In the original dustsheet. Navy cloth binding with Silver title on the spine.

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Well written. The opening is fascinating, a history of Italian and Irish immigration to New York and Jersey. However, the author clearly doesn’t like Frank Sinatra as there is nothing about his music at all. The one comment she does make is that, early on, people said he couldn’t sing. No mention of his singing lessons or his concerts or his musical ability. Just about how he hated press intrusion.

Review: I have to admit, I had high hopes for this book. However, in terms of getting a picture of the true Frank Sinatra … I still say the best book on the market is ‘My Life With Mr. S’ by George Jacobs, who was Sinatra’s valet. Despite Jacobs’ ‘man crush’ on his boss, I’d rather have one concrete story about Old Blue Eyes from start to finish. Ms. Kelly’s book is a huge hodgepodge collection of interviews of which she uses one or two lines from. Some of the bigger players in Sinatra’s life get more than a couple lines such as Peter Lawford who really lays into Sinatra. Others, such as former friends, crushes and jilted lovers get one or two lines to emphasize an assertion made by Kelly and then poof … they are gone from the book.

While many say this book paints Sinatra in a bad light, I think Sinatra actually is the one who paints Sinatra in a bad light. Selfish, egotistical, childish and nasty are pretty much the adjectives just about anyone who actually knew Mr. Sinatra would first use to describe him. I don’t think Sinatra needed Ms. Kelly’s help to make him look bad. However, I think Kelly focuses on some of the more sensationalistic stories, etc. given that she is essentially one of the best paid tabloid writers in the game. She does work very hard to piece together hundreds of stories and sources to give us an insight into Sinatra’s private life. Almost too many. At the point I got about 300 pages into the book and realized I was less than halfway done, I wished she had left out about 25% of the ho hum stories.

I believed the information about Sinatra’s childhood much less than I believed the more substantiated stories of his later career, outbursts, tantrums, etc. It seems a lot of the stories from his youth were collected 50+ years later AFTER he had become a legend. Many of these stories contradict themselves. On one page, Kelly includes an interview that says Sinatra was lacking in attention from his parents. Then, on the next page she talks about how close he was too his parents and that Dolly was too wrapped up in Frank’s life. Which is it? This happens a lot in the book … these contradictions that appear shortly after each other. I think when you are piecing together Sinatra’s youth, it is safe to say others’ recollections and memories change due to the fame he achieved. I could have done without the whole first part of the book which seemed to run in circles. The only thing Kelly hits over and over with any consistency is the fact that Frank’s mother Dolly performed abortions. Kelly seems fixated on bringing this up throughout the book.

The most interesting part for me was Frank’s relationship with Ava Gardner and Kelly really only devoted a few chapters to it. A lot of the sources were people who were sort of on the outskirts and there were several contradictions in these chapters so it was hard to know what to believe. Frank’s rage and jealousy and hatred of the press and those who tried to control him really comes through in the middle of the book. I knew Sinatra was prickly, difficult and purile but I had no idea how bad it was. Even people like Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Lauren Bacall are quoted frequently in these chapters. I tend to believe these quotes because these are people that Sinatra did wrong but who were still far enough in his circle that they could be believed.

Around the middle of the book, I have to admit the stories and sources get overwhelming and I wished the book would end soon. While ‘My Life With Mr. S’ was pretty much a cover to cover read in one sitting, after a few days Kitty Kelly’s book began more to feel like a Grapes of Wrath-esque novel or a textbook. I was Sinatra-ed out. There is just too much information in this book and I feel that it should have been condensed.

Overall, it paints the picture of a horrible man who belittles those around him for fun, has no conscience, no tact and is focused only on achieving success and fame. The fact that this was published while Sinatra was alive must have been interesting. There is no doubt in my mind that at least half of what is written in this book is true. Even if only half of the book is accurate, I can’t think of anyone I would want to know less than Frank Sinatra. It makes him out to be a monster. I would love to know how Kelly got Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Lauren Bacall to talk about how awful Frank could be during the time they were actually living in the same town as him.

The mafia chapters are really well written and use sources such as actual mobsters along with FBI wiretaps to show how deeply entrenched Frank Sinatra was in the mafia. The chapters about Sinatra’s attempt to influence JFK in the mafia’s business are jaw dropping. George Jacobs doesn’t go too much into this area in his book other than to say he is sure that the mafia had Kennedy killed. But Kelly is fearless and this relationship between the Kennedys, Sinatra and the mafia is amazing, if true.

I can’t say this is the best biography I’ve ever read … but it does a great job of attempting to back up all of the sources that provided stories. It is one of the most comprehensive books about Sinatra I have read. Kitty Kelly is a good journalist, even if she is a sensationalistic/tabloid journalist. I respect her ability to gather information and piece it together to paint a portrait. She actually does point out some of the good in Sinatra which probably gets lost due to the huge amount of bad that is pointed out about him. Balanced, this book is not. But I would say that it is a fair account.

If you have some interest in Frank Sinatra and some time on your hands (this isn’t a cover to cover in a couple days book) I’d recommend picking up a copy. My favorite thing about this book is that it was written like a biography and not like a novel. One book I read, ‘Rat Pack Confidential’ has much of the same stories but that author writes in a tone that sounds more like a bad detective novel making the book utterly unreadable. Kitty Kelly’s language is matter of fact, straight to the point and easy to read.

‘My Life With Mr. S’ is much better in my opinion than this book. But I am glad I read this book about Sinatra because it makes me like him a lot less. I can’t even say ‘less as a person’ because after reading this book, I don’t even know that Sinatra was human. These quotes and stories make him out to be more of a successful monster. However, I do know how Kitty Kelly works, but even with a grain of salt … Sinatra is still a bitter subject.

Among the awards that Kitty Kelley has been honored with by her professional peers are the Outstanding Author Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors for her “courageous writing on popular culture,” the Philip M. Stern Award for her “outstanding service to writers and the writing profession,” the Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club in New York City, and the 2005 PEN Oakland Literary Censorship Award. She has also been selected as a member of Vanity Fair magazine’s Hall of Fame. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, People, Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.