Liberace: An American Boy by Darden Asbury Pyron
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Book Reviews of Liberace: An American Boy
Book Review: LIBERACE: AN AMERICAN BOY
Summary: 5 Stars
THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER LIBERACE BOOKS. PUBLISHED BY, ST. MARTIN'S UNIVERSITY PRESS, IT DOES NOT FOCUS SO MUCH ON LIBERACE'S JEWELS, COSTUME ECT., BUT RATHER, WHAT EVENTS IN LIBERACE'S LIFE SHAPED THE PERSON HE WAS TO BECOME.
HIS PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF 30 YEARS (RAY ARNETT) IS AN EXTREMELY CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE FOR MANY YEARS NOW; HE ALSO LOVED THE BOOK
Book Review: Liberace. Seriously, folks -- Liberace
Summary: 4 Stars
Far be it from me to take issue with the esteemed Kirkus Service, but references to the ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece, as well as the Antinomian and Arminian heresies are inevitable when you're dealing with a phenomenon like Liberace. Well-researched and extensively footnoted, "Liberace: An American Boy" is a serious attempt at (as Oscar Levant would say) cutting through all that phony tinsel to find the real tinsel underneath. Just why is it that that this curious carnival figure -- odder with each passing year -- so captivated the American public? There's no way to neatly answer such a question, and this book, thankfully, doesn't try to. What it does is delicately take Liberace apart in order to reassemble him with as much of his chintzy glory as possible left still intact. While the author takes issue with the conclusions I came to in my book "Open Secret," he does quote from it copiously and accurately. Consequently I'm not about to carp. Suffice to say, however, that "An American Boy" isn't the last word on Liberace. It's only the second. Let's hope there's more to come.Book Review: too much too much
Summary: 3 Stars
if this book were half of it's 420 pages, it would've been an excellent read. overall, i think the book is a great study of America in mid-century and especially of gay culture at that time. Anecdotes and quotes are repeated frequently in the book which gave me a sense of deja-vu as I was reading it.Book Review: An Uninspiring Read
Summary: 2 Stars
Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts and comments and package them up in his own uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and added a few of his own little presumptions and snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.Book Review: An Uninspiring Read
Summary: 1 Stars
Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts, comments and reports from the time, package them up in his own rather uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and add a few of his own little presumptions/subtly snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.