Reviews

Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein

gbliss's review against another edition

2.0

What happens when you assign the foremost practitioner of the informal essay in America to write about the greatest male dancer of the 20th century? A disappointing book. Epstein is a master essayist. I have read and loved many of his essay collections. This book might have made a very nice addition to his output of essays, but weighing in at --short -- book-length the strength and charm and appeal is lost, watered down, diluted. This book suffers from the flaws often found in long-form writing of those whose real strength forte writing is the short-form -- repetition of ideas, phrases, references, a sense that certain topics and sections are padded out to meet the demand of filling a while book.

But it DID make me want to see some of the old movies again, so it can't be all bad.

bowienerd_82's review against another edition

2.0

This was a simple, shallow, and not particularly informative biography. Epstein spent far too much time discussion his opinions on Fred Astaire's looks and not enough time on facts and critical analysis. Also, I was disappointed at the lack of photographs.

little_binney's review

3.0

I initially picked up this book thinking I would be picking up a biography on the great Fred Astaire. I was a touch disappointed to see that this was intact not the case. While this book gives interesting insight into Astaire's work and his personal character, it does little in the way of providing any biographical insight into him and his life. While I admit it was an interesting series of essays to read, that's all it was in the end.