Cary Grant

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Summary: A Maudlin biography of a great film star
Review: Oh dear! are the two words which spring to mind, as I consider the hours I spent wading through this damp squib of a book. Having read, and enjoyed, the latest Grant offering (In Name Only), I thought I'd back-track and try another Grant biog.
This book, one-third of it being an index (yawn!), should guarantee the greatest insomniac the most perfect night's sleep. Where is the heart and soul of this work? Avoid at all costs!

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Summary: Shadow Lover
Review: This book was given one star because there was no lower rating - it does not even deserve that. As a fan of romantica, especially gothic romantica, I truly looked forward to reading this book. My disappointment is on several levels...the book had no depth, no logic for character behavior- incredibly stupid characters, who did whatever they did because the author decided that they should - and they are all dislikable...I finished reading the book because of the wonderful online reviews, hoping that it would pick up, somewhere - and it did not. If this book is not the absolutely worst book I've ever read, I am a loss to think of what would be...Save your money and time - DO NOT PURCHASE THIS BOOK!!

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Summary: The definitive biography.
Review: This is a book that is just like its subject:intelligent,elegant,entertaining,stylish and charming.Read it,display it and treasure it!

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: This is a top rate read.I've been a fan of the star for as long as I can remember - and I've years and years to remember! - and this biography gives you a quite vivid and thorough sense of what made Mr Grant tick.I don't know what the reader is talking about in that nasty comment about lack of heart - the opposite is true - and the index is just a few pages long - not a third!

Rating:
Summary: A genuine classic.
Review: This is an exemplary biography by any standards.It is incredibly thorough,insightful and engaging,and the author writes with the same kind of grace,wit and elegance as his subject.This is a beautiful,stylish,special book that you will want to read,re-read,consult,study,discuss,display and cherish.

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Summary: Dreadful Narrator
Review: This narrator is so awful that I returned the book unread. The audiotape was flawed to the extreme and could not be enjoyed at all.

Rating:
Summary: A good book for a great man
Review: Though I've seen quite a few of Cary Grant's movies, this is the first biography on him that I've read. I was quite impressed with the book. Since I had seen tv documentaries and read a little about Cary on the internet, I was familiar with his life but this helped flesh out the details. Cary Grant's rise to stardom is probably one of the most unlikely and fascinating stories of Hollywood. As a young boy (age 9) his mother was suddenly taken from him and Cary was left to assume that she'd died or abandoned him. As any psychologist can tell you, this would be a huge impact on anybody's life. The rest of the story, Archie Leach (CG's real name) turning into Cary Grant is interesting and the anecdotes related throughout the book give a good sense of Cary's character. He is shown to be a caring, private, and humorous man in real life as he was on the screen. He had his troubles as well and this book deals with those excellently. It doesn't gloss over bad parts in Grant's life. I would have appreciated more stories illustrating Grant's character and more background on his marriages (the author states the facts about how he met his wives, when they were married, and when they were divorced, but not much more). All in all, it is an excellent biography, not the sleazy type at all, and a fitting tribute to one of the greatest actor's the world has known. I plan on reading more about the fascinating life of Cary Grant.

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Summary: The reason I wrote CARY GRANT:A CLASS APART.
Review: What I hope this book provides is a thorough,balanced and constructive account of the life,work and inimitable appeal of Cary Grant.Too often,I feel, lazily uncritical and sometimes cynically manipulative surveys of gossip, innuendo and hearsay are passed off as "objective" biographies;I wanted to write a serious and responsible biography which distinguishes between fact,fiction and mere speculation.That the result is a positive appraisal of the subject has more to do,I would suggest,with the biographee than with the biographer.I sincerely hope that CARY GRANT:A CLASS APART will be of interest to anyone who has ever been impressed and/or intrigued by this extraordinary movie star.The book includes a good range of illustrations,a comprehensive bibliography , a fully sourced reference section and a complete list of his movies{+details of their availabilty on video and laserdisc - DVD will be included in future editions}.