Frank: The Voice

by James Kaplan
Hennepin County Library audioCDs (18 discs)
read by Rob Shapiro
genre: biography

This was a fascinating but also disturbing story. I didn't know much about Frank Sinatra, but he certainly wasn't someone I'll ever hold in very high regard. Despite the impact his mother Dolly had on his psyche, he was an arrogant, shallow, selfish person. He cheated on his wife horribly and treated his friends like dirt.

Listening to so much detail about his life made it hard to have the narrative stop when he won his Academy award for From Here to Eternity. He had another lifetime (and two more wives, I believe) after that! The author went into great detail about recording sessions, conversations, etc.

My favorites: asking my father-in-law if he had ever heard Sinatra sing live (he had) and getting curious about some of the songs and movies mentioned. I just got FHTE from the public library - I've never seen it before. I found myself Googling Montgomery Clift, Ava Gardner, etc. A small part of me wants to read a biography that goes from 1954 to the end of his life. I also got curious about his first wife and his children. But what a skunk of a man!

6/9/12 - Louie and I watched From Here to Eternity last night . . . how sad that the romantic relationships were so messed up! Interesting that this was the Academy Award winner in 1953.