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After twenty years, the story of Natalie Wood's extraordinary life and mysterious death is revealed in a riveting new biography We watched her mature on the movie screen before our eyes in Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and on and on. She has been hailed, along with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, as one of the top three movie actresses in film history, a legend in her own lifetime and beyond. But the story of what she endured, of what her life was like when the doors of the soundstages slid closed, has long been obscured. Natasha is based on years of exhaustive research into Natalie's turbulent life and mysterious death. Suzanne Finstad conducted more than four hundred interviews with Natalie's family, close friends, legendary costars, lovers, film crews, attorneys, police officials, and Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the coroner who investigated her strange death by drowning. Finstad has reconstructed a life of emotional abuse and exploitation, of almost unprecedented fame, great loneliness, and loss. Finstad tells this tragic beauty's story with sensitivity and grace, revealing a complex and conflicting mix of fragility and strength in a woman who was swept away by forces she could not control. Natasha is the definitive biography of Natalie Wood.… (more)
User reviews
I was only semi-knowledgeable about this actress prior to reading the book. I had only ever seen her three most famous movies, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, and Miracle on 34th Street. Since this book, I have been compelled to familiarize myself with more of her work.
The author is, I believe, I first-time biographer, and although I haven't read terribly many biographies, I found her style somewhat heavy-handed. She also needs to familiarize herself better with the concepts of "foreshadowing" and "irony." One thing I found very annoying about the writing was that the author felt the need to remind us, over and over, of who people were. For example, she introduces us to Debbie Reynolds "who was originally considered for the part of Judy." Then, a paragraph later, she quotes Reynolds again, identifying her as "the actress who almost got [Natalie's] part." Scarcely a paragraph later, Reynolds "who almost played Judy" is quoted again. I did not need these reminders, as I (and I would imagine most other reasonably intelligent readers) can remember what was written from paragraph to paragraph. Also, I am quite unfamiliar with movie stars and directors from this period, so I would imagine people who were alive during this time or more well-versed on in this subject might be even more frustrated than I was.
Finstad also kept pushing the idea that "Natalie Wood" was a "composite" of Natalie herself and her mother, Maria. I was willing to accept the assertion at first, as Maria pushed Natalie into stardom, but later, as Natalie grew up, it seemed Finstad was massaging the facts to support her claim.
In conclusion, I learned a lot from Finstad's thorough research and interviews with close friends and family members of Ms. Wood, but I would not read a book by her again. I have wish-listed another biography of Natalie Wood, and would be interested to see whether this concept of the "composite" Natalie Wood is more pervasive.