Garbo: A Biography

After reading this, I think that writer Kola Boof is the new Greta Garbo just as the New York Times wrote she is. What remarkable simularities.

The cause that I decided to grab that book written by Barry Paris is quite obvious. I live in Russia and all the information in Russian Garbo is concerned with can be generated to the following: Garbo was born a poor and wretched girl in Sweden, discovered by Maurice Stiller, went with him to Hollywood, made a couple of good pics, had a lot of lesbian affairs with almost everybody who was famous at that time beginning with Marlene Dietrich and ending with Marilyn Monroe, who was I presume a toddler by early 30's, then she made some money and had been living as a riche madame hanging out with the toffs for 50 years. I was totally dissatisfied with such ersatz being a kinda film connoisseur myself. I wanted information from the horse's mouth, so I bought the book. The book arrived in 4 days due to the expedient shipping. It is not the first bio that I read in English though I was pleasantly surprised. First thing, there's not much that of the author himself. I mean he is not trying to describe, or evaluate, or judge Garbo, like what she had done under such and such circumstances, or how did she act to this or that. He is grounded with facts. No gossip. From time to time he says that yeah, there was that rumor concerning this and that. Speaking in general, I would call him contemplator from afar, though sometimes his insight is marvelous and hard to deny. Secondly, I like the style of the book: easy to read, good English, fabulous metaphors. Thirdly, author has tenacity towards describing any trifle facts. Of course, there are some author's thoughts that you can consider somewhat irrelevant but all in all the reading process is smooth. Last but not the least the book is saturated with great rare pictures of Greta Garbo. Jolly dialogues between Miss Garbo and Sam Green taken from audio tapes are the zest of the book. As a conclusion, the book is worth reading since it deals with eine Frau, die ein Geheimnis des 20. Jahrhunderts darstellt.

This biography is just as well-written and meticulously-researched as Mr. Paris's biography on Louise Brooks, which I had read prior to reading this one. He's a great celebrity biographer; he really does his homework, doesn't really get into the sleazy, sensational, and speculative trap that a lot of other celebrity biographers too often fall into, has a clear respect for his subject without fawning all over her, sugarcoating less than perfect aspects of her life, or holding her up as some sort of demigoddess, and clearly distinguishes between fact, outright fantasy and falsehood, and rumor and speculation that could go either way. This professional approach is keenly felt when he's writing about Garbo's relationships with men and women; there were some affairs of hers that were well-substatiated by outside evidence (most particularly her affair with Jack Gilbert), but other than that one can't really say how many relationships she may have had, or even that she were actively bisexual, though she clearly felt more comfortable emotionally with women. She wasn't entirely asexual either; though she did seem more comfortable alone, with no one invading her privacy and personal territory, she didn't go through life completely celibate either. And of course, Mr. Paris makes this topic one of only many covered in the book, since what she did or didn't do with anyone she may or may not have had a relationship with isn't really any of our business. What makes this book, and its subject, so fascinating is the fact that the majority of Garbo's life was not lived on-camera. She had her childhood and adolescence, her years of acting in Sweden, Germany, and America in the Twenties and Thirties, and then retired from the screen in the early Forties (though there was a strong possibility she could have had to return to the screen in 1948, and many other times before and since). Mr. Paris even points out that, of the relatively small amount of films she was in, not a whole lot of them would be considered great cinematic works of art or classics. To paraphrase the old saying, she was rarely in a picture that was as good as she was. However, the force of her personality, her riveting screen presence, her unique and androgynous beauty, and her acting talent elevated these films beyond formula pictures, made one watch them in spite of the not always great scripts. Particularly interesting are the chapters on Garbo's life post-acting. Mr. Paris brings these years of retirement to vivid life, showing us that just because she had willingly dropped out of public view didn't mean she had ceased to live a fascinating life; in fact, in some ways her post-acting life was even more colorful and interesting. He also chronicles the real story of her famous desire to be alone, or to be left alone, and how the truth was more complex than just a shy recluse or a former moviestar who shunned most human contact. She led a very full and active social life during those ne

Paris has done a great job in shedding light on the reclusive Garbo. It probes into her life, but is not needlessly intrusive. Endlessly fascinating.

Barry Paris' life of Greta Garbo is an extraordinary biography in many ways. First, it tells the story of one of Hollywood's most enigmatic and legendary icons without resorting to hyperbole or the sort of highblown psychobabble so many other, lesser writers would have stooped to. Second, it is meticulously researched and tells Garbo's story honestly, responsibly and thoroughly, including her mysterious days as New York's Most Famous Recluse. Finally, it delves deep into the heart of what made, and continues to make, Garbo one of the enduring figures in 20th century popular culture. Paris reveals the woman behind the dark sunglasses--and she turns out to be much more interesting than one might think. Garbo, it seems, was a woman of vast contradictions, who ultimately became the victim of both her own compulsive need for privacy and her vast emotional ambivalence. This is the biographical art at its finest, and highly recommended.