Edie: American Girl

Edie: American Girl
by Jean Stein

Edie: American Girl
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jean Stein
Editor: George Plimpton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-10-14
ISBN: 0802134106
Number of pages: 564
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of Edie: American Girl

Book Review: She aches like a woman but breaks just like a little girl...
Summary: 5 Stars

Edie Sedgwick. Her name is synonymous with the 60s, Andy Warhol, glamour and the epitome of having it all and not knowing what to do with it. Edie was born into a well-to-do family that traces their roots back to the Mayflower. With all her family's gifts and trappings also came great mental issues and dysfunction. The book is told from the perspective of many friends and family members who knew the family and witnessed many of the horrors that made up the Sedgwicks. Edie's problems began way before she entered the Factory or the drug scene. Her father abused her and her siblings both mentally and physically (possibly sexually), cloistered the entire clan on a sprawling ranch in California, and shut out any influence of the outside world. Before Edie was 20, two of her three brothers committed suicide and she herself was hospitalized for anorexia. After her first hospitaliztion (many more would come to follow), she enrolled at prestigious Harvard to roam around under the guise of studying sculpting before dropping out and heading to New York to model. It didn't take long for Edie to hook up with the "in crowd" in New York and soon she began making movies with Andy Warhol's Factory and becoming one of the first Superstars. Edie's fashion sense and way of life became the counter culture of the 1960s. Like any 60s heroine (no pun intended), she also got caught up in the drug scene. Ultimately, her drug use and erratic behavior signaled the beginning of the end with her and Warhol. After burning up New York (literally), she high-tailed it back to California to try to salvage her life. She desperately hung on the her glory days, making sure every person she met knew she was "somebody". Edie's story ends predictably. Too much too soon and/or gluttony at its' best. This bio, though interesting, skips around aspects of Edie's life and leaves the reader wondering how she got to certain points. Presented as a oral biography, a number of Edie's friends and family recall memories of her that are funny, sad, and compelling. Some aspects of the book could have been left out (ie Tales of her biker friends towards the end of her life that have little to do with Edie). Black and white photos of Edie spanning her lifetime are spread throughout the book, along with a few newspaper articles about her. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Warhol's Factory or want to know more about the Poor Little Rich Girl. Though some questions about Edie may never be answered, this book is a cautionary tale of a life wasted and a girl who could not control herself despite having everything in life that is suppose to make one happy.

Summary of Edie: American Girl

When Edie was first published, it quickly became an international best-seller and then took its place among the classic books about the 1960s. Edie Sedgwick exploded into the public eye like a comet. She seemed to have it all: she was aristocratic and glamorous, vivacious and young, Andy Warhol?s superstar. But within a few years she flared out as quickly as she had appeared, and before she turned twenty-nine she was dead from a drug overdose.

In a dazzling tapestry of voices—family, friends, lovers, rivals—the entire meteoric trajectory of Edie Sedgwick?s life is brilliantly captured. And so is the Pop Art world of the ‘60s: the sex, drugs, fashion, music—the mad rush for pleasure and fame. All glitter and flash on the outside, it was hollow and desperate within—like Edie herself, and like her mentor, Andy Warhol. Alternately mesmerizing, tragic, and horrifying, this book shattered many myths about the ‘60s experience in America.

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