American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare

The entire title of this is American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, the Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee. Whew. Karen Abbott did a lot of research to write this 2010 biography of Gypsy Rose Lee. You may recall that Gypsy herself wrote an autobiography that was later turned into the stage and screen musicals of the same name. The problem with that was that Gypsy was a phenomenal editor of her own life. She, and others, considered her a storyteller and the story she wove the best was her own. Abbott gets into this in the introduction so that readers will understand why the Gypsy in her book is so different from the one Natalie Wood played.

And boy is she different. Gypsy was not a very nice lady, though she lived in a not terribly nice world. Rose is different too - her sister, June, talks about the revisionist history given to their mother. More than ambitious and driven, Rose is a parasite, a menacing and ruthless woman. No less than three murders are attributed to the woman. But it was Gypsy who said she could strip on that fateful night, not her mother. Gypsy was ambitious, just as ruthless and dedicated. No one can say she didn't work hard.

Abbott does her best to pull together a lot of information and dig out the truth from the miles of fiction. She uses primary sources (the entire last 1/8 of the book is references) and makes it clear where she's guessing at Gypsy's voice (it lacks quotations). You also get a look at the rise of Minsky and the changes in NYC from the 1920s through the 1960s. The book moves back and forth between the 1940s and early 1920s, then progresses until the two run into each other. You see Louise born, tossed aside and eventually brought back to center. You watch her terribly complicated and poisonous relationship with her mother, the different men in her life and her only sister.

In the end, I was very sad for Gypsy and the life she led. And for June. For pretty much everyone except for Rose. There isn't anything about her that makes me sympathetic, probably because of the way her children forever suffered for it, even after her death.

The book is excellent, really interesting. The woman led an interesting life, any telling of it would be interesting, but Abbott does a great job at making fact engaging. It's a tale of a different time and a truly complicated and amazing woman. Not a nice woman, not a kind woman, not a generous woman - but an amazing one.