Loving Mailer

Norman, Norman, Norman. If only you could taste the sweet and ripe fruit that blossomed with this tale. How dare you trifle her writing back in the day? If this book were a meal, I'd say I am fully satisfied--all the way through dessert. Sure, all the ingredients are in the mix--humor, sex, famous encounters, awkward moments and certainly conflict. Like a great chef though--it takes great skill to put it all together in a form, fit to serve on the "good" plates. Oh hell, for that matter, this could be slapped on a paper napkin and lose no luster. The story grabbed me from the onset. Carole Mallory gets right to the meat. No elaborate staging or explanation--just a pure and direct look at a fascinating situation told in a most intriguing way--set in a period of history that seems as oxymoronic as her devotion to this complicated man/icon. Her skilled prose makes you that coveted fly on the wall. While I mostly avoid "tell alls" or celebrity gossip reading, this is far removed from that genre--but who would know? Yes, there is explicit and raw detail which could put a few well-positioned men in hiding for awhile. That is only the dessert, however. Throughout is a back-story of pain, masked with the cover of humor. At the end of the road, we find bittersweet triumph fused with a down-to-earth class which (unintentionally, I'm sure, ha ha ha) puts Mr. Mailer in his rightful place. And so it goes... Like that aforementioned great meal, though I have finished, I am wanting for more.

I recommend Carole Mallory's "Loving Mailer". "In the beginning we spoke with our bodies. In the end we spoke with our minds", Carole Mallory. What an in intriguing journey that must have been for Carole and Normal Mailer. Great job, Carole!

Its rare to find someone who so cleverly and elegantly tells her story without the filter of convention or reservation. Ms. Mallory presents her readers with a glimpse of a covert world of complexity and stark reality answering so many questions about what was, versus what might have been. Her courage coupled with her gift for engaging her audience makes her latest book a must read. Pour a glass of wine, curl up in your favorite chair and prepare yourself for an enlightening afternoon. Ms. Mallory has outdone herself. You won't be disappointed!

A great read. You can't put this book down. Honest. Raw. This relationship reminds me of Sheila Graham and F.Scott Fitzgerald. The veil is lifted off of Mailer.Multi-layers of emotion.

Carole Mallory makes no excuses for her years spent under the wing of Norman Mailer. As his lover and his friend and confidante, she treats us all to a graphic and detailed peek into the world of the fabulous and famous. She shares her self-effacing and at times, hilarious, journey through her years as a model and actress. It is through her writing that she finally gains the voice she has always searched for, and she speaks candidly and unabashedly. She has a "take no prisoners" approach that is at times startling and bittersweet. Hers is a story that is all too common, and rarely told as honestly. It is not an apology...she just tells it like it was.