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emkral22's review against another edition
4.0
This was so good. I listened to the audiobook (12 hours) over a weekend and was totally sucked in. The first part of the book talks about Sumner Redstone, head of CBS and Viacom, and the Succession-esque fight for who would succeed him, as well as the way he was manipulated and taken advantage of by his girlfriend/caregivers (TW: elder abuse descriptions are very dark here) while the second part of the book follows the #MeToo accusations against Les Moonves and how he tried to cover them up so he wouldn’t have to lose control of CBS. I love a fascinating nonfiction audiobook and would recommend this to people who enjoyed Empire of Pain, Catch and Kill, and similar.
javertin's review against another edition
3.75
Wow. So this was a wild ride. I thought there was no way this story could get any more scandalous, but between Holland and Herzer and the elder abuse, Dauman's attempted coup, Shari's back and forth in good graces, Sumner's weird relationship with his family, Les Moovnes and #MeToo, the attempt from the board to oust the Redstones and their power from CBS...it was crazy! There were so many times I had to look people up on Google to put faces to names and remind myself this was all real and it happened. Seriously a soap opera, no wonder it inspired Succession.
There was so much going on, and so many depictions of the bad parts of humanity and greed and selfishness. I just hope that the people involved learned from all this...cause yikes. There were a few times you could tell the author's opinions and leanings, which was also interesting.
There was so much going on, and so many depictions of the bad parts of humanity and greed and selfishness. I just hope that the people involved learned from all this...cause yikes. There were a few times you could tell the author's opinions and leanings, which was also interesting.
wrycounsel's review against another edition
2.0
I got about six chapters in and it's not the book I thought I was getting.
Basically I feel too numbed out to continue reading about all the gold diggers that this unhinged, too-rich old man kept buying with multi million dollar houses and high end cars and gifts in millions of stocks. In this post Epstein age, a lecherous old rich fart who actually gave valuable goods and large lump sums of cash to the younger (they were mostly middle aged but younger than him by decades) women he diddled seems quite gentlemanly, since we know more and more about Jeffrey Epstein who straight up raped minors and then turned them into pimps when he was done with them. The women who had courtesan for pay relationships with Sumner Redstone at least actually got paid.
It's just that I have nothing to learn and no joy to gain from reading stories that all blend into each other about ex-models who let a gross, emotionall desperate old man feel them up for millions of dollars per grope because they all seem so hideous together.
I have no idea why this book and this topic were deemed by the NYTimes to be such a notable topic, but for the fact that people in media think that what they do is the most important and interesting thing (it isn't) and I guess white men like fantasizing about what it would be like to be rich enough to do bad things to women and get away with it. Well sure, ok, yeah. Do that over there. I'm not spending any more time on this.
Basically I feel too numbed out to continue reading about all the gold diggers that this unhinged, too-rich old man kept buying with multi million dollar houses and high end cars and gifts in millions of stocks. In this post Epstein age, a lecherous old rich fart who actually gave valuable goods and large lump sums of cash to the younger (they were mostly middle aged but younger than him by decades) women he diddled seems quite gentlemanly, since we know more and more about Jeffrey Epstein who straight up raped minors and then turned them into pimps when he was done with them. The women who had courtesan for pay relationships with Sumner Redstone at least actually got paid.
It's just that I have nothing to learn and no joy to gain from reading stories that all blend into each other about ex-models who let a gross, emotionall desperate old man feel them up for millions of dollars per grope because they all seem so hideous together.
I have no idea why this book and this topic were deemed by the NYTimes to be such a notable topic, but for the fact that people in media think that what they do is the most important and interesting thing (it isn't) and I guess white men like fantasizing about what it would be like to be rich enough to do bad things to women and get away with it. Well sure, ok, yeah. Do that over there. I'm not spending any more time on this.
emiliemaya's review against another edition
4.0
Riveting listen but why was it so unquestionably defensive of Shari?