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Summary: The Real Gia
Review: This story is probably the closest anyone who hasn't met Gia will get to know the truth about her. This book goes into great detail explaining not only the life of Gia Carangi but the life of the fashion industry. By doing this Stephen Fried makes many things understandable that the tv-movie did not. He also doesn't use composite characters (like the movie). It is also shown in here that Kathleen (Gia's mother)is even more cruel than shown in the movie (or in interviews). Gia is shown here with all her flaws, and all her beauty. If anyone is really interested in Gia's life this book is the way to go.
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Summary: Everyone saw the beauty. No one saw the pain.
Review: This story pertrays the Legacy Of Supermodel Gia. Gia was one of the best Spermodels of the Time. She had a beautiful life, and a tragic death. I hope her story lives on in uor hearts forever!
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Summary: A Clinical Look At A Colorful Life
Review: Though filled with details that do not convey much about the life and death of Gia, a compelling character from the late seventies and early eighties who rose to supermodel fame and died of AIDS more or less an unknown. Well researched and understandably written, the narrative reads too much like a newspaper story at times and much of the book is devoted to a history and analysis of the advertising and fashion industires.Though biographical and laced with trenchant images of the late model, the angle of the book is far too academic and sympathetic to the excesses of its subject. Not that a judgement call is asked for or needed, there is no question Gia destroyed herself, what is missing is the essence of this sad story. Much of the information for this book was provided by an estranged mother who came to the dying model's side toward the end of her life. Thus the sometimes acute lack of objectivity found in the rest of the book. Though a very good effort, this book disappoints on many levels. There is too much writing devoted to the throes of Gia's death and the joys of her rise to fortune and fame. A bit too much devoted to an explanation of her industry and too little devoted to her complicated personality. She comes across as a party girl with some talent and a look and she was considerably more than that. As a biography this book succeeds in detailing the major events of Gia's life and untimely demise. It does with accuracy and fairness categorize her field of work, her sexuality and her lifestyle but it does not put a human face on the person who lived this life. We learn much about the people in her lief and come to know them, but you leave this book not knowing its subject at all and that is its failure. Gia was an intricate and sophisticated person. A woman of great beauty and promise beset by pain we never come to realize from this work. Sadly she is lost forever because of self-destructive behavior and a total lack of support from those around her. The human side of that story along with the empirical information we are given would have made this a thumbs up winner.
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Summary: THE ONE AND ONELY GIA CARANGI
Review: TO ME I THINK THAT THE BOOK WAS VERY,VERY TOUCHING.I AM ONLY 17 AND FRIENDS OF MINE (NOT EVEN THE ONES WHO ARE MODELING FOR AN AGENCY NOW)DON'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT "THE FAMOUS MODEL NAMED:GIA".I HAVE READ THE BOOK AND HAVE EVEN SEEN THE MOVIE ABOUT GIA.IT TELLS ME A LOT OF INTERESTING THINGS THAT I WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL GIA.LITTLE DO PEOPLE KNOW,SHE WAS ACTIVITLY TRYING TO FREE HERSELF OF HER DRUG HABBIT.TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK...I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMMEND IT!!
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Summary: RISE AND FALL OF A BEAUTY
Review: WE HAVE READ THE BOOK AND WATCHED THE FILM A THOUSAND TIMES AND WE COULDN'T HELP OURSELVES FROM CRYING. THE STORY IS AMAZING, CAPTIVATING AND DAZZLING. ANGELINA JOLIE WAS THE BEST CHOICE OF HBO. GIA WILL BE REMEMBERED FOREVER AND WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO ALL READER MANIAC TO HAVE THIS BOOK AND LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES. A BEAUTY BY NATURE WASTED AND DESTROYED BY HER ADDICTION.
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Summary: Heartbreaking story
Review: Well written book. It delves into the world of modeling. Not a pretty picture, considering what Gia went through. Gia death was a tragedy because she tried to quit drugs and put her life together. She then contracts AIDS. This book should be a lesson to anyone who takes drugs. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Great book
Review: When I read this book, I felt happy for Gia as she became successful, but terribly sad that she had gotten so deep into drugs that she destroyed her career and her life.
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Summary: Tragic, fascinating story, bad writing
Review: When reading this book, I found myself wanting more about Gia the girl, Gia the woman, and unfortunaltely 2/3 of the book was about events and people surrounding Gia. If you want to read alot about David Bowie mania, the ugly buisness of modeling, and the New York fashion scene in the 70's, then youlle like this book. But if you're like me and want to know more about what Gia was feeling, about her personal struggle, then don't expect to be told her story thru her eyes with this book. This book seems to detail more about the lives of others that have touched Gia's life than the details of Gia's life itself. It seems like there was so much to Gia, that the only person who could of made her story come alive is Gia herself.
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Summary: She Could Have Been My Mother
Review: Wow. People have told me about Gia for a while now, because of my looks, I never knew she was a woman of such perplexity, and I finally saw what they were talking about. This woman was of many facets, and upon reading this book, despite all the excess talk of living in the 70's and 80's, I did find a side to Gia that I had been yearning for. The book is insightful, yet there is a lot of babble of the NY and French fashion scene, which is interesting, but that isn't why we buy the book. Very emotional near the end, I found a woman that I look enough like to be her daughter had a spirit that still lives on.
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