Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

[Review] - The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story


I've started, deleted, and restarted this review multiple times, and finally, I decided not to sugarcoat my thoughts, unlike many other bloggers who also received an ARC copy. Yes, I read a few other reviews before penning my own. It's pretty obvious that either they didn't read the book. Or they gave it a good rating only because they received an ARC. Seriously, where is your integrity? I expect this from mainstream critics but not from bloggers.

As the title, The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story, suggests, this is the real-life story of gothic author V.C. Andrews (1923 - 1986), who wrote the mega-bestseller Flowers in the Attic. Andrew Neiderman wrote the biography, a.k.a. the ghostwriter who keeps churning out new stories under V.C. Andrews's name. Now here comes my first issue with the book - Andrew Neiderman! 

Andrew Neiderman used to be a decent horror writer, but his writing skills have gone downhill in the last ten to fifteen years. Let me rephrase that, Neiderman's writing sucks. Let me repeat myself - I'm not sugarcoating anything.  

The Woman Beyond the Attic begins with a 28-paged preface. Yes, you read that correctly - 28-pages. The biography is only 150 pages! Let me tell you - it's a pain to read. It's not a biography in any sense. Instead, Neiderman complies together public interviews, letters, and information that you can either 'google' or find on Wikipedia. The timeline and facts are disjointed, creating a chaotic mess to follow. I wonder if Andrew Neiderman has ever read a single biography in his life because he doesn't have the know-how to write one.

Repetition! I lost count at how many times Neiderman repeated quotes, stories, and events, word by word. Was Neiderman trying to fill up the word count? Why? Did Neiderman have enough facts to write a full biography, or is Neiderman just a bad writer? You be the judge.

The rest of the book features the supposedly only unfinished novel by V.C. Andrews, The Obsessed. It's roughly 88 pages, minus a few blank pages between chapters, and if the legend is correct, the first draft was around 800 pages. In a letter written in February 1981, V.C. Andrews told her brother that the novel's release date was September 1981. Now, this is where the facts get confusing. If The Obsessed's planned release date was in six months, wouldn't the first or second draft already be completed and in the hands of the editor?  

Long before Flowers in the Attic, V.C. Andrews published the short story, My Uncle on My Wedding Night, under an unknown pseudonym in a pulp-confession magazine. Nobody has ever found a copy, but there is finally evidence that it did exist. In the very back of The Woman Beyond the Attic, there's part of a submission letter to The Do-It-Yourself Romance for a new version of the story, retitled Love's Savage Desire. The first three chapters and the last two chapters are featured.  

Lastly, the poems "Golden Things" and "Regretting" are included at the very end of the book. 


Final Thoughts

I wanted to give Andrew Neiderman the benefit of the doubt and had hoped this biography would be decent. Sadly, that's not the case. It feels half-heartedly written. The overly long preface feels more like a biography than the actual biography. I wished the V.C. Andrews estate and Gallery Books had hired a professional biographer instead of rehiring Andrew Neiderman. Yeah, I get it. Neiderman is the ghostwriter, so he should be the perfect choice to pen V.C. Andrews's biography. Right? Wrong! The last dozen or so ghostwritten titles have been lazy and sloppy. And, Neiderman's streak of horrible writing continues.  

The Woman Beyond the Attic has zero new information about V.C. Andrews that I didn't already know via the internet. The only two things of any interest in this book are the several never-seen-before photos and The Obsessed, but they're not enough for me to recommend the book to other readers.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Review - Jesse James: The Life, Times and Treacherous Death of the Most Infamous Outlaw of All Time

Jesse James: The Life, Times, and Treacherous Death of the Most Infamous Outlaw of All Time
By: Frank Triplett
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Pub. Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1620873656
Pages: 432

Review:

Jesse James along with his brother Frank, the Younger Brothers and other bandits were the most famous outlaws post-Civil War, robbing banks and trains throughout Missouri and neighboring states. Jesse James was assassinated by a fellow gang member Robert Ford on April 3, 1882. A mining engineer and author, Frank Triplett, finished the first Jesse James biography seven weeks after Jesse James’s death.

This book had the longest title in American literature history - The Life, Times and Treacherous Death of Jesse James. The Only Correct and Authorized-Edition. Giving Full Particulars of Each and Every Dark and Desperate Deed in the Career of This Most Noted Outlaw of Any Time or Nation. The Facts and Incidents contained in this Volume, were dictated to Frank Triplett, by Mrs. Jesse James, Wife of Bandit, and Mrs. Zerelda Samuel, His Mother.

Frank Triplett wasn't exactly a fan of the Missouri governor Thomas T. Crittenden, as the governor had a hand in Jesse's death by putting out a $10,000 bounty on his head and conspiring with Robert Ford. 4,500 copies of the book were sold in 1882, but the governor had his agents collect the books and burn them. To this day only nine books survived.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Review - Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny

Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny (The Generals)Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny
BY: Agostino Von Hassell and Ed Breslin
PUBLISHED BY: Thomas Nelson
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-5955-5056-9
Pages: 193
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Honestly, the only thing I know about General Patton is what I saw in the movie “Patton” staring George C. Scott. After reading the introduction to this book, you learn that the way Patton was portrayed was not correct. Patton’s rival General Omar N. Bradley worked as the film’s chief consultant, so all of the facts were not correct.

George S. Patton Jr. was born on November 11, 1885 in Los Angeles, California. Most of his ancestors were military heroes. At an early age, George wanted to continue the tradition. He learned to ride a horse and shoot guns, but he didn’t learn how to read and write until he was twelve years old. This caused a bit of a challenge for him when he started school in 1897. Despite his educational setbacks, he entered VMI in 1903 and later he would attend West Point. Patton studied all of the great military books.

After graduation, Patton joined the Army. Through the years he quickly went up the ranks. First as a Tank Commander and later as a General during WWII.

I enjoyed reading the book. I never knew that Patton was obsessed with perfection. I also never knew that Patton studied and kept track of new technology being developed. Patton was a respected man, who loved his family, his fellow soldiers, his country and God. I recommend this book to historical and military buffs.

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson for sending me a copy to review.