Book Review: More Than Love by Natasha Gregson Wagner

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

by Natasha Gregson Wagner (Biograpy Wood)

 

A book of love, and pain, and mystery, and discovery — this is the story of Natalie Wood, one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the second half of the 20th century, from the late 1940s through the 1980s, as recounted by her firstborn child. Natalie’s given name was Natasha and, so, she named her first daughter after herself. It was indicative of not only the very close bond they would have for the first eleven years of Gregson Wagner’s life but also the devastating loss of that relationship due to Natalie’s death in 1981. To be expected, much of the content includes Natalie’s first — and also third! — husband, actor Robert Wagner. The main focus, though, is what a devoted mother Wood was to her children and stepchildren, especially Natasha, and how her “little Natooshie” came through years of heartache to be able to be her own person and more fully appreciate her mother’s legacy, as well as her immediate and extended families, eventually having her own blended family. I especially wanted to read this biography because Wood (nee Gurdin) is one of my very favorite American actresses, and her death was such a strange tragedy. When visiting Los Angeles about 25 years ago I was surprised and moved to discover that her handprints and footprints at the famous Chinese Theater are an exact fit to mine.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Natalie Wood: A Life by Gavin Lambert, Carrie and Me by Carol Burnett, Unsinkable by Debbie Reynolds or My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie by Todd Fisher.]

[ publisher’s official More Than Love web site ] | [ Wikipedia page for Natasha Gregson Wagner ]

 

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

 

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