Monday, 7 September 2009

Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier - Book 59, 2009

Title: Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Biography
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Gerald: A Portrait is an amazing biography in its own right, painting a picture of a successful, celebrated and complex actor and theatre manager who rose to the top of his profession in early 20th Century UK. It is hard to believe that such an entertaining and insightful biography, written in the style of a third-person novel, could have been written in four short months after his death - let alone by a 27-year-old and let alone by his own daughter. A charming and entertaining man, Gerald was completely self-obsessed, narcissistic, childlike and in many ways a very difficult man to live with. du Maurier does not shrink from portraying the more difficult aspects of her father's character, but she does so sympathetically and also celebrates his many triumphs.

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