Reviews

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by

shauna_shaunee_maher's review against another edition

4.0

Where to even begin, this book is just a glimpse into the world of the film industry, the harsh reality of what women working in the industry in the 40's to present day face. Credit where credit is due is thrown out the window! Milicent Patrick is just one of many people that had their marvelous creations claimed by someone else. This book is full of movie history, and I would recommend it to any movie or costume fan out there. Disney even makes an appearance!
As a student studying costume design and makeup, this book hurt my heart to read at times. however I did enjoy it, the author used humor where it was needed and I could really feel how much Mallory wanted to share Milicent's story with the world. The book now sits proudly with my costuming books to remind me that I can be myself unapologetically and to follow my passion just like Milicent.

Thank you @Aaron Lockhart for gifting me this book and for always believing in me and my dreams.

ryanlee's review against another edition

Not for me

alceriniel's review against another edition

informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

I would have enjoyed this book far more without the author adding in her personal stories and conflating TQIA+ fluff with Feminism. If you are writing a story about someone else, whose entire story revolves around women in film focus on that person and that struggle. I am not here to listen to the author talk about her tattoos or how she thought she dressed as a cat burglar when she went to a Mormon archive. 

Also, when a book is about the struggles of women, saying the words "woman-identifying" is a slap in the face to all of the women who actually fought for equality. You don't get to identify out of the material reality of womanhood and what that entails, and you don't get to identify into it either.

madzsmiled's review against another edition

funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Mallory O'Meara turns a light to one of the most influential women in horror, one that only recently is getting her dues. Milicent Patrick is an inspiration to me as a film professional and horror fan, and I'm delighted to finally read her story. O'Meara handles her complicated life with such compassion and love. I loved this book so much. 

ksheaffs's review against another edition

informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

brianareads's review against another edition

informative inspiring fast-paced

4.5

katrenalove's review against another edition

4.0

This book was extremely interesting to me. It is well written in a sort of conversational tone while still giving the read a wealth of information and history to mull over. I think that it is extremely important that books like this one are becoming more readily available, books that focus on the people that often get overlooked by the history books due to their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or really any other reason. I don't like horror movies or anything scary but this book made me want to watch A Creature from the Black Lagoon and she what was being discussed through out the book. I would recommend this book to any horror fans, classic monster groupies, history nerds, cinephiles, artisitic souls, feminists and more.

excellent_taste's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

slanderoid's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

alyssa2012's review against another edition

5.0

I loved how the author took us on her research journey and showed us why she was so determined to write this book about a woman that she adored. This story highlights many of the problems that women faced in the early 1900's and today. It shows that as a society we have not advanced as much as we should have in terms of gender and racial equality. Mallory showed us how hard and tiring researching a subject with little to no guide can be. We saw how women were pushed out of jobs because men felt intimidated by them. How the work of women were being credited to others. This book is exactly what we needed in 2019 to show just how important the #metoo movement and others like it are.