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Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, And The Marriage Of The Century (2010)

by Sam Kashner(Favorite Author)

3.79 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

006156284X (ISBN13: 9780061562846)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

HarperCollins

review 1: Liz and Dick, what a marriage(s). These two really are the extreme example of actors marrying actors. Listening to this audio book I believe was much like Elizabeth and Richard's marriage: long, drawn out, passionate, annoying, boring, exciting, ugly, and beautiful. However for all that, it only comes out to 2 stars. It's not really because of the subject matter, their marriage is extremely interesting, however the author clearly did not hire an editor or decided to edit the book himself because man this book NEEDED a good editing. I grant you they had about 20 years together, but the writing was all over the place in timeline. Furthermore, there were many run on sentences, paragraphs that were all over the place, and the focus was lost in some chapters. I think with some ... moreediting and tightening up of the story, this biography really could have been something.Let me tell you what this bio does do well though: it truly conveys the love these two had for each other. They weren't in it for the fame, the attention (although they got plenty of that), the money. Yes all of that is a part of this story but it is clear they were madly in love. They couldn't get enough of each other. The love letters Elizabeth gave the author to her from Richard were a real treat to hear. It's clear even when they divorced the 2nd time, they still loved each other. It's just too bad that they both were such heavy drinkers becoming bad influences on one another. However even with Richard marrying two other women who were in essence there to keep him sober, he was too far gone at that point to do much of anything, alcohol killed him. And no matter what he couldn't stay away from Elizabeth. On another note, it's crazy to hear of the ridiculous amount of money these two got and spent on each other. In this day and age it's really bothersome. However it's just so fascinating because they both really represent a time that no longer exists. This glamorous golden age where celebrities were worshiped and watched wherever they went. I'm not saying that doesn't happen now, but I really don't think it does on this scale. These two attracted crowds together the whole life of the relationship - crowds that sound so out of control its no wonder they felt they had no control in their own lives and needed to travel with tons of people around them.They're films together don't sound too appealing, I mean who really wants to sit through almost 4 hours of Cleopatra, but there's a few I would check out. Once again it's just too bad this book didn't do a better job of the timeline - movie projects got muddled in with so many other things.I'm thinking this won't be the last book about these two - biographies about particularly Elizabeth Taylor will probably be out in the next few years since her recent death - and I look forward to them because while this biography had its moments I don't believe it really gave us the definite story of what they call "the marriage of the century".
review 2: I anticipated that this book would be a big, gossipy dish -- and it kind of is. But more surprising was it's level of research (although I listened to the audiobook...so couldn't look at any notes). Kashner also takes characters you thought you knew and shows surprising facets to their personalities. I left the book liking Elizabeth Tayolor and Richard Burton but sorry that some of their excesses could never be checked. There's also great behind-the-scenes stories of many movies from the 1950s 1960s and 1970s. less

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