Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography

An excellent and well-researched biography of the best opera singer of all time. It is tempting to think that her life was easy and that she enjoyed her well-deserved success. Her childhood was not easy and the relationship with her parents was never easy. Additionally, she was obese and not very pretty. She was very insecure, and her desire to feel accepted and loved led her to make poor social, economic, romantic, and personal decisions. In her job and performances, she strove for perfection and always tried to give her best. She died young. It is a pity she lived such a difficult life.

This has been thoroughly researched and is written in a very readable style. The opera singer Callas has all the frailties of ordinary human beings while having a world class voice. A very interesting subject for biography.

A fascinating and lively read. The Publishers Weekly review says there are 16 pages of pictures. However, the Kindle version has no pictures! (And it costs more than the printed edition!) This was a major disappointment, as I wanted to see Callas at different stages and in different roles.

Love this book, since it goes into detail in Callas’ personal life: the way she was used and manipulated through her life, first by her mother, then her husband, followed by Onassis and finally by her “friend” Vasso. Never thought that someone that looked so accomplished, had so many insecurities that eventually les her to being betrayed by so many.

Edwards brings the life of the most renowned diva back on stage in one of the most interesting stories I have ever read. Callas was an amazing artist, a legend with no match in the history in opera. Among other things, I learned much about opera while reading this book, which is very well researched. Edwards has managed to capture in great detail both Callas’ amazing opera moments, as well as her private life, in a story told beautifully.

I watched the movie Maria with Angelina Jolie and that's why I bought this book. It is so well written and really gets down to the nitty gritty of her life as a young child and as she grew up her experiences and the beautiful voice that she was truly gifted with. It's a big book but a great read and I'm loving it

This book was thoroughly researched. Written honestly without prejudice. This book is written with great interest and simple language considering the subject of opera and singers can be complicated subjects. Understanding the shipping business has also been made easier to understand, though it is a complex business, especially since it covers the rules and complexities created by international waters and countries.

I decided to read this book which I found in a small library because I love memoirs. I'm not an afficionado of opera; I'm an afficionado of people. Therefore I can't tell you if this book is accurate in an operatic sense. I can say only that Anne Edwards does an excellent job of showing us the woman, Maria Callas--the whole package--her career, her love life, her dreams. For me, in order to give a book five stars, I need it to be heavy on people and emotions and light on details and technicalities. I do like to learn new things so it was interesting to read about the incredible amount of work which goes into an operatic performance, but after a while I wanted to say, "Enough already!" Opera lovers would probably want more details about Callas' professional performances and less about her personal affairs. About halfway through the book her personal life heats up, and then the story became more interesting for me. It's a familiar story. We all know of many tragic rags-to-riches stories where the hero or heroine finds life with the white picket fence elusive. Think of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley for instance. This story begins very dramatically as Callas was caught up in a hand-to-mouth existence during World War II. Her lover Onassis admired her greatly for triumphing over such a harrowing beginning. But her life was strewn with broken dreams and adulterous unions and scheming people, not to mention the fact that she had to be a slave to her career. My throat hurt just thinking about her getting out of a sick bed with a sore throat because the "Show must go on!" Edwards writes this intimate biography with compassion for Maria Callas. In the final pages she speaks of her flaws, but for the most part she helps the reader to empathize with the singer. This is by no means a tawdry hate-filled memoir--Anne Edwards is not Kitty Kelley--she's fair-minded and tolerant. I felt that I had a better view of Callas and all the characters in her life by the end of the book and felt more grateful than ever that I had a so-called ordinary life. If you're not rich and famous and have some of the trappings of the white picket fence life, maybe you too will heave a little sigh of relief. The paparazzi alone add so much to the miseries of the rich and famous. Picture yourself at one of the lowest points in your life being hounded by people trying to get a picture of you in all your misery. Then, count your blessings!

とても良かったです。 カラスをより知ることができました。

Fora de série. Nota 10.

unglaublich ,sehr lesenswert, tragische biografie. Ihre Kindheit erlärt einiges

A fantastic book, I couldn't put it down. Maria went through a lot of turmoil and her relationship with Onnasis caused her great pain and she was desperate to marry him but he married Jackie O whilst still with Callas.

No other figure in music fascinates me like Maria Callas. Her personal life, from her childhood and adolescence in Greece, before, during and after World War Two, through her tragic and suspicious demise in 1977, was exciting and interesting and her music was breathtaking. No one sang better than her at her best, in the 1950's. Anne Edwards has written an accessible and enjoyable page-turner. The most disturbing person in Callas' life, was a woman named Vosso, whom Edwards says wormed her way into Callas' life while she was living in almost seclusion in her Paris apartment, in the mid-'70s. Vosso became sort of a secretary, getting her boss drugs, and was very quick to make sure Callas' body was cremated. Vosso and the first doctor who examined the corpse claimed the cause of Callas' death was a heart attack, but Edwards presents evidence to the contrary. At any rate, the drugs had something to do with it. Edwards shows how Vosso got her hands on a huge amount of Callas' estate, through fraudulent means. I'm left wondering: was Callas murdered? The recent movie about the singer, Maria, doesn't mention Vosso.