A review by ticroner
The Stars in Our Eyes: The Famous, the Infamous, and Why We Care Way Too Much about Them by Julie Klam
1.0
I waffled about whether or not this deserved a higher rating, since the writing wasn't unbearable and it was a relatively breezy read. Ultimately, though, I gave it one star because it adds next to nothing to the conversation it sets out to have.
The subtitle seemed to promise a thoughtful, thoroughly researched, and well-argued exploration of fame and celebrity. That is not what I got. Many of the chapters included "interviews" with "celebrities," which really served no other purpose than to illustrate how well-connected Klam believes herself to be. She spends a chapter on reality TV-generated celebrities recapping a binge-watching session with her television-loving aunt, squandering an opportunity to really explore a fascinating subset of fame and notoriety. She covers the public's fascination with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's divorce by talking about how hard *she* took it, even recounting how she had to talk it through with her therapist - without really trying to examine WHY those emotions existed in the first place.
By the end of this book, I was hoping that Klam would answer the question set forth in her subtitle: why do we care way too much about celebrities? She didn't. I left this book with nothing more than I had going into it, other than the warm feeling I got while reading about another person's memory of a pleasant subway ride with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The subtitle seemed to promise a thoughtful, thoroughly researched, and well-argued exploration of fame and celebrity. That is not what I got. Many of the chapters included "interviews" with "celebrities," which really served no other purpose than to illustrate how well-connected Klam believes herself to be. She spends a chapter on reality TV-generated celebrities recapping a binge-watching session with her television-loving aunt, squandering an opportunity to really explore a fascinating subset of fame and notoriety. She covers the public's fascination with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's divorce by talking about how hard *she* took it, even recounting how she had to talk it through with her therapist - without really trying to examine WHY those emotions existed in the first place.
By the end of this book, I was hoping that Klam would answer the question set forth in her subtitle: why do we care way too much about celebrities? She didn't. I left this book with nothing more than I had going into it, other than the warm feeling I got while reading about another person's memory of a pleasant subway ride with Philip Seymour Hoffman.