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Essays About
My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers
Alana Massey
Read by Alana Massey
Hachette Audio
February 2017/ ASIN: B01NC3229P Audiobook (5 hours and 42
minutes)
Nonfiction / Essays, Miscellaneous / General
Reviewed
by Leslie C. Halpern
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This
collection of essays on female celebrities – mixed with
research, analysis, and personal revelations – presents
itself as a patchwork of observations and insights. There’s
no story or theme, other than the author sharing how her personal
life intersects (emotionally and intellectually) with pop culture
figures, including Sylvia Path, Britney Spears, Scarlett Johansson,
Amber Rose, Anna Nicole Smith, Anjelica Huston, Wynona Ryder,
and others. In fact, the author reads her work as if she’s
doing her best impression of Ryder’s affected sibilant
speaking style, with strange and unusual emphasis on words and
chuckles in unlikely places.
As a columnist and critic, Massey is no doubt accustomed to
putting in long hours of study before the actual writing begins.
These essays are no exception. She quotes from articles, books,
and other sources about the celebrities, in addition to providing
her own analysis about what the selected women’s personal
and professional lives mean to society as a whole, to women
in particular, and to the author’s own growth and development.
For instance, she personally identifies with Ryder’s unstable
behavior and uncool demeanor, despite obvious intelligence and
talent.
Massey’s emotional connection to Ashley and Mary-Kate
Olsen is another example – partly because the author likewise
deals with anorexia, and partly because of her close relationship
to own sister (though not a twin). After describing the lives
of the Olsen twins on the set of Full House, she then reports
on their business success and notes their struggles to remain
individuals despite always being lumped together.
Her research and analysis often provide information the general
public does not know about the selected celebrities. Although
these insights are interesting to those who obsess over celebrity
fashion, relationships, and gossip, the book’s analysis
is fairly lightweight. The casually cool portrayal of the author’s
experiences with cocaine, working in the sex industry, and dealing
with anorexia may offend some readers who have personally suffered
or seen others suffer from similar experiences. Though lacking
a general appeal, this book, targeted to culturally aware women
in their thirties and forties, may hit all the right notes,
just like Lana Del Rey (another of Massey’s best friends
who happens to be a famous stranger). |
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