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More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood

More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood

by Natasha Gregson Wagner

Scribner ·2020 ·304 pages ·Biography
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56/99
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60/99

Critics

Near the Top

52/99

Readers

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Scholars

55/99

Rating

66/99

Volume

62/99

Rating

42/99

Volume

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About This Book

The heartbreaking, never-before-told story of Hollywood icon Natalie Wood's glamorous life, sudden death, and lasting legacy, written by her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner.More Than Love is a memoir of loss, grief, and coming-of-age by a daughter of Hollywood royalty. Natasha Gregson Wagner's mother, Natalie Wood, was a child actress who became a legendary movie star, the dark-haired beauty of Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story. She and Natasha's stepfather, the actor Robert Wagner, were a Hollywood it-couple twice over, first in the 1950s, and then again when they remarried in the 70s. But Natalie's sudden death by drowning off Catalina Island at the age of forty-three devastated her family, made her stepfather a person of interest, and turned a vibrant wife, mother, and actress into a tragic figure. The events of that weekend have long been a mystery, and despite the rumors, scandalous media coverage, and accusations of wrongdoing, there has never been an account of how the tragedy was experienced by her daughter. For the first time Natasha addresses the questions surrounding that night to clear her beloved stepfather's name. More Than Love begins on the morning after her mother's death in November 1981 when eleven-year-old Natasha hears the news on the radio that her mother's body has been found off the coast of Catalina after her parents had spent the weekend on the family boat, The Splendour. From this profound and shattering loss, Natasha shares her memories of her earliest bonds with her mother; her warm, loving, and slightly chaotic childhood as the daughter of two stars; the lost and confused years of her adolescence; and her halting attempts to move forward as a young woman. Beautifully told, More Than Love is an emotionally powerful tale of a daughter coming to terms with her grief, as well as a riveting portrait of a famous mother and a vanished Hollywood.


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Reviews

"Wagner pulls no punches as she describes the repercussions of her mother's death ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"a loving but clear-eyed biography ..."

Kevin Howell· Shelf Awareness Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"And marvel that, four decades after Wood's death, her brand is still selling, and she herself is still hard at work."

Louis Bayard· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"And it's this love that comes through in this personal account that fans of old Hollywood will savor."

Candace Smith· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"opens and closes with the scene and the speculations surrounding the death of Natalie Wood, and naturally readers will appreciate those details."

Barbara Bamberger Scott· Bookreporter Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Fascinating as these details are, it is Wagner's sensitive, probing depiction of how she coped without Wood that makes for the most compelling reading in a book that celebrates both a brilliant actress and a bygone film era ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

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