Sammy Davis Jr.: My Father

Rating:
Summary: Insider's Perspective!
Review: I enjoyed this book. It was very interesting to hear about Sammy's life and lifestyle from his child's perspective. The book was written in an uplifting manner. I do wish the author had gone into more detail regarding her brothers' & mother's lives and feelings on things. It's a fast read!

Rating:
Summary: Has It's Weaknesses
Review: The reminisences of her childhood as Sammy Davis Jr.'s only bloodchild is interesting "remember, you're a Davis" and adds interesting insight. However, this book is marred by her obvious hatred and long tangents against Altovise, the third Mrs. Sammy Davis, Jr.(which is clearly due to the fact that her mother was the second Mrs. Davis) If you over look this, it makes a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Has It's Weaknesses
Review: The reminisences of her childhood as Sammy Davis Jr.'s only bloodchild is interesting "remember, you're a Davis" and adds interesting insight. However, this book is marred by her obvious hatred and long tangents against Altovise, the third Mrs. Sammy Davis, Jr.(which is clearly due to the fact that her mother was the second Mrs. Davis) If you over look this, it makes a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Insider's Perspective!
Review: The sometimes touching story of a girl who wants nothing more in the world than her famous and utterly neglectful father to just love her and recognize her. Much of the book is a pathetic story of this sick alcoholic father doing just about everything humanly possible in life BUT give her what she needs. The odd thing about this book, though really not odd considering how common it is, is that this girl goes through her life so utterly proud of her failure of a father, proud of all his accomplishments, proud of the famous people he hobnobs with, proud of how much time he gives them, proud of how fancy and star-studded his parties are, proud of how much he loves his audiences and spares them no attention, proud of how much money he has, and vicariously proud of herself for just being the daughter of one so awesome.

It's really a sad book, its saddest aspect being that the daughter, while writing, doesn't even realize that though she felt her father "came around" in the end and really learned to love her and treat her well, it never really happened! Sammy David, Jr. DIDN'T come around in the end and learn to love his daughter, his daughter simply matured and learned to relate to him more on his level, thus meeting more of his needs and making a relationship with her that much more palatable to HIM.

The reason I found this book worthwhile enough to plow through was that it gave a strong inside view into the life of an extremely wounded and self-centered man and showed now just how much his neglect affected his child, but also how distorted HER thinking could be as a result of this neglect, allowing her to mistake his few crumbs of love far too late in life for the nutritious meal she once deserved.

This book is really a daughter's tribute to her famous father. My question, really, is her motive for writing it. I suspect that she had grandiose motivations of her own, and wants to bask in the sunlight of her father's glory. I'm always suspicious of tell-alls like this, especially ones that tell "dirty" secrets of still living people who are close to the writers, such as things like the alcoholism of her step-mother, her brother's drug abuse and homelessness...and her own suicide attempt. Although I'm not a puritan by any means, I feel some of these things, for the author's own personal and emotional safety, would be better left told to a therapist...

Rating:
Summary: a daughter's tribute to her neglectful, self-centered father
Review: The sometimes touching story of a girl who wants nothing more in the world than her famous and utterly neglectful father to just love her and recognize her. Much of the book is a pathetic story of this sick alcoholic father doing just about everything humanly possible in life BUT give her what she needs. The odd thing about this book, though really not odd considering how common it is, is that this girl goes through her life so utterly proud of her failure of a father, proud of all his accomplishments, proud of the famous people he hobnobs with, proud of how much time he gives them, proud of how fancy and star-studded his parties are, proud of how much he loves his audiences and spares them no attention, proud of how much money he has, and vicariously proud of herself for just being the daughter of one so awesome.

It's really a sad book, its saddest aspect being that the daughter, while writing, doesn't even realize that though she felt her father "came around" in the end and really learned to love her and treat her well, it never really happened! Sammy David, Jr. DIDN'T come around in the end and learn to love his daughter, his daughter simply matured and learned to relate to him more on his level, thus meeting more of his needs and making a relationship with her that much more palatable to HIM.

The reason I found this book worthwhile enough to plow through was that it gave a strong inside view into the life of an extremely wounded and self-centered man and showed now just how much his neglect affected his child, but also how distorted HER thinking could be as a result of this neglect, allowing her to mistake his few crumbs of love far too late in life for the nutritious meal she once deserved.

This book is really a daughter's tribute to her famous father. My question, really, is her motive for writing it. I suspect that she had grandiose motivations of her own, and wants to bask in the sunlight of her father's glory. I'm always suspicious of tell-alls like this, especially ones that tell "dirty" secrets of still living people who are close to the writers, such as things like the alcoholism of her step-mother, her brother's drug abuse and homelessness...and her own suicide attempt. Although I'm not a puritan by any means, I feel some of these things, for the author's own personal and emotional safety, would be better left told to a therapist...