My Judy Garland Life

This book is a strange amalgam of biography and autobiography in proportions roughly two to one. The rare alloy is a "tour de force" - an intensely personal eulogy to an individual whose charisma and talent preserved in sight and sound will long survive her short but eventful life.The first chapters best encapsulate the obsessive nature of the devotion Judy Garland (née Frances Ethel Gumm) unwittingly unleashed in many of her fans, some born after her death in 1969 at the age of forty-seven. There is no doubt that Susie Boyt became enchanted very young. If you substitute in the phrase "What a friend I have in Jesus !" the words "Judy Garland" for "Jesus" you will have some notion of what it was like to catch the virus young ! Effectively it became nothing less than an intimate relationship, one to one !However the author writes this book from the perspective of someone now mature, and if she was not born under the balencing sign of Libra she should have been because later chapters explore the areas of unhappiness this gifted star encountered and we are then displayed a totally different picture. Judy developped an addiction to alcohol and her perscribed medication, especially sleeping pills. With an inability to pace her life, because of or in spite of her five husbands, she somehow let the studios work her too hard, and her health broke down. It would seem the fans, (all but the bad-crazy ones), cannot bear to think of this and each secretly believes that had her life somehow touched his or hers a rescue of sorts would have been achieved and the story would be different.This is really a powerful account of an obsession. Susie Boyt takes the subject of her obsessive interest and analyses the symbiosis between the image of the hero and the imagination of the hero-worshipper. But she really takes it a step further in as much as she is not content with a description of this cerebral process. She crosses the pond (probably frequently) and interviews Judy's daughters, Lorna Luft and Lisa Minelli. She sits next to Judy's much loved son Joe Luft during a collage of movie clips of her best-known work. She contacts Marc Chardonnay, an arch-bishop of Judy memorabilia, and visits with him her grave in the mausoleum at the Ferncliffe Cemetary, Hartsdale. She tracks down to a boutique hotel in London Judy's fifth husband, Mickey Rooney, and interviews him. Her passion drives her and she becomes quite indefatigable.Susie Boyt's style of writing is all her own and it reads like an intimate account she would only share with a trusted friend. Moreover, she has something akin to vistavision and can write in full technicolor prose ! This combination of lucidity, devotion and honesty cannot be worth less than five stars.

I really love and admire the insight shown in this book. It's required reading for all the students in the school of art where I am teaching . So sensitive so wise so brave . A remarkable book . I will keep rereading this for the rest of my life

3/4 of the way through and enjoying it immensely, particularly the way Susie writes. Whether you're a JG lover or admirer of another star, phrases and sentiments will ring true.

This book simply never starts. It goes on and on about nothing. Sad for a Garland-fan to say - but it's boring....

Thank you

'My Judy Garland Life' is being re-released by Virago to coincide with the new, Renee Zellweger movie adaptation, so I am absolutely thrilled to be reviewing it as a part of an Anne Cater,Random Things blog tour!Everyone knows of Judy Garland. Or at last, they think they did. Cultural icon, larger than life Hollywood Royalty,gay figurehead and the singer of one of the most memorable songs of all time.But who was she?Underneath the sparkly glitter lies a normal pair of shoes and this is what Susie Boyt exposes-the girl and then the woman behind the myth whilst not ever ruining or maligning the mystique.It is actually quite an amazing feat to accomplish, simultaneously pulling back the curtain to reveal the real Wizard yet making the reader love her even more. This is truly a wonderful book and the parrallel tale of the author whilst writing the autobiography of Judy works so well as the story dovetails across the years, beginning with how this remarkable actress has shone a light into the darkest corners of Susie's life.The hero worship of celebrity is dealt with carefully, for this is a real person who is so iconic that bringing a fresh perspective to Judy's tale makes us fall in love with her as Susie herself does. The grief and losses in their lives as well as the coping mechanisms and strategies used to move forward are heartbreakingly real.How and why we venerate those who give us comfort in their appearances on stage and screen is as important as accurately portraying the facts of a life cut tragically short. It is not so much living vicariously through others or using the fictional world as a crutch, it is so much more than that. Rather, in attempting to rationalise her fascination with a figure so strongly embedded in the public conscience, Susie has created something unique, special and unforgettable, Rather like Judy herself.About the author...

This is a book for anyone who has felt their loneliness lightened by hero-worship. Not everyone is as besotted with Judy Garland as Susie Boyt, but she describes her shyness, her sensitivity and her idolisation so touchingly that many will become so. As an account of growing up in a fragmented bohemian family (the author is one of Lucian Freud's daughters) it's lacking in autobiographical disclosure, but as a completely charming piece of writing it's irresistible.

This is an utterly wonderful book, part biography, part memoir, part novel, that sets out to examing all the different faces of love, loss and fame and find out what it really means to be human. Beautifully written, at times hilarious at other moments poignant or even heart-breaking, it is, deep down, a very high spirited book about grief. Its breadth is incredible, going from stage school antics, how to get someone into rehab, the history of psychoanalysis in the USA, the travails of being from a big dynasty, the dynamics of mourning, cake decorating, show tunes, the loneliness of the understudy...and of course Judy Garland in all her majesty!A must not just for Judy fans, but for fans of fine writing and life.