About book American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life And Times Of Gypsy Rose Lee (2010)
I appreciate the research that went into this book. I wanted to know more about Gypsy Rose Lee because the only real knowledge I had about her was the 1960s musical. Abbott establishes from the introduction that the musical was not much more than a fable, so I was pretty excited to read the true story. Unfortunately, this book was so disjointed that it was extremely hard to follow. Huge gaps in time were left open (what happened to Gypsy in the 1960s??). I was having a hard time following the timeline of her life because of the jumping around in time. I had no problem with the author switching to talk about the Minsky family and the history of burlesque, I did ,however, not appreciate the completely mangled timeline to Gypsy's tale and the stories never finished along with the huge gaps in time never filled in. I appreciate knowing that the musical is highly fictionalized, but I would have appreciated a more coherent telling of the truth. Informative. Interesting. Abbott's lack of a sequential presentation made this a tough read. I'm all about jumping time and place but this was a nightmare. Would have enjoyed the entire experience if presentation was anything than what it was. Kudos to Abbott for telling the story of such a private woman, a woman who's mystique drives us to want to know more. Gypsy you will always remain an elusive enigma, forever captivating.
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A delightful account of a bawdy lady who lived a bawdy good life. I loved every sentence.
—MilkesFavoriteCookie
