Garbo | 
| Author: Barry Paris
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.94
You Save: $8.01 (35%)
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 463046
Media: Paperback
Pages: 680
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 081664182X
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43028092
EAN: 9780816641826
ASIN: 081664182X
Publication Date: September 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Greta Garbo (1905-1990) is as famous for her reclusiveness as for starring in such enduring classics as Flesh and the Devil, Grand Hotel, Queen Christina, and Ninotchka. In this richly illustrated volume, renowned biographer Barry Paris offers the definitive biography of this fascinating and complex woman-from her hardscrabble childhood in Sweden to her arrival in Hollywood at the age of nineteen, from her meteoric rise to stardom to her unintentional retirement from filmmaking at the height of her fame, from the new life she crafted for herself to her surprising, and failed, plans for a comeback. Drawing on hitherto unavailable material, including one hundred hours of tape-recorded conversations, fifty years of correspondence, and interviews with Garbo's surviving friends and family, Paris reveals the real woman behind the enigma. "Barry Paris has crafted a magnificent, moving biography-a feast of rare, delicious facts, exploded myths, and compassionate observations. Surely it will be the final word on this most-fantasized-about movie idol." Liz Smith, New York Daily News "A witty, clearheaded correction to all the misinformation that has become part of the Garbo legend." Julie Salamon, Vogue "Magnificent, literate, detailed, and scrupulous. This is a book that at last solves the riddle of the Sphinx." Hugh Leonard, Sunday Independent (London) "A substantial work exploring the enigmatic life of one of the twentieth century's most famous icons, a book notable above all for its humanity and compassion." Robert Sklar, Newsday "This strong, rich biography has sweeping detail, a huge cache of photos, and a satisfying grip on Garbo's character. . . . Paris offers what is likely to be the standard life of Garbo-handsomely made, a gripping must-read." Donald Newlove, Hollywood Reporter Barry Paris is an award-winning biographer, film and music critic, and journalist who is the author of Louise Brooks (Minnesota, 2001). His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, American Film, and numerous other publications. He lives in Pittsburgh.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 KOLA BOOF June 7, 2009
Lolly (Detroit, MI)
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.
 One of the best biographies I've ever read February 7, 2009
A. C. Martinez (La Rioja, Spain)
I have always been a fan of books about movies, film stars and anything related to Holywood Golden Years, the era of the big studios and stellar actors and actresses who still are an essential part of our iconic world today. This Greta Garbo bio has utterly surprised me for its objective point of view, its love for detail without falling into boring accounts, its accurate psychological approach of the woman -yet not forgetting about her magnificent talent as a performer. Throughout its pages you can breath the glamourous life of Holywood's inhabitants in the 1930s and '40s, know the twisted way MGM worked, feel the ordinary worries and vital insatisfaction of Greta Gustafsson.
I recommend this book to all of you willing to know what can be known for sure, to all those who don't like being told a story that only really happened in the author's mind. Take form me -I've read a lot of this sort of bios.
 Long and Dull... August 8, 2008
Lanie (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Let me start by saying, I bought this book because of all the great reviews it got here. So, I thought I'd better give my opinion too, since it is so different!
This book includes everything you'd ever want to know about Garbo! So, it's great for the fan of hers who wants to know absolutley every detail about her. However, it is not written in an interesting way. It is like reading a "G" encyclopedia that is all about Garbo! It is long, boring, and difficult to read because the facts of her life are just layed out in chronological order. Not very engaging to read. I kept putting it down and reading other books, then going back to it.
A great book about Garbo April 21, 2008
Ulita Lipskova (Moscow, Russia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
one of the best January 5, 2007
Catherine Mckee (British Columbia Canada)
I completely enjoyed this book. But then I am a devoted Garbo fan.
It is almost like a game trying to piece her life together to be able to understand her. I have read many books about her and this is one of the best for being able to inform people of her inner thoughts.
Thank You
Cathy
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