sireno8's review
4.0
I ran across Peggy Hopkins Joyce in the film INTERNATIONAL HOUSE. She was playing herself, had top billing (over WC Fields) and everyone seemed to know who she was. Having never heard of her, I was intrigued. This book not only explain who she was but also why she was -- in glittering and giddy detail. It's refreshing to note that this current phenomena of reality tv "stars" is not a new thing--that PHJ was perhaps the first media created celebrity. The author gives depth and scope to her subject (no mean feat given PHJ's admitted shallowness) and returns her place in pop culture and social history. PHJ may not have had much more going on than her beauty and her need for attention but since her exploits seem more blatantly fortune hunting than merely headline grabbing, she comes across as a bit more savvy than our current crop of vapid Paris Hiltons and brainless Kardashians.
jlmb's review
3.0
Interesting book about the rise of the tabloid press's first star. Peggy was famous for being famous - for wearing designer clothes and dating rich guys and going to swanky nightclubs. She would have loved the twenty first century! Peggy should be considered Kim Kardashian's patron saint. The author of the book does a good job explaining how various developments in the early twentieth century paved the way for Peggy's fame to happen. The author was less successful writing a typical biography where the reader learns about the subject. Peggy remains an enigma to me; perhaps she remained an enigma to herself as well. She didn't seem like the most introspective type of person. This was a quick, entertaining read. Anyone interested in the culture of the twenties and thirties should read this book.
reviewsbylola's review
3.0
The biography of a once well-known jazz age icon, infamous for her numerous marriages.
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