GARBO

Aficionados of early international and Hollywood filmmaking will find much of interest in this biography of Garbo. Anna Fields does an admirable job keeping the story moving as it weaves through the various periods of Garbo’s life and discusses the many well-known people through whom the story is pieced together. Fields’s sardonic and wry style fits well the public persona of Garbo. The one aspect of the book that makes the audio format tedious is the extensive quoting of taped telephone conversations between Sam Green and Garbo. The constant repetition of “SG” or “GG” to designate the speaker would be easily skimmed over in print. Moreover, despite assurances that Garbo realized the taping was being done, hearing these conversations gives one the uneasy sense of being an eaves-dropper on this woman who spent so much of her life guarding her privacy. J.E.M. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: NOV/DEC 97]