A fairytale life? In this provocative memoir, Susanna Moore details the challenges she faced as a 17 year old orphan, sent to live with her grandmother in Philadelphia in the 1970's. Her brush with show biz and fame is explored and readers will appreciate her resilience in the face of so many struggles. A captivating book, it will hook you from the first page.

Susanna Moore's memoir is a funny, moving account of a young model and sometimes actress who depends on her good looks and personality to succeed. She grows up in the 60's, a pivotal time in history, making for a fascinating read.

Susanna Moore received a phone call one day saying that (without any pageant) had been selected to be Miss Aluminum. She made but one appearance at a boat show in a shimmering aluminum outfit before ending her reign. Aluminum is described as light in weight, ductile, malleable and not readily corroded. This is a perfect description for Susanna Moore who has lived a very interesting and diverse life, morphing and bending throughout the years. With the good and the bad, she seemed to repel any corrosion and found her way. Moore grew up in Hawaii with many brothers and sisters. Her mother died when she was quite young and the loss of her mother and trying to understand it are a large part of the memior. After leaving her family and living with her grandmother for a few years, she embarked on a glamourous life living on the fringes of society and Hollywood.

When selecting this title I thought Susanna Moore was an actress. She did act in a few minor roles but realized acting was not her talent. She enjoyed writing and mentions often the notebooks where she was constantly scribbling her thoughts. It was interesting to hear about actors such as Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson, for whom she was a script reader. I did not recognize most of the names of the people she spent a lot of time with however. There is some description that explains their notoriety but most was lost on me such as a brief description of Hamilton Fish at the end of the book. I realized she had many women in her life that she looked up to as mother figures. Fashion also played a large part in her life - from modeling, to working at Bergdorfs, to wearing designer clothes that were gifted to her through the years.

If you are a fan of the 50's to 70's and loved Mad Men this is a memoir that you will enjoy.

I was intrigued by the description of this one but just could not get into it... I saw another review call the writing disjointed - that's as good a descriptor as any. It felt like the book started somewhere in the middle of a story and that feeling never went away, no matter how many pages I read. It felt like a bland disinterested recitation of events rather than a memoir, and I wasn't able to finish.

Her story was compelling. The things she went through and the adversity she faced head on makes her admirable. People should be idolizing her on the same level as Audrey Hepburn!

A memoir of Hollywood in the sixties and seventies bit was fun following the author a young model on her adventures.She met so many famous people was a wonderful memoir,#betgalley #fsg

Disjointed memoir of a woman growing up in the 50s and 60s who managed to hang out with various famous celebrities in the 70s. Bland writing and nondescriptive. I did not finish the book.

A great memoir of Hollywood and a woman. It was riveting and captivating. You will be enthralled by this memoir and the story of Susana.

I really like this memoir by Moore. Set primarily in Los Angeles in the late sixties and seventies, Moore a sometime model who seemed to know everybody and had affairs with a number of Hollywood celebrities, describes the filmmaking and artistic scene at that time with a telling eye for detail and nuance. And she is not ashamed to tell all when appropriate. I had just finished reading a book about the making of Chinatown where Moore was mentioned quite a bit (her husband was a set or production designer) and it was interesting to compare her take on Nicholson and Polanski with their description in the other book. Anyways, Moore seemed to cross paths with a lot of famous people which along with her intimate descriptions of her own personal malaise, makes this memoir a fascinating read.