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Platinum Doll Anne Girard 9780778318668 Books

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Platinum Doll Anne Girard 9780778318668 Books

Platinum Doll is an interesting look into the life of the young Hollywood ingénue who took Hollywood and the world by storm. Filled with many references to Hollywood elite like Laurel and Hardy, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and Carole Lombard this book shows the struggles, both personal and professional, that teenager Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, experienced during her rise to fame.

Underneath it all, Platinum Doll is a coming of age story. Seventeen year old Harlean arrives in California as a very naive and impressionable young bride from Kansas City. Initially she wasn't interested in pursuing a career in Hollywood but soon she changed her name to Jean Harlow, set her sights on Hollywood her rise to fame began. She paid her dues and found that she had to fight to be taken as a serious actress and not a brainless blonde bombshell the studios thought her to be. As her star rose she quickly became one of the most famous actresses of the time but not without many struggles along the way as she tries to take control of her life and career from those around her.

At the heart of the book is Jean's relationships with her family. Readers get an up close look some of these relationships including the very complicated, dysfunctional yet sometimes touching relationship Jean had with her mother. "Mama Jean" was a controlling woman who was living out her former dream to be a Hollywood star through her daughter. She fought hard for her daughter but took just as much (if not more) than she gave. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship as was her rocky marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Chuck McGrew which affected some of her future romantic entanglements.

This book has many references to old Hollywood - the glamour, the limitations for young women and all the dazzle of the Roaring 20's. While I enjoyed this book I think people who know more about Hollywood in the 1920's would love this book even more. There were so many famous names referred to that I sort of recognized but didn't have a good enough grasp on their careers to fully get the reference.

I was eager to read Platinum Doll because I wanted to know more about this infamous actress and Anne Girard gave me a good look at the young woman behind the Hollywood glamour.

My Rating: 3.5/5 stars (increased to 4 stars for this site)

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to author Anne Girard for providing me with a complimentary paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I'd also like to thank Anne Girard for taking the time to answer my questions in the interview following my review on my blog (http://thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca/...).


Tags : Platinum Doll [Anne Girard] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <strong>Set against the dazzling backdrop of Golden Age Hollywood, novelist Anne Girard tells the enchanting story of Jean Harlow,Anne Girard,Platinum Doll,MIRA,0778318664,Biographical fiction,Harlow, Jean,Historical fiction,Historical fiction.,Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.),Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.);Fiction.,Motion picture actors and actresses - United States,Motion picture actors and actresses;Fiction.,10034189,115026X,20160201,707220,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Literary,GENERAL,General Adult,Literary,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Platinum Doll Anne Girard 9780778318668 Books Reviews

Anne Girard is a great writer I hope produces many more books. While the topic of Jean Harlow might not have caught my attention by another author knowing the Anne wrote it sold me.

I like the way Girard presents the whole person, not a dressed up Hollywood version. I sure that Jean Harlow would have appreciated that treatment. I could not help but feel sorry for a person with so much personal baggage while admiring he passion for acting.

Put down the name Anne Girard, you will want to follow this woman's career!
A fast-paced look at the beginning of Jean Harlow's short Hollywood career. I would have liked to see the story continue till her death (which occurred only four years after the end of this story). Still, it's a fun read peppered with lots of behind-the-scene details and loads of big names from early Hollywood. The book also offers an in-depth portrayal of the psychological transformation Harlean McGrew underwent to change from a starstruck teenager into one of the most glamorous and recognizable stars in the film capital's pantheon.
Anne Girard's wonderful book,"Platinum Doll", a pleasure from beginning to end, lets the reader in on the remarkable story of Jean Harlow's early years in Hollywood and her rise to world-wide fame.
Girard tells the story of a shy but eager young girl who comes to Hollywood at age sixteen with her brand-new, equally young, husband. This is their love story, really, and is what makes the book such a wonderful read.
For all the while Jean is scrabbling to get a real working job as an actress, hitting the auditions, happening in on some lucky breaks, arguing with her mother who arrives in hot pursuit of her beloved but bullied daughter, trying to hold all the strings of her increasingly complicated life together, her love affair with her husband weaves both a gentle and fearful spell for the reader.
Jean is often overwhelmed. Her mother and husband dislike each other. The studios try to control her destiny in ways with which she is not comfortable. However, due to money issues, she is forced to back down over and over.
But this determined young woman prevails, and by the end of the book she is imprinting her hands in Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
There is a lyrical and gentle quality to Girard's writing, which speaks to the woman Harlow apparently was. There is a gaiety, freshness, feistiness and playfulness too, reminding us at every turn just how very young she was. She was a formidable woman in the making, though, because even though her young marriage was lost, Jean Harlow went on to become one of the greatest stars in the world.
Anne Girard's book is a wonderful read, and to add to the delicious flavor of the amazing story, it is filled with luscious period details, from Harlow's clothes, the restaurants of the day, to the architecture of early Hollywood, to tidbits about the early stars.
I couldn't put it down.
Platinum Doll was a fascinating read, and I could not put it down. I read it while working out, at the car wash, and while making dinner so that I could finish it. The author did a wonderful job portraying the early years of screen legend Jean Harlow’s career. Anne Girard (Diane Haeger) clearly did her research, and Jean Harlow came alive in Platinum Doll. She provided so many details and referenced a number of other stars from that era also. I was constantly on the internet looking up other actors and movies from that time period.

After reading about the early years of her career, I want to track down her old movies and see what she actually was like on screen. I highly recommend this novel and was so glad I read it.
Platinum Doll is an interesting look into the life of the young Hollywood ingénue who took Hollywood and the world by storm. Filled with many references to Hollywood elite like Laurel and Hardy, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and Carole Lombard this book shows the struggles, both personal and professional, that teenager Harlean Carpenter, who later became Jean Harlow, experienced during her rise to fame.

Underneath it all, Platinum Doll is a coming of age story. Seventeen year old Harlean arrives in California as a very naive and impressionable young bride from Kansas City. Initially she wasn't interested in pursuing a career in Hollywood but soon she changed her name to Jean Harlow, set her sights on Hollywood her rise to fame began. She paid her dues and found that she had to fight to be taken as a serious actress and not a brainless blonde bombshell the studios thought her to be. As her star rose she quickly became one of the most famous actresses of the time but not without many struggles along the way as she tries to take control of her life and career from those around her.

At the heart of the book is Jean's relationships with her family. Readers get an up close look some of these relationships including the very complicated, dysfunctional yet sometimes touching relationship Jean had with her mother. "Mama Jean" was a controlling woman who was living out her former dream to be a Hollywood star through her daughter. She fought hard for her daughter but took just as much (if not more) than she gave. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship as was her rocky marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Chuck McGrew which affected some of her future romantic entanglements.

This book has many references to old Hollywood - the glamour, the limitations for young women and all the dazzle of the Roaring 20's. While I enjoyed this book I think people who know more about Hollywood in the 1920's would love this book even more. There were so many famous names referred to that I sort of recognized but didn't have a good enough grasp on their careers to fully get the reference.

I was eager to read Platinum Doll because I wanted to know more about this infamous actress and Anne Girard gave me a good look at the young woman behind the Hollywood glamour.

My Rating 3.5/5 stars (increased to 4 stars for this site)

Disclaimer My sincere thanks to author Anne Girard for providing me with a complimentary paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I'd also like to thank Anne Girard for taking the time to answer my questions in the interview following my review on my blog (http//thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca/...).