Madonna Audiobook By Mary Gabriel cover art

Madonna

A Rebel Life

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Madonna

By: Mary Gabriel
Narrated by: Elise Arsenault
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About this listen

In this riveting biography, award-winning author Mary Gabriel chronicles the meteoric rise and enduring influence of the greatest female pop icon of the modern era: Madonna.

With her arrival on the music scene in the early 1980s, Madonna generated nothing short of an explosion—as great as that of Elvis or the Beatles—taking the nation by storm with her liberated politics and breathtaking talent. Within two years of her 1983 debut album, a flagship Macy's store in Manhattan held a Madonna lookalike contest featuring Andy Warhol as a judge, and opened a department called “Madonna-land.”

But Madonna was more than just a pop star. Everywhere, fans gravitated to her as an emblem of a new age, one in which feminism could shed the buttoned-down demeanor of the 1970s and feel relevant to a new generation. Amid the scourge of AIDS, she brought queer identities into the mainstream, fiercely defending a person's right to love whomever—and be whoever—they wanted. Despite fierce criticism, she never separated her music from her political activism. And, as an artist, she never stopped experimenting. Madonna existed to push past boundaries by creating provocative, visionary music, videos, films, and live performances that changed culture globally.

Deftly tracing Madonna’s story from her Michigan roots to her rise to super-stardom, master biographer Mary Gabriel captures the dramatic life and achievements of one of the greatest artists of our time.

©2023 Mary Gabriel (P)2023 Little, Brown & Company
Entertainment & Celebrities Women Celebrity
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Critic reviews

"A gorgeous and unsettling narrative...Ninth Street Women is supremely gratifying, generous, and lush but also tough and precise -- in other words, as complicated and capacious as the lives it depicts...It's as if once Gabriel got started, the canvas before her opened up new vistas. We should be grateful she yielded to its possibilities."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

"Ninth Street Women is like a great, sprawling Russian novel, filled with memorable characters and sharply etched scenes. It's no mean feat to breathe life into five very different and very brave women, none of whom gave a whit about conventional mores. But Ms. Gabriel fleshes out her portraits with intimate details, astute analyses of the art and good old-fashioned storytelling."—Ann Landi, Wall Street Journal

"Ninth Street Women is a must read...Gabriel seamlessly weaves the intimate and the public, the lives and the art, making us feel we were there...It is a story that is a part of the American story, told here in vivid, meaningful detail, an absolutely pivotal text."—Margaret Randall, Women's Review of Books

Thorough Research • Comprehensive Biography • Excellent Narration • Historical Context • Artistic Perspective
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An epic book for an epic woman and life. So delicious for a Madonna fan and music lover. I relived every fabulous album as the author meticulously expounded on every interesting detail. Where would we be without Madonna? Wow! What a life!

Epic

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I love Madonna but her story in life was boring. I admire how far she got and her intelligence & talent but boring story

She’s an icon

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I loved every minute of this book. It’s a peek into one of the most incredible artists on our planet. Madonna is a true rebel and this book illustrates every step she took to become that.

Fabulous

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This was obviously thoroughly researched. And as a lifelong Madonna fan, I loved it. My only complaint is with the narrator. She pronounced Lourdes' name wrong during the entire book.

Great book for fans!

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I loved this book. Of course it portrayed Madonna in the best light. But it was also very candid. I especially loved how nostalgic it was. Like a history book, it reminded me of the events and trends of the day. I enjoyed every minute.

A great look back at a great era

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I read this book to learn about Madonna. Not Penny Marshall or Jamie King. WAY TOO much info on unnecessary bits, whereas things like Madonna’s childhood were given short shrift. Also, lots of bias from author re Madonna’s music and tours. She clearly likes Rebel Heart and dislikes Hard Candy. Not with it.

Missed Opportunity

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I loved this book. Yes the narrator mispronounces Lourdes. But the amount of research that went into this book is phenomenal. And the level of respect the author has for Madonna really shows. This was worth the time and money.

40 year fan who still learned new things

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Loved the addition information about timeline and what was going on socially to better understand why Madonna did what she did!

Great Details of Madonna thru life!

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You have to be a super fan to be interested in a 42 hour audio book about her life.

Too long!

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Mary Gabriel has done a remarkable job weaving Madonna’s life through the political climates and cultures she shaped and was shaped by. The narration was excellent. I’m a big fan of Madonna’s and was still a bit surprised by the degree to which the author brushes past problematic ethical issues found in some of her behavior. Madge can behave in entitled and disrespectful ways to astonishing degrees but there’s never a moment where Madonna is held to account by the author. Yes, publicly she’s been called out and criticized. Most of the criticism is not deserved but some is. Mary, in essence, says, “but that’s Madonna.” There’s no deeper insight or explanation. I didn’t want Madonna trashed at all. Just asked to own what was, to many, very troubling and distressing. Instead, the author reads some short snippets of critiques and then dismisses them. Aside from all that, I learned a great deal I’d never known about the seriousness of her artistry, the intensity of her preparation for concerts, her immersion in the record production process, the breadth of her political activism including feminism, and her commitment to philanthropy. I respect her even more now. Very fortunately, I got to see her in concert in Boston in January 2024. Madonna is amazing.

Thoroughly researched

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