"Mother, wife, princess...they were all roles, even if she hadn't fully digested the script when she accepted the part."
This fictionalized account of Grace Kelly, Hollywood icon and Monaco's Princess, is entertaining and informative while also acknowledging the liberties the author admits taking with Grace's life and times. Since we all live two-faced lives -- the one inside and the one the world sees -- it's always hard to know exactly what someone was thinking and feeling at a particular time. I always take any type of account or story of a person with a grain of salt. That said, this novel gives readers a glimpse into scenes that encompassed 33 years of Grace's life both as an actress and then as the wife of Prince Rainier. This was a different time and certainly a different world to now, but many of the themes of the ambitious woman who wants a successful career along with motherhood are addressed.
Frankly, what I felt for Grace Kelly -- other than admiration for her talent and drive -- was sympathy. At the brink of superstardom, she marries her prince but basically loses herself. It takes years before she starts carving a new niche for herself in the 1950s when women were still very much under the thumb of society thinking men were in charge. Grace gave up so much to be married to Prince Rainier and her life was not the fairy tale it must have seemed to all who watched her on the world stage.
I enjoyed reading this well-researched novelization that provides insight into this American film actress and now I have the strong urge to go look up and see the films as I think I'll view them in a different light now.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for this E-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series
Genre - historical fiction, Grace Kelly, novel not biography
No comments:
Post a Comment