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Rating: 
Summary: Great imigination
Review: A wonderful Biography - the author does a wonderful job depicting who Ava Gardner was in both roles of her life - "Grabtown Girl" and "Hollywood Star". I appreciate her dedication and no doubt the timeless hours she spent in writing such a wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not enough detail
Review: I found this book very disappointing. I was excited to learn about a star I have admired but knew very little about. Unfortunately, this book reads like a newspaper obituary. It gives useless, detailed information regarding her childhood but blazes past the more interesting parts of her life (like her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Art Shaw and Frank Sinatra).Save your money and look up the same info on the internet.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: It's a great book. Just great! 5 stars for the Author and the Book!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not too substantial
Review: It's difficult to juxtapose a breathtakingly beautiful legendary movie goddess with a simple country childhood, so it's therefore hard to portray Ava Gardner in both worlds. I give the author credit for being very straightforward with the simple known facts about Ava's childhood and early life in North Carolina. She didn't indulge in wild speculation, nor did she attribute thoughts or qualities to Ava that coudn't be verified. Instead, she told the simple story of Ava's simple life, documented by interviews with Ava's childhood friends, some family members, and letters written by young Ava. This book portrays a rather sweet and simple childhood for Ava, not too many traumas (other than losing her beloved father at a young age). They were not dirt-poor hillbillies, which is the image that Ava sometimes invested herself with when it suited her purposes. Piedmont-area North Carolina is not hillbilly country. I would have liked the book to have had much more substance, and I was particularly interested in knowing more about the lives of her siblings, of which only the briefest of portraits were given in this book.
Rating:
Summary: New Perspective For Life Story of a Star
Review: This biography is intensely researched and informative. The story is exactly what the title states, "Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties To Home". This biography puts most of its focus on Ava's childhood and how it shaped her attitudes toward her life and her fame. Although the last third of the book overviews her life as a star, if you are looking for a detailed account of Ava's Hollywood life, this is not the book for you. This is simply the story (told mainly through antecdotes and memories of family and friends) of a woman with strong roots who happened to become a movie star but who never forgot where she came from. The author introduces the reader to Ava's North Carolina family and friends and I love the fact that she tells the reader what happened to everyone mentioned in the book. I have a whole new respect and perspective for Ava Gardner. I was really struck by the fact that even though Ava became a big star, she never thought of herself as any better than anyone else and continued to be a loving and supportive friend, sister, and aunt. The book is short (about 130 pages, I read it in two nights, maybe took 3 hours total) and has some great pictures throughout. I highly recommend it!!!
Rating:
Summary: New Perspective For Life Story of a Star
Review: This biography is intensely researched and informative. The story is exactly what the title states, "Ava Gardner's North Carolina Childhood and Her Enduring Ties To Home". This biography puts most of its focus on Ava's childhood and how it shaped her attitudes toward her life and her fame. Although the last third of the book overviews her life as a star, if you are looking for a detailed account of Ava's Hollywood life, this is not the book for you. This is simply the story (told mainly through antecdotes and memories of family and friends) of a woman with strong roots who happened to become a movie star but who never forgot where she came from. The author introduces the reader to Ava's North Carolina family and friends and I love the fact that she tells the reader what happened to everyone mentioned in the book. I have a whole new respect and perspective for Ava Gardner. I was really struck by the fact that even though Ava became a big star, she never thought of herself as any better than anyone else and continued to be a loving and supportive friend, sister, and aunt. The book is short (about 130 pages, I read it in two nights, maybe took 3 hours total) and has some great pictures throughout. I highly recommend it!!!
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