Tom Rubython

Unless he assassinates a president or becomes one the life of an actor is essentially a frivolous subject; reading a biography of one is a guilty pleasure. Consequently I was surprised to see that there are ten other biographies of Burton. This author cites most of them so I see no need to read and compare them. However, Burton is the greatest actor who ever lived so I did read "Furious Love" about his tempestuous marriages to Elizabeth what's-her-name. The authors of the latter must have excised the good parts, as Howard Stern would say, about Burton's extramarital affairs in order to get access to Liz and/or her entourage. Either that or Rubython is wrong about Burton's sex life.… (mais)

Was hoping this would be the most comprehensive biography on Ayrton Senna, and thus the only biography of him I’d need, but unfortunately that’s not the case. My main problem with this book is the sloppy editing. The chapters didn’t flow into each other very well, and a lot of quotes were repeated, making it quite mundane to read (not to mention the frequent spelling errors). The part about Ayrton’s girlfriends was quite frankly embarrassing to read and the chapter on the trial after his death was way too long and elaborate. On top of that, the author was clearly biased in its writing, and I was hoping this biography would be written from a more objective point of view. What I did like were the photos by Keith Sutton that were included, which provided an image to the stories that were told. This was especially useful for a younger person like me who wasn’t alive when Ayrton was racing.

All in all, this book could’ve easily been reduced to around 400 pages instead of 600, making it a much easier read. I don’t understand why a rough draft like this has been republished several times after its release in 2004 and not been changed enough to produce a better quality. Wouldn’t recommend it.… (mais)

At 812 pages it is less than Gone with the Wind (which is 1037 pages) yet at 2 ½ inches thick, it is ½ inch thicker than GWTW. This makes the book a little unwieldly to hold while reading it. However, the book is a real page turner and a very complete book on Richard Burton’s life. The author does point out other biographies of Burton and where those authors reported information incorrectly. However, the book does have some errors. Page 241 mentions a Bogart film the author calls “In a Lone Place” when the actual title was “In a Lonely Place”. On page 299 and 365 the author incorrectly spells Katharine Hepburn’s name as Katherine but it is spelled correctly on page 483. On page 380 the author indicated that Burton was filming in Petersburg, Alaska in the “height of winter” yet August is summer in Alaska. The author also had a habit of writing over and over again, “Burton met an actress called (name)”, Burton worked with an actor called (name)” or “Burton met a playwright called (name)” – The use of the word “called” was awkward and become more and more annoying with each occurrence. At the end of the book the author failed to tie up the loose ends and tell us what happened to Burton’s siblings, his ex-wives, or even the children he so loved that were Elizabeth Taylor’s. Otherwise it is well written and hard to put down and the photos were fantastic. If you want to know about Richard Burton, this is a good book to read.… (mais)