|
From:Christopher Ciccone , Wendy Leigh , Simon Spotlight Entertainment ,
|
See Product Page
|
User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#3909 |
| | Page: << 1 ... 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 ... 39 >> |
4 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 All the Things We Never Talked About..., 2008-07-20
Christopher explains how he comes from a very religious family that never talked about anything... Especially after their mother's death. Madonna held reign. Simply, she had their mother's name and her father saw her mother in her eyes and face. Madonna never had to be accountable, because this was a family that didn't talk. They were sent, instead, to the church, for confession.
The new stepmother was intimated by Madonna. And then, there was the problem of the stolen Angel Food Cake - who took it? Any brother such as Christopher, who would be willing to take a week's-long punishment for a cake he didn't steal? can't be all bad.
Madonna invited him into her secret life on the premise that she also knew he had a secret... He was gay. This is a story about how things come full-circle in people's lives. Christopher blindly trusted his sister for most of his life, due to the fact that he saw, and still does, see her as being a Good Catholic Girl. Christopher tells his own story, of meeting Madonna in New York, going out to clubs with her, being invited to dance by her side in her first video, Luck Star. He was there for all the early tours as her left-hand man, traveling the world with her to make sure she was safe. She also had him design her shows and decorate 8 of her houses. Other biographers and Madonna, herself, will have you believe that Madonna was a maverick of her own self-invention. No one really paid attention to her brother backstage (unless to think of him as Madonna's Brother, a shadow of her). Now you know the truth.
Sure, throughout his 20's and 30's, Christopher made enough money to survive on. He didn't care because he loved his sis and was having a great time!
Imagine how he must of felt when Truth or Dare was being made... And Madonna outed him publicly to the entire world as an alleged alcoholic and a definite homosexual.
Imagine what it must have been like to witness Madonna reveling in his ideas, taking personal credit for all the help and faith he was showing in their friendship. Madonna slowly eased him out of her existence by setting up arguments with him, refusing to PAY HIM a real salary. He made the mistake of presuming his sister was his best friend. Repeatedly.
Finally, imagine what it must be like to have to take second place to her husband, a homophobic, who attempts to run over your foot with his car. Then denies it.
All the things we never talked about... Christopher has now gotten down on the page and created a record that is long overdue.
8 of 15 customers found the following review helpful:
 He has a tale to tell, 2008-07-19
I'm not one to write a review, but i feel i must do so after reading this book, if only to clear my mind as to what i just soaked in.
I have been a HUGE Madonna fan since she started out over 25 years ago.
After reading this book by her brother Christopher, i am still a Madonna fan, and i probably always will be.
This book does not uncover any deep dark secrets, or has he said in a morning show "uncover any dead bodies anywhere".
It's not really a fascinating read. It is almost as if i am listening to a bunch of bitter babble.
As one reviewer wrote, after the first door slam in my face, famous sister or not...i would never have gone back for more. No Matter how bad i wanted into the industry my sister was in and how bad i sought fame like her....if she or anyone for that matter was to treat me in a way i thought was unfair...i would have removed myself from the situation immediately and went on with my own life. I would have never went back for more and more and more and more.
Christopher did this all to himself, and i wanted to feel sorry for him, but i can't.
He was making a decent living with his sister, maybe not what you would expect from someone with the finances as Madonna to pay...but still 100,000 or more for a few tours is ALOT of money.
He wasted alot of his earnings. Why would anyone give 100,000 to an ex-boyfriend just because he felt he had to ?? That is stupid !
If i were him, i would have not lived so star-like (cause he was not a star) and just lived life comfortably, and in his own way he would have been set for life.
He goes on to state his drug habit throughout this tale, and he also brings many other celebrities down with him. Something i am sure he may get sued over in the long run, yet he never mentions his boyfriends by their real names, but has no problem in outing other celebs that have drug habits. Yet is livid when Madonna outs him to a gay magazine.
That just does not add up Christopher, you did to them exactly what she did to you, and you hated her for it. You are no better.
Having read the book in a few days, i did enjoy having an insight into my favorite icon's life.
It is no shock that she is a control freak, spoiled, arrogant, self-righteous person. None whatsoever. No Shock there at all.
I liked knowing what went on behind the scenes at some of her Best Tours, Blond Ambition and The Girlie Show.
I was under a false impression that Truth or Dare was a real documentary and not staged as Christopher states, but part of me is not shocked by that insight either.
What did impress me, is the fact that Madonna remains a drug and alcohol free MEGA STAR ! and to that i give her much deserved credit.
Since she joined Kaballah and has since married Guy, i could tell she has become more of a phony do-gooder celebrity.
I don't buy any of it, i never did...but i still go on loving her, cause as far as a show-woman (and she does give 100% every show) there is no one that can come close to this woman.
Even if she is a fake person, she is NOT a fake showman !
All in all, the book was just OK (3 stars)
and Christopher and Madonna still have a lot of growing up to do.
Thank You
4 of 5 customers found the following review helpful:
A great, inside story of an icon gone bad., 2008-07-19
I heard about this book and after reading an excerpt, had to get it. I am not the biggest Madonna fan, but as an icon shes been around forever, and I thought this would be an interesting inside view, and it was. Christopher's view was an honest, only brother would know picture of Madonna. It was well written and very interesting. It is very thorough, going from their middle class childhood through the humble beginnings and various incarnations of Madonna. It shows that the family was pretty dysfunctional, having lost their mother at an early age, the 8 siblings are very detached from one another. No mention of her late mother is ever spoken about in the home. Its like she just vanished one day. Their father remarries, and initially no one warms to her, the "evil" stepmother, although in years to come Madonna is exactly like her. Even more disturbing is finding out 99% of Truth or Dare was staged and isn't a true documentary at all. At one point Madonna and Christopher go to their mothers grave in the cemetary and the Truth or Dare film crew mysteriously show up to film it. Christopher is incensed and refuses to use their mother in that way. She basically uses her dead mother as an extra in her movie. Madonna of course, is only too happy to be filmed crying at the gravesite and performing all kinda of theatrics for the film. Madonna becomes close to Christopher in their 20's when they bond over dance lessons and an interest in the arts. That takes them on journeys to Nyc and beyond, playing club dates and having Madonna do whatever she needed to do to have her demo played in the clubs. It's sad to see that someone as fortunate and as successful as Madonna totally abandones her family financially when she makes it and continues to do so. Christopher suggested at one point that she help pay off their grandma's house because she's struggling and she had a big hand in raising them after their mother died. Madonna refuses and only sends her $500 a month to help with bills. What the hell?? The house in Michigan was prob a dollar and she couldn't pay it off?? Several times in his life, Christopher gives up his entire life- jobs, apartments, etc to run to Madonna when she beckons for him to work for her or live with her, just to have him go all the way there and shes like "Never mind, I already hired someone else". What??? Her lack of empathy is appalling. Madonna would have times where she wouldnt pay him for jobs he did for her. She would conive him out of money consistently, when all he wanted was a "normal" relationship with his sister and family. Its sad overall because Christopher has virtually no relationship with his niece and nephews, and obviously he and Madonna dont talk anymore either. She's just a mess as a human being. It's obvious the religious teachings of Kabbalah are wasted on her by the way she treats her family and close friends. It's all about Madonna, what can be done to further launch Madonna, and what she can use people for. She is completely all about herself and all I know is that England can have her. She didn't even adopt her son David with the best intentions in mind. It all stinks of a PR stunt. "Look at me, Im single handedly saving Africa"... In the end, I'm sure when she gets to the gates of heaven, she'll find out that treating your family horribly for years and years, and being an overall miserable person won't be washed out by adopting an orphan and making it look good and sincere. Karma's indeed a bitch and I'd love to live to see her get hers.
5 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
 Desperate, Self-Centered, An Unworthy Read, 2008-07-19
Madonna's younger brother writes a biography about himself with his experiences and feelings of living in the shadow of her lime light. If you've ever had an uncle who is stuck in a time period of the past, Christopher Ciccone seems to be still missing the wild days of the 80's and early 90's that had left him long ago. The truth is, this book is about Ciccone, who recalls working for Madonna and celebrating her lifestyle as his own until he was spit out circa her marrying Guy Ritchie. Ciccone displays his sister as a self-centered woman on a power trip. However, the read comes off as pathetic and smothered with an underlying truth the (clearly the author does not understand he reveals) Christopher Ciccone is a lonely, tasteless homosexual man who's seven-degree celebrity has left him rejected by his family, aboard no higher than a Hollywood Z-List status, and obviously confused about his own self-worth without being compared to his sister. It is a sort Madonna's "I've given my little brother a job, security, friendship... and all I got was this lousy book written about me." After reading bits about The Material Girl's personal endeavors, Christopher's grain-of-salt excuses for their withered relationship, and stories full of holes and irregularities, you will understand why the Ciccones are not a famous family: Christopher is simply nowhere near the interest of his sibling.
3 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
 Indifferent?, 2008-07-19
The title of this review pretty much sums it up. This is my first time ever writing a review on anything (book, cd, etc.) I feel compelled to. I'm not sure why, though. Anyhow, I was not expecting to read this book for everything the press said it would be, I wasn't interested in harming the "glorified" image I have of Madonna. YES, I AM A HUGE FAN!. Anyhow, I read a few excerpts over the internet and I have to admit it intrigued me. So much, that I rushed to ge the book. The truth needed to come out! I pretty much knew everything the book says about Madonna (insecure, egomaniac, etc.) I just chose to ignore it and focus on her music.
Interestingly, Ciccone spends the majority of the book detailing very specific financial amounts between work they conducted for each other (or rather him for her.) He spends a good majority making himself the marter when, sadly, it was always his choice to return to her "grip." Woes me, woes me, etc.
I could not put the book down! It's like someone telling you something about yourself that you know but dont want to hear. Its juicy. In particular, for me, I enjoy reading about the tour set ups, costume designs, crazy drug parties with the "famous people", and locations I have been to. In fact, I was at certain locations when either Madonna was with Christopher (I would have spelled it Chris, but he doesnt like that), or he with his celebrity friends and it is always nice to identify with something someone in the spotlight mentions.
I wonder, though, did Chris(topher) write this book himself or did he turn his personal memoirs in to Wendy Leigh whom he contributes as someone this book could not have been met to fruition. The vocabulary in this book is advanced, and I appreciate that. I just hope they came from him. This is, however, HIS memoir! A great read nonetheless; I say so because I did not want to "judge" Madonna on her personal life and this book made me think twice (or maybe even three times!)
|
| Page: << 1 ... 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 ... 39 >> |
|