Home Books As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy

As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy

As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy

by Alice Sedgwick Wohl

Farrar, Straus and Giroux ·2022 ·272 pages ·Biography
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
36/99
Near the Top

52/99

Critics

Bottom of the Pile

20/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

27/99

Rating

77/99

Volume

8/99

Rating

33/99

Volume

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About This Book

The story of the model, actress, and American icon Edie Sedgwick is told by her sister with empathy, insight, and firsthand observations of her meteoric life. As It Turns Out is a family story. Alice Sedgwick Wohl is writing to her brother Bobby, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1965, just before their sister Edie Sedgwick met Andy Warhol. After unexpectedly coming across Edie's image in a clip from Warhol's extraordinary film Outer and Inner Space, Wohl was moved to put her inner dialogue with Bobby on the page in an attempt to reconstruct Edie's life and figure out what made Edie and Andy such iconic figures in American culture. What was it about Andy that enabled him to anticipate so much of contemporary culture? Why did Edie draw attention wherever she went? Who exactly was she, who fascinated Warhol and captured the imagination of a generation? Wohl tells the story as only a sister could, from their childhood on a California ranch and the beginnings of Edie's lifelong troubles in the world of their parents to her life and relationship with Warhol within the silver walls of the Factory, in the fashionable arenas of New York, and as projected in the various critically acclaimed films he made with her. As Wohl seeks to understand the conjunction of Edie and Andy, she writes with a keen critical eye and careful reflection about their enduring impact. As It Turns Out is a meditation addressed to her brother about their sister, about the girl behind the magnetic image, and about the culture she and Warhol introduced.


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Reviews

"Unflinching in its honesty, Wohl's memoir provides a disquieting glimpse into one family in America's privileged class, a family made worthy of examination because one of its members — whose presence lives on luminously in her films — remains a source of fascination more than 50 years after her death ..."

Paul Alexander· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Wohl has maintained what seems a cool remove from this difficult sister, learning her precise birth date from a 2015 Vogue article and expressing surprise that the magazine was still celebrating Edie."

Alexandra Jacobs· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Wohl's book is not a recollection or a mere revision but rather an attempt to understand the intense attention, even obsession, with Edie and Andy, and how their pairing anticipated the age of the influencer ..."

Jessica Ferri· Los Angeles Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"This is a good recommendation for those who like to read about family dynasties, the mid-century modern New York art world, or people who have a lasting fifteen minutes of fame."

Amanda Ray· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"In this sensitive, deeply considered chronicle, Wohl offers a fresh and incisive look at Edie's headline-grabbing adventures with Warhol, her superstar power, and their symbiotic relationship while also musing on Warhol's prescient anticipation of our obsession with images."

Donna Seaman· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Wohl is not just interested in examining Edie as a cultural icon; she also seeks to expose their family's dark side ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

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