I approached this book with some trepidation. Did I want to read about someone with an obsession about Judy Garland? It was only because I had read all of Susie Boyt's other books (all brilliant) that I pitched in. From her childhood, we already know her hero-worship for the star. It's true, there is a superb piece about when Susie is a child. And a section about Judy's trials of dieting and hunger. Unfortunately my notes seem to be a jumble, but that is rather like the structure of the book. It's not all about Judy. There are sometimes peripheral stuff like the passage "Three things that have consoled me at low moments". So the book is part memoir, part biography and part musings about fame, hero-worship. All with references to Judy along the way. There are lots about Judy's struggles with mental issues and visits to all sorts of analysts. The author pulls no punches about how difficult Judy could be.
Let me include this extract from halfway through that might demonstrate how the book is formed: "Devotion, devotion of a general nature, devotion even in the abstract, is a feeling I know well. It's one I enjoy. "It's All For You" Judy sings, and as I listen I think, Yes of course! That is as it should be! i like all forms of extravagance. Sometimes it seems to me that the most authentic kind of human interaction is saving someone's life. Yet occasionally, when I listen to this song (lots on you tube), it strikes me rather differently. This song doesn't always make me think of the people I love best. It doesn't even make me think of the people who love me more than they love anyone else, and there are a few of them. No, "It's All For You" can make me think of all the people I never came first with and of the times in my life when none of it was for me at all". And so on.
At a meeting with Liza Minnelli, Susie talks about books and is asked what sort, the reply is "black comedies about relationships ..... they're rather dark I'm afraid". Don't be, Susie, their darkness is brilliant. The author talks about Judy's husbands. She was Sid Luft's third wife. "Sid Luft was a man of considerable human charm but one of the great fourth-rate human beings of all time". In the chapter "Are you a Good Fan or a Bad Fan" we hear a good deal about the films in which Judy appeared. But the section about fans was not so good. Or in "The End of the Road" the visit to Judy's final resting place with her Judy friend Marc. In the final chapter "Encore, Encore", Susie has an arranged meeting with another ex-husband, Mickey Rooney. In a plush hotel they burst into song with "Our Love Affair" from the musical "Strike Up The Band". This is a writer who is not afraid to admit she thought it was from "Girl Crazy".
The book ends with a show called "Night on the Town" where Susie is invited to talk about Judy, answer questions and sing one song. We go full circle with a young Susie taking 2,000 dance lessons until her mother refuses to let her go on the stage. Fortunately. There are some great photos of the star, in one she is dancing with Lucille Ball with arms outstretched. But in the end, the book defies categorisation. Mostly very interesting, always beautifully written.
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