The author and the narrator are husband and wife—he is 90; she 80. He is an esteemed writer and editor; she is an accomplished actor. This is only Gottlieb’s second audiobook, but Maria Tucci’s distinctive voice can be heard in several ensembles and in her walking tours of Italian cities. On Greta Garbo their views don’t entirely coincide. Tucci’s tone is more irreverent, and she is more keen on the comedy of the legendary beauty who spent her life hiding from her public. As a star biography, this is simply one of the best, most entertaining, most insightful. Tucci wins the listener over early, and her in-character renderings of the firsthand reminiscences of Garbo that end the audiobook—in particular, one by actor Tallulah Bankhead—are pure delight. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Garbo
Narrated by Maria Tucci
Robert GottliebUnabridged — 11 hours, 21 minutes
Garbo
Narrated by Maria Tucci
Robert GottliebUnabridged — 11 hours, 21 minutes
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Overview
“Wherever you look in the period between 1925 and 1941,” Robert Gottlieb writes in Garbo, “Greta Garbo is in people's minds, hearts, and dreams.” Strikingly glamorous and famously inscrutable, she managed, in sixteen short years, to infiltrate America's subconscious; her decision to suddenly end her film career at the age of thirty-six only made her more irresistible. Garbo appeared in only twenty-four movies, yet her impact on the world-and that indescribable, transcendent presence she possessed-was rivaled only by Marilyn Monroe. She was a phenomenon, a Sphinx, a myth, but also a Swedish peasant girl, uneducated, naïve, and always on her guard.
In Garbo, acclaimed critic and editor Robert Gottlieb attempts to capture the ever-elusive essence of Garbo through the eyes of others: in addition to a vivid and thorough retelling of her life, Gottlieb combs through glimpses of Garbo in literature, music, private letters, and, of course, films, in order to better understand her. Discovering her within Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and in the letters of Marianne Moore, and following her from her early movies with MGM to her career-defining, Academy Award-nominated role in Camille to her world-stopping decision to leave the limelight, Gottlieb crafts a biography of unprecedented intimacy and scope in the hopes of capturing the woman that only the camera knew.
Editorial Reviews
★ 10/25/2021
"More than any other star," Greta Garbo "invaded the subconscious of the audience," writes veteran editor Gottlieb (A Certain Style) in this searching and sensitive portrait of the actor. Though "only the camera knew" what went on behind her "amazing eyes," Gottlieb follows Garbo from her impoverished Swedish childhood (during which she frequented soup kitchens) through to her beginnings in film and her remarkable career as an MGM star. He covers her life out of the spotlight, too, including her reclusive nature ("When she died, there was plentiful evidence of how ordinary and how dull the real woman had been," wrote critic David Thomson), cross-dressing (which she'd "always enjoyed"), and art collecting (within a month of getting into it, she bought three Renoirs). Garbo's life was full of contradictions, Gottlieb writes: she "insisted on being independent" yet lived mostly under the thumb of MGM, and called America home yet had "no connection to it." A lengthy "Garbo reader" full of excerpts and articles about her rounds out Gottlieb's perfectly paced account—it includes Harriet Parsons's 1931 piece "24 Hours with Greta Garbo," Kenneth Tynan's 1954 Sight and Sound profile, and quotes from her colleagues including Billy Wilder, Edmund Goulding, and Clarence Brown—and the wealth of photos is a plus. The result is a masterful look at an elusive Hollywood giant. (Dec.)
"[An] ardent and wise investigative portrait . . . Once Garbo steps in front of the camera, Gottlieb's book comes gloriously into its own, a tour through a career offered by a shrewd, deeply perceptive docent, brimming with knowledge and insight . . . This is what we want film books to do—to send us to the work with sharper eyes and more open minds." —Mark Harris, The New York Times Book Review
"Much has been written about Garbo over the years, but Gottlieb, a former editor of this magazine, has produced a particularly charming, companionable, and clear-eyed guide to her life and work . . . By the end of the biography, I felt I understood Garbo better as a person, without the aura of mystery around her having been entirely dispelled—and, at this point, who would want it to be?" —Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker
"Engaging and intelligent. . . [Gottlieb] perceptively depicts the paradox of Garbo's sociality and reserve." —Mary Desjardins, The Washington Post
"[Garbo] is great fun to read, providing a chatty, urbane overview and a lot of unabashed opinions." —Donna Rifkind, The Wall Street Journal
"The why and wherefore of [Garbo's] extraordinary life and career is masterfully told in Robert Gottlieb’s new book, Garbo, handsomely published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, with more than 250 splendid duotone photos, an extremely thorough filmography (including, unusually, production costs and shooting schedules, box-office grosses, profits, and losses)—all part of a terrific 100-page “Garbo Reader,” which concludes the volume and harks back to Gottlieb’s influential days as editor of The New Yorker, editor in chief of Simon & Schuster, and head of Alfred A. Knopf." —Peter Bogdanovich, Air Mail
"A classic movie lover's dream . . . Enriching his insightful reconsideration of Garbo’s life and career are wonderful photos, a selection of essays from the past, and anecdotes from those who encountered the enigmatic star . . . [Gottlieb] brings to life Garbo’s time and place—particularly Europe, Hollywood and America between world wars—and fills her story with other unique characters. It’s fascinating from beginning to end." —Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press
"A lively new appraisal of [Garbo's] life and films . . . Gottlieb seems for this project to have consumed everything written in English about Garbo and her circle." —The Boston Globe
"[An] astute and entertaining book." —The Economist
"[A] searching and sensitive portrait of the actor . . . [A] perfectly paced account . . . [A] masterful look at an elusive Hollywood giant." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Gottlieb delivers a nuanced portrait of Swedish-born actor Greta Garbo . . . A searching life study that ought to rekindle interest in an unhappy yet brilliant artist." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This comprehensive biography may be the final word [on Garbo] . . . Gottlieb’s research is so complete and his style so engaging that this book almost reads like an oral biography told through a singular voice . . . A brilliantly written and constructed portrait of a true icon of the cinema." —Library Journal (starred review)
★ 10/15/2021
Countless books have been written about Greta Garbo since her self-imposed exile in the 1940s, yet this comprehensive biography may be the final word. Gottlieb (Avid Reader: A Life) notes that despite Garbo's brief career and often mediocre films, her name is still synonymous with Hollywood glamour and mystery. Gottlieb covers her life, her work, her shifting sexuality, and the handful of people who truly knew this enigmatic woman, like Mauritz Stiller, the Swedish director who discovered an 18-year-old Garbo and brought her to the United States, and actress and screenwriter Salka Viertel, who had a nurturing influence on Garbo. Gottlieb's research is so complete and his style so engaging that this book almost reads like an oral biography told through a singular voice. Hundreds of photographs document everything from Garbo's early modeling jobs in Sweden to the living room of her recluse-era New York apartment. The final section, "A Garbo Reader," includes historical extracts on Garbo from fellow actors, critics, and writers, and even the occasions her name has been used in song lyrics. VERDICT This is a brilliantly written and constructed portrait of a true icon of the cinema.—Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA
The author and the narrator are husband and wife—he is 90; she 80. He is an esteemed writer and editor; she is an accomplished actor. This is only Gottlieb’s second audiobook, but Maria Tucci’s distinctive voice can be heard in several ensembles and in her walking tours of Italian cities. On Greta Garbo their views don’t entirely coincide. Tucci’s tone is more irreverent, and she is more keen on the comedy of the legendary beauty who spent her life hiding from her public. As a star biography, this is simply one of the best, most entertaining, most insightful. Tucci wins the listener over early, and her in-character renderings of the firsthand reminiscences of Garbo that end the audiobook—in particular, one by actor Tallulah Bankhead—are pure delight. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
★ 2021-10-13
Skillful, admiring biography of the film star of yore.
Writer and publisher Gottlieb delivers a nuanced portrait of Swedish-born actor Greta Garbo (1905-1990), who famously wanted to be left alone and who made good on it, disappearing from the scene in 1941 after nearly 30 films. She was less popular than peers such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. As the author writes, perhaps that’s because “M-G-M presented her first as a vamp, luring men on with her vampish ways, but she hated that.” The psychology runs deep here. Early in life, Garbo suffered the deaths of family members including her father, poverty, and a lack of education, a source of constant embarrassment to her in later life. Even while standing in line for food, however, she was putting on skits for those who waited with her. A natural beauty of considerable discipline, she won a Hollywood contract after making a few films in Europe, and she was put to work on films such as The Temptress(1926). “Garbo hated this movie, too,” writes Gottlieb, “but its success secured her position as the most promising young actress in the world.” By 1932, she was making at least $250,000 per movie, a fortune at the time. Gottlieb carefully explores Garbo’s private life, which was marked by a hermeticism without equal in the film world. Although an icon in that milieu, she took exceptional pains to live out the rest of her long life away from the public eye, spending 50 years away from the film world while never being allowed to truly leave it. “What are we to make of this strange creature who, without trying, compelled the attention of the world in a way no other star had done?” Gottlieb asks toward the end of a smoothly flowing book that provides ample answers while never quite solving all of Garbo's mysteries.
A searching life study that ought to rekindle interest in an unhappy yet brilliant artist.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940176248654 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 12/07/2021 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 1,246,220 |
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