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Title: Obsession: The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein by Sharon Churcher, Steven S. Gaines ISBN: 0-380-72500-2 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: May, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An Exhaustively Researched Biography with Little Insight
Comment: If I could only use two words to describe this biography they would be: exhaustingly long. This biography is wonderful: intricately researched, you can tell that the authors are immersed in their subject, and the authors do a fine job of balancing information on Klein's different facets: both as a man (and there's a lot of facts and information to support the notion that Klein is a confused homosexual, had a sham marriage (which the authors failed to call by its name), is a wonderful father, a horrible perfectionist and occasionally abusive boss) and as a designer and business tycoon. In the same way, they are careful to include as much information on Klein's personal life as they do of his now almost mythical business deals that (in an odd way reminiscent of Barbra Streisand's demand for "complete artistic control" in her first record contract with Columbia) demanded complete creative control. However, it is a telling detail that Sharon Churcher and Steven Gaines are at their best when they are describing, in intricate detail, the launches of different Klein products, including a behind-the scenes look at the promotional campaigns that went along with them- and except for a couple of illuminating personal anecdotes, these are the best parts of the at times overly-long book. It is telling because although these descriptions are fun and detailed, they are also clearly "the sort of minutiae culled from the hundreds of puff pieces written about Mr. Klein in glossy magazines." The descriptions of the decors of his different residences also clearly come from decoration magazines. All this excessive information makes the book, as the New York Times book review said "exhaustive...to read." The authors's real problem is that ocasionally they get lost in all the background information they present. This constant barrage of information can confuse and burden the reader, and it often turns out that all the information given is for a character of only peripheral importance in the story. Many of the authors' sources, including anonymous male prostitutes, seem highly suspect. I think that Calvin Klein's anxious desire to prevent the book from ever seeing the light of day may have fueled the publicity and the hype around it more than its rather tepid and suspect allegations. In the end, the portrait of this fascinating man remains incomplete in large part because of the book's rather odd final chapter, which focuses not on Klein but on his latest wife (from which he is now divorced, I believe) Kelly Rector. And although the authors, as the New York Times unflatteringly put it: "raid...his life...publish...rumor and innuendo and speculation over his marriages", they seem oddly reluctant to confront the truth about an aspect of their subject that they readily document: that he is quite obviously gay.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dishy and funny
Comment: A fascinating look into the nooks and cranies of the man, his associates and his world. A fun and fast read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dynamite, in depth, more than you wanted to know!
Comment: Yikes! No wonder why Calvin Klein tried to stop this book, it doesn't let up. The best parts were the kidnapping chapters and all the business stuff. I felt like I was inside the fashion industry--and didn't like it. This book isn't for the squeamish.
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Title: The House of Klein : Fashion, Controversy, and a Business Obsession by Lisa Marsh ISBN: 0471455636 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 08 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Genuine Authentic : The Real Life of Ralph Lauren by Michael Gross ISBN: 0060199040 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara G. Forden ISBN: 0060937750 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Happy Times by Lee Radziwill ISBN: 2843232503 Publisher: Assouline Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Kevyn Aucoin: A Beautiful Life by Kerry Diamond, Kevyn Aucoin ISBN: 0743456424 Publisher: Atria Books Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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