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A review by zefrog
Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star by Eddie Muller, Tab Hunter
3.0
Disclaimer: This is possibly the first autobiography I've ever read. It's not a genre I'm normally interested in and I only picked this up because it's been selected by my reading group.
Quite surprisingly, Tab Hunter Confidential turned out to be an enjoyable page turner for me. The tone of the book is very conversational, as if Hunter was chatting directly with the reader, and the charm that is possibly one of the causes of his success as a film star, certainly transpires throughout the book.
The pace is quite fast and, despite the largely repetitive nature of the material (I got involved with that film with those people, here is an anecdote, that's how the film did), the book is never boring and sustains the reader's interest.
I feel however that the title should have been "Tab Hunter Superficial". Not only were Hunter's looks a major factor in his success, something we are consistently reminded of at least in the first part of the book, the vast majority of the material covered here is almost certainly already in the public domain. There is in fact very little here that appears to be (or have been, at any time) confidential at all.
And this is to me the big failure of the book. We learn about the circumstances of Hunter's life (or rather his career) but there is little about his personality or the most important relationships in his live. People that count, that he claims to be close with, get cursory mentions from time to time but that's about it.
An odd element of the book is Hunter's treatment of his sexuality. Although he claims to be relaxed and open about it, his sexual orientation (and its manifestations) only receives sporadic mentions. There are what we must assume are a few male partners but we are told little of what interests him in them, particularly in the first 2/3 of the book. He does become a little more forthcoming towards the end.
As a stark opposite, Hunter waxes lyrical about a good number of women (usually co-stars) he "dates" along the years, describing how attracted he is to them and what great relationships they are having, the way a straight man would go on with love interests, to the point of becoming confusing.
Coupled with his use twice of the word "fag" to characterise some people he met, this can only lead the reader to ask themselves questions about how at ease with himself Hunter really was.
This is of course an autobiography, which of course raises the spectre of the unreliable narrator. But Hunter had a writing to help him in his endeavour who should have been able to steer things towards something a better balanced and, yes, informative.
Having read this book, I certainly know about Hunter's career, I'm not sure I know that much about Hunter the man.
Quite surprisingly, Tab Hunter Confidential turned out to be an enjoyable page turner for me. The tone of the book is very conversational, as if Hunter was chatting directly with the reader, and the charm that is possibly one of the causes of his success as a film star, certainly transpires throughout the book.
The pace is quite fast and, despite the largely repetitive nature of the material (I got involved with that film with those people, here is an anecdote, that's how the film did), the book is never boring and sustains the reader's interest.
I feel however that the title should have been "Tab Hunter Superficial". Not only were Hunter's looks a major factor in his success, something we are consistently reminded of at least in the first part of the book, the vast majority of the material covered here is almost certainly already in the public domain. There is in fact very little here that appears to be (or have been, at any time) confidential at all.
And this is to me the big failure of the book. We learn about the circumstances of Hunter's life (or rather his career) but there is little about his personality or the most important relationships in his live. People that count, that he claims to be close with, get cursory mentions from time to time but that's about it.
An odd element of the book is Hunter's treatment of his sexuality. Although he claims to be relaxed and open about it, his sexual orientation (and its manifestations) only receives sporadic mentions. There are what we must assume are a few male partners but we are told little of what interests him in them, particularly in the first 2/3 of the book. He does become a little more forthcoming towards the end.
As a stark opposite, Hunter waxes lyrical about a good number of women (usually co-stars) he "dates" along the years, describing how attracted he is to them and what great relationships they are having, the way a straight man would go on with love interests, to the point of becoming confusing.
Coupled with his use twice of the word "fag" to characterise some people he met, this can only lead the reader to ask themselves questions about how at ease with himself Hunter really was.
This is of course an autobiography, which of course raises the spectre of the unreliable narrator. But Hunter had a writing to help him in his endeavour who should have been able to steer things towards something a better balanced and, yes, informative.
Having read this book, I certainly know about Hunter's career, I'm not sure I know that much about Hunter the man.