Madonna: An Intimate Biography

You may love her work or you may hate her work, but if you read this book, you'll come away from it with a great deal of respect for a woman who used every possible means available to her, including people, to achieve her apparent dream - global recognition. I can remember the first time I'd heard of her twenty years ago and am in awe that she's still here. The author must have worked his _ss off writing this book, and it's a great bio to date. Had he waited until after she'd died to write her bio, it no doubt would be as thick as a Webster's Dictionary and he'd be within the age of retirement. I'm not a great fan of Madonna's, but I found her rise to fame completely fascinating. Someone please tell Kelly Clarkson she's got a lot of work to do to join that American Idol club!

While admitting that I am not much of a Madonna fan, I still enjoyed this book. Yes, it is written in a gossipy manner. No, she did not participate in the writing of it. But as anyone knows, a celebrity-sanctioned biography is also bound to be a "sanitized" one. Madonna is as bitchy as they come and this book makes no bones about it.Slavish devotees may quibble over the facts in this book. But I feel it's a well-written, solid biography of a woman who continues to hold the attention of the public she once wanted so fiercely.This book has much to recommend it. It moves in a smooth progression from her youth to her relatively newfound maturity with barely a misstep. The author (who cannot be accused of not knowing his subject, having interviewed her on several occasions), clearly promotes the dynamic diva's agenda from day one: to be fabulous and famous. There's the expected exploration of Madonna's unresolved mother/abandonment issues, her promiscuity, her assertions that she is not the best singer or the best dancer. Clearly, life is one big publicity stunt to the girl who freely asserted, "I want attention." There are many interviews with people who knew her during her rise to fame, and nearly all agree: Madonna's sole ambition was to attain stardom and then glory in it. Talent was optional (as was consideration for anyone but herself).That being said, there is a definite maturity that begins to define her. One quote that illustrates this: "I learned that in order to attract the right kind of man, you have to be the right kind of woman." Out are the self-indulgent shenanigans of the "Sex" book and the video for "Justify My Love." In is "Evita," Carlos Leon (a man one is tempted to dismiss as merely the "sperm donor," but who emerges from this book a true class act), husband Guy Ritchie, and her two children. OK, so she's got the marriage and motherhood thing going. Now if she could only lose the quasi-British accent and the gyrating onstage at forty-something...

Begining this book as a devout fan, I thought that it was going to put down my idol. However, it paints my idol as something that is often overlooked- it depicts her as a human being. And a very nice, caring, sweet human, at that. I do have to say that it seemed to leave some things missing, but seemed somewhat complete without writing about her day-to day life. I liked her even more after reading this book!

We've heard the rumors. We've listened to the music. We've seen the videos, the concerts, the book, the movies, the tv appearances and the fashion sense. Yet despite this, we've never really seen a complete history of Madonna. The book, somehow, is well-timed. A fairy-tale ending.Imagine the book coming out during Sex, or Erotica. It must have been a disaster story. But by timing it, and writing it, up to the second baby of the Immaculate One, the author expounds on the story of a young, lost girl, who grew up, had a dream, followed it, made some mistakes, and grew up even more. By the end of the book, Madonna seems to be the conquering hero, as she sucessfully passed through "the dark age", the scandals, and the many husbands, and lovers, to become the Madonna of the Earth.The author sucessfully juxtaposes rumor, Madonna's side, her opponent's side, her PR manager's side, and every possible angle, to at least present enough detail, to keep you clamoring for more.

Am I the only person on earth who doesn't know every little thing about Madonna? Judging from the cynical customer reviews here, I must be. I found this book to be well-researched and very well done. The writer is compassionate, and tells both sides of every story -- not just Madonna's side. In the Sean Penn battering episode, for example, he interviewed Sean and Sean denied it ever happened. Sean says he did not tie her up. That's why Taraborrelli wrote that there are "two sides" to every episode of domestic abuse. This was a great book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a good read, and one that really explores the life of a woman who everyone seems to know ... but not until reading this book did I really feel I knew her. Read this book!