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    Platinum Doll
    Platinum Doll
    Platinum Doll
    Audiobook10 hours

    Platinum Doll

    Written by Anne Girard

    Narrated by Leslie Carroll

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    GLOSS: Spine Graphic + Title EMBOSS: TITLE GLOSS: Watermark, TITLE, A NOVEL copy GLOSS: Back Cover Graphic OVERALL MATTE Set against the dazzling backdrop of Golden Age Hollywood, novelist Anne Girard tells the enchanting story of Jean Harlow, one of the most iconic stars in the history of film It's the Roaring Twenties and seventeen-year-old Harlean Carpenter McGrew has run off to Beverly Hills. She's chasing a dream-to escape her small, Midwestern life and see her name in lights. In California, Harlean has everything a girl could want-a rich husband, glamorous parties, socialite friends-except an outlet for her talent. But everything changes when a dare pushes her to embrace her true ambition-to be an actress on the silver screen. With her timeless beauty and striking shade of platinum-blond hair, Harlean becomes Jean Harlow. And as she's thrust into the limelight, Jean learns that this new world of opportunity comes with its own set of burdens. Torn between her family and her passion to perform, Jean is forced to confront the difficult truth-that fame comes at a price, if only she's willing to pay it. Amid a glittering cast of ingenues and Hollywood titans-Clara Bow, Clark Gable, Laurel and Hardy, Howard Hughes-Platinum Doll introduces us to the star who would shine brighter than them all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 26, 2016
    ISBN9781501907951
    Platinum Doll
    Author

    Anne Girard

    Anne Girard is a writer and historian with degrees in English literature and clinical psychology. She has spent extensive time in Paris and lives in California with her husband and children.

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    Reviews for Platinum Doll

    3.5/5

    16 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      3.5 Stars
      At 16 Hearlean McGrew is a brand new wife to Chuck McGrew living in dazzling Hollywood. By luck, she captures the eye of men at the studio and is soon acting for a small fee. Her relationship, however, is one of constant turmoil and making up. Chuck wants his wife at home, but his unwillingness to face his emotions leads to drinking and outbursts. As their relationship falls to pieces Jean's life in the spotlight picks up speed as she is cast in multiple talkie rolls and begins her press tours. With girls lining up to dye their hair that certain shade of platinum blonde, Jean Harlow must face her family, herself, and her passion for performance.

      Jean Harlow's relationship with Chuck McGrew wasn't perfect, but the love is there and Anne Girard's coverage of this is excellent. While it isn't as true as Jean Harlow's real life, you know she drank too, it did bring to life who Jean really was at her young, impressionable age. I really enjoyed reading about her relationship, even though it was often strained and uneasy. Their relationship, while not incredibly public at the time, has been well documented and I felt like it was accurate. It also helped me to understand who Jean Harlow really was and why she was so good at just sitting down and doing what everyone wanted. I also loved her friend Rosalie and how they both were such unique individuals in the acting world. The interactions on set, especially when famous celebrities i recognized seemed pretty close to the truth, were really enjoyable to read. The historic facts, especially the movie facts as talkies first released, were very accurate and I appreciated the amount of research that had to have gone into that.

      What starts as a promising tale of love, loss, and fame soon becomes repetitive and lacks the girlish charm of the first 50%. While Girard has a beautiful way with words, the general story of Jean Harlow's climb to celebrity status lacked emotion once her relationship falls apart. It felt like a highlight reel, which would make sense if the entire book read that way, but the first half of the novel seemed to have so much more to it. I'm not an expert on Jean Harlow's life, by any means, but I expected some personal growth from her and instead she felt more like a rug beneath her parent's feet. I wanted to know about the struggle with her mother, how she really felt about her mother and stepfather owning her life. I wanted to know about her marriage with Paul, how that really came to be, and her life in the movies.

      Overall, Platinum Doll is an engaging story of the famous blonde pin-up girl, Jean Harlow. The novel brings dimension to her life and is great book for those that are fans of the 20's and historical fiction.
    • 4/5
      PLATINUM DOLL is a novel based on actress Jean Harlow’s rise to fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the late 1920s, she goes to California as a teenage bride from the Midwest. The book follows her turbulent marriage to Chuck McGrew, and the struggles she had with her ruthless mother who pushed and pushed an acting career, not always having her best interest at heart.I enjoy reading about this era, and this book presents an intriguing and well-researched “slice of life” of a promising Golden Age starlet. I liked the author’s portrayal of Jean Harlow – part blonde bombshell, part book nerd – though I wish she would’ve had more of a backbone when it came to her mother. It was fun watching the clips referenced in the book, especially the Laurel & Hardy short “Double Whoopee.” The pacing was slow in spots, but overall it was a “swell” read, as Jean would say.Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      This is the first time that I have read anything by this author. I liked this author's writing style. She really brought to life Jean Harlow, Hollywood, the twenties, and the rest of the other famous movie stars during this time period. I have heard the name Jean Harlow but she was way before my time. Although after reading this book I plan to check out her movies. Plus, I did not know she was the one that influenced Marilyn Monroe. While they were married before the stardom and Chuck's drinking I really did feel the love between them and thought they made a cute couple. I blame a lot of Jean's naïve nature on her age, she let others push her around a lot like her mother. Also, Jean just had a good nature attitude about her. I now want to go back and read Madame Picasso.