tlavideo.com

richard (Rokit9@aol.com) wrote on 01/04/2003:

This book reads with all the passion that the ingredients on a box of powdered milk does. Soares does not seem to ever build any tension or personality with any of the people in the book. It's poorly written and boring. This is unfortunate because I waited for a book on Novarro for a long time and was bored silly by the haphazard way the story was told, the lack of interest in the subject that the author, Andre Soares, wrote about and how little he knew about Novarro's personal life. The only thing dramatic about the book was the cover and Andre Soare had nothing to do with that, now did he?
Though he states that Mr. Novarro went to parties and had movie star friends yet there is never an instance when he goes into any detail or has any inside information of interest. For instance, Novarro was friends with Gloria Swanson but there are no passages that mention where they met, what they did together or why they were friends. Near the end of the book he mentions they played cards together for years and that was that! I didn't even know that they knew each other until Ramon's life was almost over and yet they were both part of the Hollywood scene since the 1910s.
It's basically the same with all the movie stars he hung out with. They're never placed in situations though they are mentioned as friends. With the stable of stars that Ramon knew there really should have been some fun stuff written about them, instead there is nothing! Yawn!
It's the same with Ramon's lovers, I never had any real indication what the relation was about or why they were initially attracted to each other. Soare places them at location shoots but never are any intimate details displayed. As a matter of fact, the author cannot even state for sure whether most of Novarro's lovers were really lovers or just friends. Double Yawn!
In nearly every movie Ramon did, including Ben-Hur, the author mentions how overweight Novarro was, which gets annoying by the hundredth time he writes that. OK, Andre Soare thought Novarro was fat, I got it, but to have it repeated over and over again seemed like mere filler after a while.
Over all, this book is in need of a good editor and a writer who knows more about Novarro's life than what is written here. I came away with a dull headache.