Natalie Wood: Reflections on a Legendary Life (Turner Classic Movies) Hardcover – October 11, 2016

So before ordering this book I decided to read all the reviews first as there is no book store near me carrying it. Perusing through GoodReads, Barnes & Noble and Amazon I was struck by the overflowing positivity and placed my order. During the interim I noticed that customers on both Amazon and GoodReads added a couple of less favorable reviews albeit for completely opposite reasons. As far as I can tell no major outlets or sites have reviewed the book officially.The book arrived and after having a chance to thoroughly study it from cover to cover I thought I'd take the time to weigh in on the perceived shortcomings and positives of this fascinating work. Firstly, there seems to be some confusion as to what the book is supposed to be. It is first and foremost a "coffee table" book. "Coffee table" books are not meant to be biographies. Anyone buying a "coffee table" book expecting a biography is barking up the wrong tree. Amazon's blurb calls it a "family-authorized photographic study" -- This would not indicate a biography in any sense of the word. These kind of books are usually meant to be placed out in the open to be looked at and enjoyed for their imagery. That being said, there is a lot more text than usual in a book of this kind. However, one should note that the text is spread out in a non-narrative way. Basically, the author/contributors have placed different pieces throughout the length of it to lend a shorthand type approach to Natalie Wood's life. I found the text to be well researched and surprisingly informational. Text in books like this tend to border on the pedantic and at their worst more akin to a wikipedia entry. There is a touching foreword by RJ Wagner, followed by a well constructed introduction which should be read by everyone before writing a review, an engrossing essay explaining Natalie's journey from child star to movie star, a very long autobiographical piece written by Natalie about her life up until 1966, an extremely moving remembrance by Natasha Wagner (Natalie's first child), an extended interview with Natalie's private photographer and friend Michael Childers, a family album with captions by second child, Courtney Wagner, and finally a very short and odd afterword by film legend and Natalie co-star, Robert Redford. In between are light film synopsis and commentary about all the movies she made from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice". Another reviewer pointed out a lack of psychological insight inherent within the text and my only comment is that this is not a biography AND it is family authorized. I'm not sure why anyone would look to a "coffee table" book for insight and authorized books are notorious for leaving out any detrimental facts about their subjects. This isn't to say there is no insight in the book. Natalie's autobiographical piece has some. However, even that feels edited for length and obviously only goes up to 1966. The rest of the book outside of the family contributions feels more informational and less probing. In the end I believe that this book serves as a tribute. Of which there have never been any others to choose from. From that perspective is succeeds brilliantly.Moving on...It's a photo book so how does it look? It looks sensational. The quality is top rate throughout. Having been a collector on Natalie for years I'm aware of what is rare and what is not. There are more common photos than there are rare ones for ones in the know. However, most fans probably don't obsess over digital online images the way the super-fans do. I noticed some amazing images pop up on pinterest in the past few months and was surprised when I got the book that they had actually been scanned out of there. Nowadays, nothing stays rare for long once it's published. So maybe my view of the book was hindered slightly by the fact that a lot of the "new" never before seen shots were no longer "new" by the time the book arrived. Obviously the creators of the book had access to original negatives and transparencies as the quality of the imagery in most examples is superb and first rate. So many Running Press books look like garbage in comparison. Their Vivien Leigh book was all over the place image wise. Low quality copy photos or images seemingly taken directly from the Internet interspersed with high quality agency photos gave that book a schizophrenic feel.The size and page count of this book is definitely an issue. I'll still give the book 5 stars because it truly is a special one of a kind work but the publishers should be shot for blowing it in the size department. A couple of later sections feel cramped and we hardly get any TV photos or "on the town" candids. Natalie loved the public spotlight but this book is too small to include it all. Virtually all of her 70s output is on about 6 pages. For fans that grew up during those years this feels like a major oversight. However, I can tell the author tried their best to put in as much as possible while still making the layouts elegant. No easy task when relegated to 300 or so pages. Another reviewer quibbled about the size of a lot of the imagery. He mentioned contact sheets specifically. They are run bigger in the book than they appear in real life so I didn't take umbrage to that. However, all the grids in the later sections put me off a bit because some stellar shots were run much smaller when placed in groups on a page. This boils down to page count and size so for the super-fans that may be a bit of an issue. For me personally, I have been waiting for years for a book like this and it is much better than expected. I wish that any high end publisher besides Running Press had been behind it because their "star" books are often dreadful. Who can forget their terrible Bette Davis tome? This is a masterpiece by comparison. If only Taschen, Abrams or Harper Collins had done this I think everyone would be even more impressed. I imagine Running Press, TCM and their "brand" had a lot to do with all of this books shortcomings. That being said, it is amazing in spite of them. Bravo to all involved. This will be a book fondly collected and remembered for years to come. There has never been a movie star book quite like it.

What an exquisitely detailed biography and pictorial history of one of our most beautiful, cherished stars. From the stunning imagine of Natalie on the front jacket cover, the sweet images of her beloved butterflies on the front and back inside end papers and the behind-the-scenes image on the back cover – it’s just a delight for the senses. It’s so fortunate that Natalie saved almost every single clipping and memory. I don’t know if she ever put together her own proper scrapbook of her life, but she would be overwhelmed with this one – it is gorgeous.It was interesting to read how it all started - with a movie production coming to her sleepy little home town when she was only five years old and her showing up (with her mother) for a chance for a part in the film. The director spotted her in the crowd. A star was born.One of my favorite films of hers is WEST SIDE STORY. I’ve watched the scene “Dance at the Gym” a million times. When the world blurs away into the background and it is just Maria and Tony dancing – it takes your breath away. Matt Tunia’s details and background information about the making of this film were fascinating and brought it all to life for me.She was so full of life. I love photographer Michael Childers’ quote, “When Natalie walked in a room, it changed color.” You can really feel that as you turn the pages of this stunning and loving tribute to her.

Newly published last fall this is a spectacularly gorgeous book chronicling the life and career of Natalie Wood; Natalie Wood Reflections on a Legendary Life by Manoah Bowman (Running Press). Let me reiterate, it’s gorgeous. The subject is gorgeous and the book itself, laid out beautifully is stunning eye candy.Natalie Wood a child star, you might say child actress prodigy, who managed to successfully pass through puberty and become an even bigger star as an adult. Wood died at the tragically young age of 43. Her accidental drowning morphed into a tabloid story filled with ridiculous speculation and innuendo that almost instantaneously dwarfed and completely overshadowed Woods life and career. Much like Christina Crawford’s book Mommie Dearest had overshadowed and upended the legacy of Joan Crawford’s life and career, Wood’s life and death were tarnished by seemingly endless tabloid speculation. Crawford’s reputation has gradually recovered and her screen work is being reevaluated, as it should be. Now, the time has come for Natalie Wood to be remembered and her life and career reevaluated. Manoah Bowman’s thoughtful book does just that. His book reclaims her legacy to make Natalie Wood once again a human being and secondly a tribute a great star.This book is a very personal project, it is a unique project because Bowman had at his fingertips Natalie Wood’s personal papers, her vast archive that was maintained from day one of her film career. This book is also a project with Natalie’s family blessing, Robert Wagner and her daughters Natasha and Courtney.If you love photographic books, and I certainly do, this book is chockablock with rare glimpses into an extraordinary and ordinary life. A huge star who also embraced life off screen. If you are a fan of Wood, or any of her films, you will find this beautiful book enhances your opinion of Wood, her career, her life and how tragically brief it was. She shined then, and shines again in the pages of this gorgeous book. I think she would be very proud. This is a must have.

Ottimo libro bello ampio e corposo, begli inserti scritti dai familiari, fotografie strepitose. Per una delle più talentuose attrici americane di sempre, icona di stile e bellezza. Consigliabilissimo.

Es fantástico, grande y con muchas fotografías. El precio correcto y un gran regalo para fans de Natalie wood

This is a fantastic hardback book on the life of the beautiful Natalie Wood, illustrated with some really lovely photos from her early career & later. It was such a shame the way Natalie's life ended, to drown must be a terrible way to go. I have always admired Natalie she was a talented actress from such an early age, to blossom into the beauty that she was without question.I managed to buy this book a lot cheaper than it was originally priced, the reason being two pages were stuck together by an extra bit of paper. Out came the scissors, a bit of a snip & trim & you could hardly tell that there had been anything wrong at all. It is certainly a book I shall treasure & am grateful to add to my collection.

Un libro que cubre la vida completa de una bella e infortunada actriz. La gran cantidad de fotos bellamente impresas nos muestran lo mismo fotos de su infancia, adolescencia y amores así como todas y cada una de sus películas. Una pieza infaltable para todo aquel admirador de Natalie Wood y para todo aquel fanático del cine y de las estrellas mas bellas e interesantes de Hollywood.

This book really surprised me! I honestly wasn't expecting it to blow me away as much as it did (and this is based solely on appearances because I haven't had a chance yet to read through the entire thing). The book is thick, glossy and was obviously made with a lot of love. It's jam-packed with high quality photos - some of which I'd never even seen before!If you're a fan of classic film and of Natalie Wood I would definitely recommend you check this one out! It would make a lovely gift as well, considering how close it is to Christmas!