Maura (maura853) -
Awful, awful, awful pop history. From page one, the author's take is "This is all about MEEEEEE. Look at MEEEEE, and how very clever and funny I am." Doesn't miss an opportunity to shoehorn in a bad joke. Poor organization means that it's just random anecdotes about random famous, or quasi-famous, people. As there seems to be no thesis, the more random the celebrity, or the anecdote about the celebrity, the better.
I was intrigue by the "credits" at the end. (No, scrap the quotation marks, the page is actually labelled Credits.) Is this a new publishing thing? I was half expecting to see acknowledgements for Post Production, Hair/Makeup, Wardrobe, Outside Catering and, perhaps, Insect Wranglers ... But five (FIVE) editors? Jenner breezily acknowledges the assistance of his five editors in the Acknowledgements at the end ... What I'd like to know is, what exactly did they do?
Forced myself to carry on for 50 pages, but enough is truly enough. I'd like to thank my mom, and my high school English teachers, the Lighting Director. And the Insect Wrangler ....
I was intrigue by the "credits" at the end. (No, scrap the quotation marks, the page is actually labelled Credits.) Is this a new publishing thing? I was half expecting to see acknowledgements for Post Production, Hair/Makeup, Wardrobe, Outside Catering and, perhaps, Insect Wranglers ... But five (FIVE) editors? Jenner breezily acknowledges the assistance of his five editors in the Acknowledgements at the end ... What I'd like to know is, what exactly did they do?
Forced myself to carry on for 50 pages, but enough is truly enough. I'd like to thank my mom, and my high school English teachers, the Lighting Director. And the Insect Wrangler ....
Marcia C. reviewed Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen on + 630 more book reviews
The tone of this book is so breezy and casual that I didn't expect it to have scholarly stuff like an index and footnotes, but it does. As I read deeper into the text, I realized that the book is not just a collection of interesting and sometimes funny historical anecdotes but also a respectable analysis of different types of fame, using especially examples from the past. A worthwhile read.
