August 22, 2022
Model, actor, and writer Porizkova (A Model Summer) shares her thoughts on beauty culture, the end of her marriage, and honesty online in this solid collection of memoir-driven essays. Much like her social media presence, the writing is simple to a fault but disarmingly honest. Porizkova’s scene setting is consistently vibrant enough to draw readers in, though the notes she hits can become repetitive. She describes everything from growing up as a poor Czech refugee in Sweden and her habit of reading palms as a young model in Paris to secretly dating (and later divorcing) Ric Ocasek, lead singer of the Cars. Some of the insights—especially those about social media, the beauty industry, and the fetishization of youth—are sharp, crystallized by more than four decades in the spotlight. One particularly interesting essay, “Nude, Not Naked,” delivers a striking treatise on feeling free vs. feeling exploited while posing nude; here, Porizkova delineates the nuances of choice and power in a nude photo shoot in a way that few others could. Other insights, such as the idea expressed in the essay “Childhood” that women marry men like their fathers and men marry women like their mothers, are more banal. Fans of Porizkova’s work will enjoy this glimpse into her life, but ultimately little sets it apart from other celebrity memoirs in the same lane. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary Agency.
October 1, 2022
An iconic supermodel offers insights into lessons learned from a life that has been anything but perfect. Porizkova (b. 1965) ruled the catwalks in the 1980s and '90s, but the hard truths behind her rise to fame and marriage to Ric Ocasek were buried under the outward glamour. In this collection of essays, she speaks candidly about a difficult childhood that included living as a Czech political refugee in Sweden, where, as a bullied teenager, she "frequently felt ugly" and endured her "flaws [being] discussed before me as though I couldn't hear what they said." Even when she began earning money as a model, high anxiety levels caused daily panic attacks. Her relationship with Ocasek began in youthful blindness. She could not see that the still-married musician's demands--that she wear less revealing clothes, give up her gay male friends, and put his career and needs above hers--were symptomatic of the possessive behavior she accepted--and even cherished--because it made her feel she was "home." The author writes that Ocasek was like a Russian tank, an occupying force she greeted with "flowers and cheers." Growing older brought clarity regarding an increasingly troubled personal life and the fact that her looks had transformed her from a real person into an object. It also forced her to confront the fears that drove her to seek small procedures like eye lifts to fight not only the loss of beauty, but also increasing social invisibility as a woman. Ocasek's sudden death and his claim, written in his will, that she "abandoned" him, drove Porizkova into a painful period of litigation and soul-searching from which she emerged determined to "be heard" for who she was rather than as the "manufactured image" into which she had been made. The occasional repetitiveness and fairly haphazard organization of these essays make the book feel unpolished, but its raw honesty will appeal to Porizkova's many fans. A flawed but well-intentioned self-examination.
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Starred review from October 15, 2022
Some readers may remember author Porizkova as a supermodel in the 1980s, when she graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Others may be familiar with her more recent performances on Dancing with the Stars and America's Top Model. Recently, tabloids latched onto stories about the unexpected 2019 death of her husband, rocker Ric Ocasek of the Cars, and how he cut the author out of his will. In this memoir-in-essays, Porizkova sheds her public persona and speaks up for herself. Having long been in the spotlight, she writes that she learned early that no one wanted to hear her--they only wanted to look at her. Left behind in Czechoslovakia as a young child when her parents fled a repressive regime, she was turned into a political pawn by the media. By age 16, she was modeling and on her own in Paris, and at 19 she married a man 20 years her senior. Fans looking for celebrity gossip won't find it here. Instead, this is a candid retrospective about what Porizkova has learned and the many things she wishes she had known earlier. An honest and engaging writer, Porizkova comes across as wise, experienced, and relatable.
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