Totally Uninhibited: The Life and Wild Times of Cher - Softcover

A life of the spectacular Cherilyn Sarkisian, by the author of Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Passionate Life of Bette Davis (1989), Margaret Sullavan (1986), and about 25 other celebrity bios. Quirk, who has a long history with screen magazines, troweled on the sexual detail with his Bette Davis bio, and this time out shows no shyness with Cher's sex life. Of course, the lady's been frank about all that in print, and is characterized as unsparingly honest. Her story now approaches Elizabeth Taylor's for spectacle if not for drama, and she's absolutely one of a kind. Quirk at times is driven to gaga screen-mag lapses into vulgarity, and often seems to be doing no more than a high-class scissors-and-paste job with few interviews, but with Cher's energies lifting him he's produced a praiseworthy show. Unknown to her at the time, Cher lived in an orphanage for her first three years, which later gave her strange feelings about accommodations on the road. She had her first lover at 14 (her mother's boyfriend); was living by herself and bedding Warren Beatty at 16 (he was 25) and complaining that she didn't feel anything; and soon was living with much older Sonny Bono as his Trilby. Meanwhile, she could never stand her own voice on records, despite always being singled out for praise at the expense of Bono, whom she married after several years. Her second and final husband was rock-star/heroin-addict Greg Allman, with whom she had an even more agonizing marriage than with Bono. Today, at 44, she prefers vigorous bedmates in their early 20s. Her film career is more fascinating than it first appears, both for the flowering of her natural talents and for the behind-the-camera dirt and spats that Quirk uncovers, as well as for friendships with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. From no-talent to million-seller discs to Broadway to Oscar- -and all the bodies along the way. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Candid anecdotes, breezy observations, and industry gossip pepper Quirk's ( Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Passionate Life of Bette Davis , LJ 2/1/90) view of one of America's most publicized stars. Cher's story is told from a fresh, if not strictly chronological, perspective. Each chapter is built around a particular facet of her eventful experience, including the tumultuous years with Sonny Bono; a short-lived turn on Broadway; the mercurial recording and TV careers; provocative liaisons with younger men; a bittersweet marriage to Gregg Allman; complex roles as both mother and daughter; film star achievements, etc. Some of Quirk's revelations are absorbing, while others are shocking. Through it all, Cher comes across as an admirable survivor in a tough and often unglamorous business. For circulating libraries specializing in popular biographies and entertainment subjects. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/91.
-Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.