Rating: 
Summary: For Nostalgia: do little, die young, and look good
Review: This book paints a good picture for me. I have not read other biographies on James Dean. There are over 60 of them. Before reading I also didn't know a lot about James Dean, although I've seen all of his 3 films. I do know the other Dean biographies have mostly similar information. This bio flowed well. It delves into many facets of his personal and professional life, that many people aren't aware of. Dean's childhood and high school years, acting aspirations. His relationship with Rogers Brackett was a networked connection that that helped Dean get the breaks he needed in this brutally competitive industry. Dean took advantage of the casting couch in being Brackett's boy toy. Dean is still revered and still brings images of myth, youth and nostalgia to our popular culture, primarily because he died young, at 24. He made only 3 movies unfortunately, because of his early death. "East of Eden," "Rebel Without A Cause," and "Giant". That's why there is such a fuss over the kid who died nearly 50 years ago who was average. James Dean paid his dues. He was totally broke for periods of time in New York while trying to gain experience and get recognition in this tough industry. He did make it. I can't technically break down this bio or compare it to other books. Should I be reviewing this....?
Rating: 
Summary: A humane and absorbing biography
Review: Val Holley has written a humane and absorbing biography of an American icon who has curiously resisted demystification. The fact is that James Dean has inspired more movies than he actually made in his brief lifetime. The standard course of celebrity demystification is to strip away falsehoods and half-truths, leaving nothing of interest to remain. In contrast, Holley's work reveals Dean as a young human being--in most respects, a typical American youth--and altogether more sympathetic and interesting than the myths that have spiraled around him. Holley's book is made authoritative by exhaustive research, new information, and his easy familiarity with his subject. Happily, his scrupulous detail never hampers the narrative flow, and the book is a quick read. While there is much to praise, I must single out the chapters describing Dean's New York years and his early work in television, because this information is so new and so much more revealing of Dean's inner life and potential than the facts of his more celebrated Hollywood career. Here the reader comes into close contact with a young man struggling to overcome a troubled childhood and restricted education to express an immense talent of which he was only marginally aware. The uncertainty, loneliness and self-doubts he felt at this point of his life make him one of us all. What makes him stand out is the courage he summoned to keep on going. The fact that two things were happening--Dean's talent was suddenly and sensationally realized while his personal struggles still continued--when his life was catastrophically cut short makes his story a genuine tragedy, not a maudlin melodrama. And we can finally understand the fascination he's exercised over successive, changing generations. Likewise, it is Holley's sure and sensitive grasp of these aspects of Dean's story that makes his book far more interesting and valuable than the hagiographies that have preceded it. This is a thorough, humane portrait and a first-rate biography.
Rating:
Summary: A humane and absorbing biography
Review: Val Holley has written a humane and absorbing biography of an American icon who has curiously resisted demystification. The fact is that James Dean has inspired more movies than he actually made in his brief lifetime. The standard course of celebrity demystification is to strip away falsehoods and half-truths, leaving nothing of interest to remain. In contrast, Holley's work reveals Dean as a young human being--in most respects, a typical American youth--and altogether more sympathetic and interesting than the myths that have spiraled around him. Holley's book is made authoritative by exhaustive research, new information, and his easy familiarity with his subject. Happily, his scrupulous detail never hampers the narrative flow, and the book is a quick read. While there is much to praise, I must single out the chapters describing Dean's New York years and his early work in television, because this information is so new and so much more revealing of Dean's inner life and potential than the facts of his more celebrated Hollywood career. Here the reader comes into close contact with a young man struggling to overcome a troubled childhood and restricted education to express an immense talent of which he was only marginally aware. The uncertainty, loneliness and self-doubts he felt at this point of his life make him one of us all. What makes him stand out is the courage he summoned to keep on going. The fact that two things were happening--Dean's talent was suddenly and sensationally realized while his personal struggles still continued--when his life was catastrophically cut short makes his story a genuine tragedy, not a maudlin melodrama. And we can finally understand the fascination he's exercised over successive, changing generations. Likewise, it is Holley's sure and sensitive grasp of these aspects of Dean's story that makes his book far more interesting and valuable than the hagiographies that have preceded it. This is a thorough, humane portrait and a first-rate biography.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Dean Biography
Review: Val Holley's James Dean, The Biography is just that...THE biography! This is a wonderful book, utterly enjoyable and the most factual and well-researched of all the Dean biographies. Holley has sought out sources which other biographers have passed over and his recounting of Dean's life, through the stories of those who knew him, gives us an intimate, riveting picture of Dean as he must have been: sometimes likable, often impossible, but always original and completely fascinating. Other enjoyable aspects of this book are that Holley found interesting new insights into Dean's enigmatic character and that Holley doesn't blink when taking issue with other biographers. You can feel the enthusiasm in Holley's work and his recounting of Dean's NY years is spellbinding. While the author's knowledge of his subject is encyclopedic, the book is never pedantic, truly an accomplishment in a biography of this size and depth. This book is a MUST read whether you are a Dean fan or not, and the standard by which other Dean biographies should be judged.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Dean Biography
Review: Val Holley's James Dean, The Biography is just that...THE biography! This is a wonderful book, utterly enjoyable and the most factual and well-researched of all the Dean biographies. Holley has sought out sources which other biographers have passed over and his recounting of Dean's life, through the stories of those who knew him, gives us an intimate, riveting picture of Dean as he must have been: sometimes likable, often impossible, but always original and completely fascinating. Other enjoyable aspects of this book are that Holley found interesting new insights into Dean's enigmatic character and that Holley doesn't blink when taking issue with other biographers. You can feel the enthusiasm in Holley's work and his recounting of Dean's NY years is spellbinding. While the author's knowledge of his subject is encyclopedic, the book is never pedantic, truly an accomplishment in a biography of this size and depth. This book is a MUST read whether you are a Dean fan or not, and the standard by which other Dean biographies should be judged.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating Actor; Incompetent Biographer
Review: While the biographer for Val Holley does a good job of digging up and interviewing people who may not have had their "contributions" appear in prior Dean biographies, he apparently fails to give any consideration to the possibility that those contributions failed to appear previously because of their monotony. Page after page is wasted with people who have much to say about nothing. Very little of what is quoted -- and most of this book is compiled of quotes -- helps to make sense of what made up the mind and heart of this mysterious and wonderful actor. The biographer, in this case, seems to be playing the role of typist, transcribing inane and repetive -- and often contradictory -- tales. Koodos have to be handed out for his intense research and for his refusing to create a revisionist history of James Dean, as several other biographers have done. He seems willing to let all facts speak fo themselves. If only he had put a little more thought and passion into the narrative he is responsible for framing around that research and those facts, this book may have succeeded in being more than a strong sleeping aid. Prior to reading this, I would have thought it impossible that anything about James Dean could be dull; this incompetent biography taught me otherwise.
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