their physical beauty or lack of it. What makes a person unique is their spirit and the trials and triumphs that they have endured in their lives. Gia didn't have a chance from the start. It didn't matter how beautiful she was, there was no fairy tale ending for her, despite the brilliance of her arrival and short stay in the glittering world of the wealthy and trendy. This book is great for those who forget that money and beauty can't buy happiness. Gia's couldn't. This book should be a warning and a legacy. A disturbing read but clearly worthwhile.
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