Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations

Reviews

1. 

   BGrace – August 11, 2024

   Fascinating, tragic; after the beauty and applause are gone
   Oh what a thankless job a ghostwriter for a celebrity has! That was uppermost on my mind reading this. The author had his hands full trying to get consistent anecdotes out of Ava Gardner, who would share a lot while drinking, which she did all the time apparently, then badger the writer to not include the real story.It’s a fascinating read on multiple levels: seeing a glimpse of the backstory of one of the queens of MGM during its golden age, and what a difference the truth is from the image that sold! She always had an image of being self willed and very sensual, but her appetites and matter of fact manner of satisfying them, was jaw dropping too – when you consider the times she grew up in! Really she behaved like a man in that regard; then what a ghostwriter must go through to wrangle a huge and sensitive ego, and hitting many dead ends dealing Ms Gardner’s recalcitrance as a subject, and getting the sense of her regrets and embarrassment at how her choices would make her look to the public.The scene where she went to great pains to set her apartment up with special lighting, so an interviewer would see her looking her best, and with the stroke-affected part of her face more obscured, was poignant. To have had such perfection in face and form, and then end up an ordinary aging person has to be a tough pill.The author tells a great story about trying to get the story, and his struggles with this interesting and ultimately rather tragic woman. The frustrating part is its abrupt end, leaving you really wanting to know more, and unsatisfied. But that was not the fault of the author, and I won’t spoil the story by explaining. A fascinating and worthwhile read.

2. 

   Fitzherbert Farnsworth – August 11, 2024

   Engaging but could be better written…
   I found this book to be an engaging and fascinating look at the “real woman” with all of her salty language and insecurities/fears/regrets. I felt a little ambivalent reading it because I don’t think she wanted everything in the “first draft” to be included in the final editing. But since she’s left incarnation, it no longer matters. The book has an appealing structure of transitioning from, on the one hand, Evan’s arguments with her about what she wanted to leave in /edit out and what he did, and, on the other, his later written synopses of the various sections of her life. The thing to which I object and which made reading it rather a trial, is the grammar. Evans makes some errors about which any one calling himself a writer should know better.For ex: “Ava couldn’t remember who she met that night…”. SHOULD BE “WHOM” , OBJECTIVE CASE.For ex: “W.C. had had his share of vino and was feeling no pain, I was downing ouzo.” THERE SHOULD BE A SEMI-COLON AFTER “pain” SINCE THIS CONCERNS TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES, AND NOT A SENTENCE AND A MODIFYING PHRASE OR SUCH.For ex: “Like he was athletic in the sack, and I was pretty verbal, and we were both very, very loud!” THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE SENTENCE.For ex: ” She continued to talk in a reminiscent tone maybe for another twenty minutes, almost as if I wasn’t there”. HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS REQUIRE THE SUBJUNCTIVE: IT SHOULD READ: “….ALMOST AS IF I WEREN’T THERE”.For ex: “As a lover, I still only had Mickey to judge him by, of course, but let’s say Howard Hughes was a pleasant surprise.” MISPLACED MODIFIER. AS WRITTEN, “as a lover” REFERS TO AVA HERSELF (“I”), BUT IS SUPPOSED TO REFER TO Mickey. CORRECTLY WRITTEN: “I still only had Mickey, as a lover, by which to judge him”.Simple errors like the above are embarrassing for any one who calls himself a writer…since they would be recognized by any grammar school student (long before college). Such writing is bad because it perpetuates ignorance of the correct and therefore clear use of our language and because it doesn’t create lucid, elegant prose for the reader. It instead creates obfuscation and ambiguity.Aside from the technical mistakes, the information is fascinating and will be irresistible to Ava Gardner or Classic Hollywood enthusiasts.

3. 

   Patrícia Sacramento – August 11, 2024

   Muito bem escrito, verdadeiro e me senti como se Ava estivesse sentada, fumando um cigarro, tomando um drink e me contando sobre sua vida pessoal.

4. 

   Paul – August 11, 2024

   Though more like a very long article I find this book captures Ava Gardner. Her wit and down to earth personality. It also captures end of life strugglesAnd how one can resign, accept and even laugh at the foibles of aging. It also is strange how many people in the former mid-century eras smoked one to three packs of cigarettes per day. Drank alcohol like it was water as well. This does not bode well as one ages. A lesson there. Over all one gets a glimpse of the Golden age of Hollywood night club life. Must have been fun. Though at the end od the day greed and shallowness reigns in this environment and though not addressed is probably why Gardner moved overseas later in life.

5. 

   marian – August 11, 2024

   Una entretenida colección de anécdotas de la época dorada de Hollywood. No son unas memorias al uso. Ava Gardner sin filtros. Super entretenido el libro.

6. 

   Rory – August 11, 2024

   En 1988 Ava Gardner, sollicitée pour écrire ses mémoires, demanda au journaliste Peter Evans d’en être le ghostwriter; Recluse dans son luxueux appartement du quartier londonien de Knightsbridge, la mythique interprète de Pandora, affaiblie par une attaque, lui accorda de nombreuses interviews sans compter les multiples coups de fils nocturnes qu’elle lui passa lorsque l’alcool et la solitude la taraudaient. L’association, houleuse, se termina mal puisque finalement Ava lâcha Evans et ce furent des mémoires expurgées de toutes aspérités qui parurent peu après sa mort. L’intérêt de ce livre est de nous faire entendre la vraie voix d’Ava avec bien évidemment son lot de jurons (qu’elle ne souhaitait pas voir figurer dans le texte définitif) mais aussi ses traits d’humour à preuve cette appréciation de son premier mari :” Mickey Rooney, my shortest husband and my biggest mistake.” Le livre vaut tout autant pour le point de vue du biographe forcé de composer, de louvoyer, de transiger, de s’abaisser pour tirer les vers du nez de l’étoile en quête de cash (“I either write the book or sell the jewels”) mais peu incline à vraiment se confier. Le lecteur ne peut que s’esclaffer aux efforts d’ Evans pour obtenir des informations sur la taille des attributs génitaux de Frank Sinatra tout en étant ému par l’évocation nostalgique de cette Norma Desmond à la santé chancelante qui avait, un jour, été sacrée par les services publicitaires de la MGM “plus bel animal du monde”. D’une longueur de 293 pages, le livre, écrit dans un anglais aisément accessible, est accompagné d’une quinzaine de photos noir et blanc.