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Rating: 
Summary: No Fairy Tale Here
Review: Before reading this book, I was mostly a "pro-Diana" person. Certainly, it was apparent that she had problems-bulimia, moodiness,affairs-but Charles completely to blame, right? It seemed that Diana was fine until she was undermined by Charles and the supposedly horrible royal family.
But I have to say that this account has forced my to remove Diana from the altar I'd placed her on. Usually, a biography that was so ruthlessly slanted would not sway me so much, yet I see no reason why Bedell Smith would have written something so damaging to Diana's image if it were not true. She's not well-connected to Charles or the royal family...and she's American. But more than this lack of bias, Bedell Smith's conclusions are based on plain-old, cold-hard facts. She extensively quotes newspapers, books, Diana's own words, and a varied group of people (both friends and others) who knew Diana to prove her thesis about Diana's personality disorder.
This book is so disturbing and so saddening because it challenges what most of us Diana fans have always thought. According to Smith, Diana was paranoid, selfish, popularity-starved, immature, possessive, and not even that stellar of a charity patron. Smith chronicles Diana's bizarre behavior with lovers, her shoddy treatment of friends, her refusal to obtain necessary psychological help, her immature "games" with newspaper editors, and the way she handled charity patronage toward the end of her life. Unfortunately, by the time you have finished the book, Smith's impeccable, thorough analysis will leave you hard pressed to argue that Diana WAS stable.
Some might say that some of these incidents could have been unfairly recounted by the author. But a vast majority of the unpleasant portrayals contain black and white facts that cannot be twisted or "fudged." Really, how can one deny a police report of Diana's 300-plus calls (over a period of weeks) to her married lover? And what about her tearful pleas for a private life following her separation from Charles...and then her meetings with newspaper editors so that she could gain control over what they wrote?
Admittedly, Smith was a bit too easy on Charles. She seemed to imply that yes, Charles was having an affair, but that Diana would have been an unstable wreck even if he wasn't seeing Camilla. She also (in perhaps the only flagrantly questionable statement in the book), hinted that after her marriage, rather than harrassing her husband about whether or not he was having an affair, Diana should have used her youthful charms and beauty to win over Charles. How does that make any sense?
In conclusion, this book is very hard on Diana. And ultimately, who is to know that total truth about Diana? Who is to know if she really was a kind and admirable human being under it all, or if the irrational wreck often portrayed by Smith was all there was? But certainly, "Diana: In Search of Herself" is a valuable book that serves to intelligently question the often-blind assumption of Diana's "sainthood."
Rating: 
Summary: Enlightening!
Review: I do not feel anyone will ever be truely satisfied with the portrayal of Diana in any book. While Morton's version if Diana may be very flattering portraying her as the injured party, all persons recognize that she is human, and made mistakes. If you are looking for a book that idolizes Diana, do not pick up this book. In the same breath, I must say that this does not paint her as a totally evil person either.What I did like about the book was that she backed up details of Diana's life with fact, details, and very specific dates. I feel an effort was made to make this book the most accurate that has come out yet. I believe this book does a wonderful job in painting the despiration Diana so often felt and lived with. I do not think any book can truely give us a picture of who Diana was, but at least this book gives us some insight to what was going on in during her life, her emotions, as well as possible reasons behind her at times strange actions. I like many of you, admire Diana, and grew up watching what I thought was a fairy tale, it is strangely refreshing to see that in reality she was a person like you and I. Sally Smith does a wonderful, and I feel respectful job of giving us a glimpse of Diana.
Rating:
Summary: Only "Saint Diana" die-hards will fail to appreciate this
Review: I'm almost finished reading the book. Not being exposed to the full fury of tabloid coverage of Diana in Britain during Diana's lifetime, I had not grasped the full extent of the obsessive coverage of her every move. Yet Diana's attempts to manipulate the press in her favor were clearly a contributor to her problems. The book seems to be incredibly well researched and even-handed. Whether a borderline personality disorder or manic depressive diagnosis is more appropriate, who knows? Both seem plausible. Diana strikes me now as tragically troubled, pathetically immature, yet still a "luminous being" that deeply affected her public and friends with her beauty, charm, compassion and intensity that people perhaps mistook for deep, sustained interest. Some readers seem unable to divorce their fond attachment to Diana's memory and projections of sainthood her lovely image inspired from a rational analysis, insofar as this can be done postmortem, of her troubled life. She was not a saint. She was enormously gifted in certain ways, enormously handicapped in others, and made mostly poor choices in her personal life, to judge from the mountains of evidence amassed by Smith. I developed more sympathy for Charles after reading this, though I think the charge by some readers that this book is pro-Charles and anti-Diana is simplistic, reactionary and untrue. One can feel sad for both of these people who suffered through a marriage that never should have been. They both had/have good qualities and weaknesses but surely were completely mismatched and did not understand one another. Perhaps not even themselves, especially in Diana's case. She was a raw bundle of neediness and that in fact is probably what helped her connect with the public, who was shielded from dealing with her willfulness, tantrums, severe mood swings and emotional problems, eating disorders, immature approach to problem solving (screeching at Charles "like a fishwife"), habitual lying to and manipulation of people close to her, paranoia and inability to trust others. The poor girl needed help. Perhaps if she had earlier admitted she was troubled and accepted help, the fairy tale wouldn't have turned into a nightmare. Early chapters deeply affected me as I could relate to many of her lifelong emotional issues stemming from her childhood -- her feelings of abandonment, being different, never sure she was good enough, wanting desperately to please and to be loved steadily and unconditionally, and to be understood. Eventually one becomes impatient she apprently wasn't able to say to herself, "This is no way to live. I must change. I must accept myself and love myself before expecting others to." Somehow I managed to grow up and Diana, for the most part, didn't. I consider it a blessing I was never in a position to be thrust into the royal fishbowl existence that must have been the worst possible life for someone of Diana's experience and temperament. I feel lucky that for whatever reason I was able to grow up without so many emotional disasters as poor Diana. Yet by all reports she was able to turn her suffering into the stuff it took to be a good mother to her sons. A woman of endless contradictions. May she rest in peace.
Rating:
Summary: The truth is just as captivating as Diana's photographs.
Review: If you haven't read anything else about Princess Diana you'll be glad you waited for Sally Bedell Smith's book. Compelling and engrossing! From Diana's lousy childhood --- rattling around a massive estate without a mother, the older sister who dated Charles first, the awkwardness with men --- through Diana's strange need to be photographed and adorned (her only way to have power over the palace, as far as I can figure) and her total meltdown in her final years, I continued to find her a compelling and tragic figure. Frankly, it's sad that anyone would think this book is an attack on Diana's memory. Are we supposed to adore and love only perfect people without flaws or Personality Disorders? The mentally ill are people too! Actually, when you think about it, the fact that Diana was able to continue on --- binging and purging, tanning on yachts, tending to AIDS patients and showing up at all those hideously dull royal events while battling a pretty wild psychotic disorder is amazing. A great book --- and refreshingly wise in all the places where it could have been tacky.
Rating:
Summary: A Hard Book To Read for Fans of the Late Princess Diana
Review: In this well researched biography, Ms. Bedell Smith, does not
paint a pretty picture of the late, Diana,Princess of Wales.
With reliable sources, she shows an immature girl who like many
young girls before her,did not look beyond the alter, at the time she married the future King.She had just turned "twenty"and
enourmous expectations were put upon her shoulders.A child
affected by the bitter divorce,of the parents she loved,Diana
had need of help to survive an ordinary marriage,let alone one
to a public figure.
Intellectually, Charles and Diana were miles apart.She made
up for this with her natural street smarts, and quick humorous
remarks.
There is nothing more boring than reading the break-up of a
marriage but Ms. Bedell Smith handles this subject with
exceptional care.
When Prince Charles on the BBC publicly stated he never loved
Diana,how humiiating for her..Apparently, much violence had
preceeded this cruel remark,but the public was unaware of mistreatment at Diana's hands.Diana, was humiliated and felt
Charles only married her to provide heirs to the throne.
According to more than one source, Charles' betrayal by having a mistress, gave Diana license in her mind to have numerous discreet affairs,searching for some love and stability.
This usually backfired,causing her more despair in her too
short life.She remarked "the only men I trust are my sons."
Here she deserves credit.Her personal schedule was carefully
planned around her young son's school vacations.She was a
hands on Mother.She dressed her boys casually,took them on fun vacations, and like mother's everywhere recognized their
differences and adored them.
Despite the stories of her bulemia and irrational behavior,and her quasi suicide attempts,her joy in her son's should be commended.
Was Diana already a troubled individual? Or did her husbands
lack of love turn her into an unbearable person? It is hard
for even the author to answer.Surely, too much was asked of a young girl who was not born royal, and had a 12 year age difference to overcome.
However,it is pointed out out Prince Charles was not responsible
for all her problems and they were many.
In the beginning of their marriage, both Queen Elizabeth
and Prince Charles sought psychiatric help with some of
Englands'best Doctors, for her fragile state when she returned
from the honeymoon.She was unable to trust them.
Later in her life , she sought help of the New Age Variety involving aromatherapy,astrology,feng shui,and colonic
irrigations which she felt purified her.
She wanted to be glamorous and yet she sought to help the
handicapped and the poor and downtrodden.
There was never a dull moment when Diana joined the Royal Family.Would she have married Dodi Fayed or was he a summer
fling?
No book can ever have the answers on this beautiful but
troubled young woman who held our intrique.
Rating: 
Summary: A LONG But Worthy Effort
Review: It's taken me forever to get through this long-winded examination of Diana's life. I do commend the author on her researching skills, however. Every comment, wink, twitch and nudge had been documented and accounted for. However, I can sum up the bottom line of this book in one sentence: The author believes that Diana's mind was screwed up permenently by her dysfunctional childhood and her parents, thus effecting the rest of her life. There... I've just saved you several hundred pages worth of reading. I don't actually believe this point of view to be completely true - I've known people with dysfunctional childhoods who have grown up to be well-adjusted adults - but it may have been a partial contributing factor to Diana's unhappiness. I still believe that had she been in a true love match with a man who understood her and whose love she could return, she wouldn't have suffered much of the despair she obviously had. An "ok" read for Diana fans.
Rating:
Summary: A LONG But Worthy Effort
Review: It's taken me forever to get through this long-winded examination of Diana's life. I do commend the author on her researching skills, however. Every comment, wink, twitch and nudge had been documented and accounted for. However, I can sum up the bottom line of this book in one sentence: The author believes that Diana's mind was screwed up permenently by her dysfunctional childhood and her parents, thus effecting the rest of her life. There... I've just saved you several hundred pages worth of reading. I don't actually believe this point of view to be completely true - I've known people with dysfunctional childhoods who have grown up to be well-adjusted adults - but it may have been a partial contributing factor to Diana's unhappiness. I still believe that had she been in a true love match with a man who understood her and whose love she could return, she wouldn't have suffered much of the despair she obviously had. An "ok" read for Diana fans.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive Diana book
Review: Just ignore the low ratings some others have given this book. If you read the reviews that give it a low rating you'll see that those ratings came from besotted Diana fans who cannot stand to admit that Diana had any faults and problems. Sally Bedell Smith approached the topic without bias. She researched for two years. She had not made up her mind about Diana before she started. She wasn't trying to prove any theories. The book is filled with facts that are referenced with sources. This is not tabloid sleaze that relies on anonymous, alleged "insiders." This book is fair to both Diana and Charles. Neither one comes out looking like a total saint or a total sinner.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete waste of time!
Review: This book was a complete waste of money (and trees)! Sally Bedell Smith gives an extensive one-sided account on the life of the "Trouble Princess" that was exhuasting to read. She hammers her reader with story after story, retold and cited from people close to Diana, and then proceeds to make vast generalizations about her character - most of the commentary is critical. She weighs her observations heavily upon her belief that Diana had Borderline Personality Disorder. In doing so, she delegitimizes many of Diana's good deeds, relationships and actions because they supposedly stemmed from, or were in response to, her illiness. Based on this analysis, and the authors biased language, it appears as though Diana's actions never emerged out of sincerity or honesty. Does that sound realistic? More dangerously, Smith makes an alarmingly strong connection between mental illiness (depression, BPD etc.) and Diana's character rather than her behaviour. The author fails to capture the complexities of character (including good and bad). I am shocked that this book recieved favourable reviews! A little more balance please!
Rating:
Summary: Complete waste of time!
Review: This book was a complete waste of money (and trees)! Sally Bedell Smith gives an extensive one-sided account on the life of the "Trouble Princess" that was exhuasting to read. She hammers her reader with story after story, retold and cited from people close to Diana, and then proceeds to make vast generalizations about her character - most of the commentary is critical. She weighs her observations heavily upon her belief that Diana had Borderline Personality Disorder. In doing so, she delegitimizes many of Diana's good deeds, relationships and actions because they supposedly stemmed from, or were in response to, her illiness. Based on this analysis, and the authors biased language, it appears as though Diana's actions never emerged out of sincerity or honesty. Does that sound realistic? More dangerously, Smith makes an alarmingly strong connection between mental illiness (depression, BPD etc.) and Diana's character rather than her behaviour. The author fails to capture the complexities of character (including good and bad). I am shocked that this book recieved favourable reviews! A little more balance please!
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