Miss May Does Not Exist
The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Erin Bennett
-
By:
-
Carrie Courogen
About this listen
As part of the legendary comedy team known as Nichols and May, May revolutionized sketch comedy before striking out on her own to make history as the third woman to be admitted into the Directors Guild of America when she wrote, directed, and starred in 1971’s A New Leaf.
Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, May was one of Hollywood’s top screenwriters and script doctors and one of the only women directing within the studio system. After a box-office bomb, May never directed a feature again, though she continued to write films.
In 2018, she returned to Broadway, where she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for The Waverly Gallery. Besides her considerable talent, May is well known for her reclusiveness, often working behind the scenes without credit. In the liner notes for her first comedy LP with Mike Nichols in 1958, her bio is a single terse sentence: “Miss May does not exist.” Until now.
Carrie Courogen has uncovered the Elaine May who does exist. Conducting countless interviews, she has filled in the blanks May has forcibly kept blank for years, creating a fascinating portrait of a creative powerhouse, a lost era of Hollywood, and the way women were mistreated and held back within it.
Miss May Does Not Exist is a remarkable love story about a prickly genius who was never easy to work with, not always easy to love, and frequently punished for those things, despite revolutionizing the way we think about comedy, acting, and what a film or play can be.
©2024 Carrie Courogen (P)2024 Dreamscape MediaListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- By: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
-
-
Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.
- By Nancie Keay on 06-17-24
By: Griffin Dunne
-
Paper of Wreckage
- An Oral History of the New York Post, 1976-2024
- By: Susan Mulcahy, Frank DiGiacomo
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Cassandra Campbell, Amanda Dolan, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the 1970s, the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper had fallen on hard times, just like its nearly bankrupt hometown. When the New York Post was sold to a largely unknown Australian named Rupert Murdoch in 1976, staffers hoped it would be the start of a new golden age for the paper. Now, after the nearly fifty years Murdoch has owned the tabloid, American culture reflects what Murdoch first started in the 1970s: a celebrity-focused, noisy, one-sided media empire that reached its zenith with Fox News.
By: Susan Mulcahy, and others
-
Cocktails with George and Martha
- Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- By: Philip Gefter
- Narrated by: Alexa Morden
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn’t be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.
-
-
Another Bad Narration
- By TPH on 02-25-24
By: Philip Gefter
-
Carson the Magnificent
- By: Bill Zehme, Mike Thomas
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Zehme was tapped for the Esquire feature story thanks to his years of legendary celebrity profiles, and the resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend. Shortly after Carson’s death in 2005 and urged on by many of those closest to Carson, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography.
-
-
Meh
- By Pklinkne on 11-08-24
By: Bill Zehme, and others
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
Traveling
- On the Path of Joni Mitchell
- By: Ann Powers
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself.
-
-
A Worthwhile Journey
- By in stephen's opinion on 08-10-24
By: Ann Powers
-
The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- By: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
-
-
Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.
- By Nancie Keay on 06-17-24
By: Griffin Dunne
-
Paper of Wreckage
- An Oral History of the New York Post, 1976-2024
- By: Susan Mulcahy, Frank DiGiacomo
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Cassandra Campbell, Amanda Dolan, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the 1970s, the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper had fallen on hard times, just like its nearly bankrupt hometown. When the New York Post was sold to a largely unknown Australian named Rupert Murdoch in 1976, staffers hoped it would be the start of a new golden age for the paper. Now, after the nearly fifty years Murdoch has owned the tabloid, American culture reflects what Murdoch first started in the 1970s: a celebrity-focused, noisy, one-sided media empire that reached its zenith with Fox News.
By: Susan Mulcahy, and others
-
Cocktails with George and Martha
- Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- By: Philip Gefter
- Narrated by: Alexa Morden
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn’t be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.
-
-
Another Bad Narration
- By TPH on 02-25-24
By: Philip Gefter
-
Carson the Magnificent
- By: Bill Zehme, Mike Thomas
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Zehme was tapped for the Esquire feature story thanks to his years of legendary celebrity profiles, and the resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend. Shortly after Carson’s death in 2005 and urged on by many of those closest to Carson, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography.
-
-
Meh
- By Pklinkne on 11-08-24
By: Bill Zehme, and others
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
Traveling
- On the Path of Joni Mitchell
- By: Ann Powers
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself.
-
-
A Worthwhile Journey
- By in stephen's opinion on 08-10-24
By: Ann Powers
-
The Editor
- How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
- By: Sara B. Franklin
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones began working as a secretary at Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, she spent most of her time wading through manuscripts in the slush pile and passing on projects—until one day, a book caught her eye. She read it in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing. Legendary editor Judith Jones finally gets her due in this intimate biography.
-
-
Gorgeous writing, perfect reader
- By Erin on 06-11-24
By: Sara B. Franklin
-
Kubrick
- An Odyssey
- By: Robert P. Kolker, Nathan Abrams
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 24 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The enigmatic and elusive filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has not been treated to a full-length biography in over twenty years. Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey fills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick's personal, private, public, and working life.
-
-
The Ultimate Biography
- By Kris on 08-30-24
By: Robert P. Kolker, and others
-
With Love, Mommie Dearest
- The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic
- By: A. Ashley Hoff, Bruce Vilanch - foreword
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse. When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule.
-
-
AMAZING narrator for a wonderful book!
- By A. Diozzi on 06-16-24
By: A. Ashley Hoff, and others
-
Fosse
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year, Bob Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment. His signature style would influence generations of performing artists. Yet in spite of Fosse’s innumerable—including Cabaret, Pippin, All That Jazz, and Chicago, one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever—his offstage life was shadowed by deep wounds and insatiable appetites.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Helen on 11-06-24
By: Sam Wasson
-
The Fixers
- Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine
- By: E.J. Fleming
- Narrated by: Mike Hennessy
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling are virtually unknown outside of Hollywood and little-remembered even there, but as General Manager and Head of Publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, they lorded over all the stars in Hollywood’s golden age from the 1920s through the 1940s—including legends like Garbo, Dietrich, Gable and Garland. When MGM stars found themselves in trouble, it was Eddie and Howard who took care of them—solved their problems, hid their crimes, and kept their secrets. They were “the Fixers.”
By: E.J. Fleming
-
Sonny Boy
- A Memoir
- By: Al Pacino
- Narrated by: Al Pacino
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force.
-
-
I loved this so much!!! But….
- By paintgal on 10-24-24
By: Al Pacino
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
A Murder in Hollywood
- The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Casey Sherman
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the outside, Hollywood starlet Lana Turner seemed to have it all—a thriving film career, a beautiful daughter, and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But when the famous femme fatale began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable. Lana's teenage daughter, Cheryl, watched her beloved mother's life deteriorate as Stompanato's intense jealousy took over.
-
-
Not what you think…
- By christopher j rago on 02-26-24
By: Casey Sherman
-
The Path to Paradise
- A Francis Ford Coppola Story
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty. Through Zoetrope’s experimental, communal utopia, Coppola attempted to reimagine the entire pursuit of moviemaking. Now, more than fifty years later, despite myriad setbacks, the visionary filmmaker’s dream persists, most notably in the production of his decades-in-the-making film and the culmination of his utopian ideals, Megalopolis.
-
-
Narrator was awful
- By Cyrus Nowrasteh on 12-17-23
By: Sam Wasson
-
The Blues Brothers
- An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
- By: Daniel De Visé
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene.
-
-
In my opinion, the best single book on Belushi.
- By Ron Phenicie on 04-19-24
By: Daniel De Visé
-
Cue the Sun!
- The Invention of Reality TV
- By: Emily Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who invented reality television, the world’s most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can’t we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of “dirty documentary”—from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump—Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
-
-
Weak, semi-unconnected stories
- By KDN on 07-20-24
By: Emily Nussbaum
-
From the Moment They Met It Was Murder
- Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir
- By: Alain Silver, James Ursini
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete history of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.
-
-
Great history, INCREDIBLY annoying affection
- By WriteStuff on 10-23-24
By: Alain Silver, and others
Related to this topic
-
Stranded
- By: Chris Bruno, David Howard Lee, Shukri R. Abdi
- Narrated by: Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Griffin, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Separated by 10 years, 3,000 miles, and the unrelenting stresses of adulthood, best friends Janet and Serena plan a 40th birthday girls’ trip to reconnect. But after a massive crash, they’re the only survivors to wash ashore on an uncharted Caribbean Island. Armed with only the clothes on their backs and zero survival skills, they fight to overcome hunger, thirst, deadly wildlife—and most terrifyingly—decades of accrued resentment. Can they find their way home, or will they kill each other first?
-
-
Get ready to Laugh
- By Lasheree McFarlane on 11-08-24
By: Chris Bruno, and others
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Best Man's Ghostwriter
- By: Matthew Starr
- Narrated by: Glen Powell, Nicholas Braun, Ashley Park, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bad best man’s speech can ruin a wedding. Why do we plan every detail of a perfect day and then give the groom’s idiot best friend five minutes of total power? Enter Nate (Glen Powell), a speechwriter-for-hire who helps people write incredible best man speeches. To keep the best man from embarrassing himself (and the newlyweds), Nate uses his list of don’ts: Don’t mention the exes, don’t be rated R, and don’t bum everyone out. Nate’s system never fails. That is, until he meets Dan (Nicholas Braun).
-
-
SO GOOD
- By Csutty on 09-23-24
By: Matthew Starr
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
The Great Indoors
- By: Ginny Hogan
- Narrated by: Mae Whitman
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice's journey begins as all good journeys do: hitting on the sales guy at REI. After a tumultuous breakup, a quick career transition, family upheaval, and a sobriety journey that didn't fix her life quite as much as she expected it to, Alice decides that the only way to solve all her problems is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. But as she begins preparing for the months-long quest, she realizes the answers she's seeking might not be on top of a snow-covered mountain. Especially since she just learned there was snow in California.
-
-
Chuck full of laughs to lift anyone's spirits.
- By Laura Boogaert on 09-22-24
By: Ginny Hogan
-
I Can't Make This Up
- Life Lessons
- By: Neil Strauss - contributor, Kevin Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
-
-
Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
- By Sam Clear on 07-13-17
By: Neil Strauss - contributor, and others
-
Stranded
- By: Chris Bruno, David Howard Lee, Shukri R. Abdi
- Narrated by: Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Griffin, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Separated by 10 years, 3,000 miles, and the unrelenting stresses of adulthood, best friends Janet and Serena plan a 40th birthday girls’ trip to reconnect. But after a massive crash, they’re the only survivors to wash ashore on an uncharted Caribbean Island. Armed with only the clothes on their backs and zero survival skills, they fight to overcome hunger, thirst, deadly wildlife—and most terrifyingly—decades of accrued resentment. Can they find their way home, or will they kill each other first?
-
-
Get ready to Laugh
- By Lasheree McFarlane on 11-08-24
By: Chris Bruno, and others
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Best Man's Ghostwriter
- By: Matthew Starr
- Narrated by: Glen Powell, Nicholas Braun, Ashley Park, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bad best man’s speech can ruin a wedding. Why do we plan every detail of a perfect day and then give the groom’s idiot best friend five minutes of total power? Enter Nate (Glen Powell), a speechwriter-for-hire who helps people write incredible best man speeches. To keep the best man from embarrassing himself (and the newlyweds), Nate uses his list of don’ts: Don’t mention the exes, don’t be rated R, and don’t bum everyone out. Nate’s system never fails. That is, until he meets Dan (Nicholas Braun).
-
-
SO GOOD
- By Csutty on 09-23-24
By: Matthew Starr
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
The Great Indoors
- By: Ginny Hogan
- Narrated by: Mae Whitman
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice's journey begins as all good journeys do: hitting on the sales guy at REI. After a tumultuous breakup, a quick career transition, family upheaval, and a sobriety journey that didn't fix her life quite as much as she expected it to, Alice decides that the only way to solve all her problems is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. But as she begins preparing for the months-long quest, she realizes the answers she's seeking might not be on top of a snow-covered mountain. Especially since she just learned there was snow in California.
-
-
Chuck full of laughs to lift anyone's spirits.
- By Laura Boogaert on 09-22-24
By: Ginny Hogan
-
I Can't Make This Up
- Life Lessons
- By: Neil Strauss - contributor, Kevin Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
-
-
Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
- By Sam Clear on 07-13-17
By: Neil Strauss - contributor, and others
-
The Perfect Find
- By: Tia Williams
- Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Jones, former It-girl fashion editor, is broke and desperate for a second chance. When she’s dumped by her longtime fiancé and fired from Darling magazine, she begs for a job from her old arch nemesis, Darcy Vale. The beyond-bitchy publisher of StyleZine.com, Darcy agrees to hire her rival - only because her fashion site needs a jolt from Jenna’s old school cred. But Jenna soon realizes she’s in over her head.
-
-
A-FREAKING-MAZING!!!
- By Bernadette on 05-30-21
By: Tia Williams
-
American Psycho
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: Pablo Schreiber
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.
-
-
Fanntastic book but maybe not for everyone....
- By So Fain on 03-27-11
-
CRAY
- By: Darrell Hammond, Elizabeth Stein
- Narrated by: Darrell Hammond
- Length: 1 hr and 10 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He is one of the longest-running cast members on Saturday Night Live, an American comedy genius renowned for his spot-on sendups of politicians and celebrities. But off-stage, Darrell Hammond’s life was anything but a joke. In CRAY, a special audio performance captured live onstage at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre, Hammond brings to life his acclaimed memoir, God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F*cked: Tales of Stand-Up, Saturday Night Live and Other Mind-Altering Mayhem.
-
-
Thanks for sharing
- By Nickisnotgary on 09-06-24
By: Darrell Hammond, and others
-
Breakfast of Champions
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: John Malkovich
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
-
-
Kurt Was Right to Grade This a C
- By Dubi on 01-10-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Heads Will Roll
- By: Kate McKinnon, Emily Lynne
- Narrated by: Kate McKinnon, Emily Lynne, Tim Gunn, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heads Will Roll is an Audible Original from Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon and her cocreator/costar (and real-life sister) Emily Lynne. Produced by Broadway Video, this is not an audiobook - it’s a 10-episode, star-studded audio comedy that features performances from Meryl Streep, Tim Gunn, Peter Dinklage, Queer Eye’s Fab Five, and so many more. Please note: This content is not for kids.
-
-
More like this please
- By Anon893 on 05-03-19
By: Kate McKinnon, and others
-
Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
-
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Desperately Seeking Something
- A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls
- By: Susan Seidelman
- Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starting out in the mid-70s, a time when few women were directing movies, Susan Seidelman was determined to become a filmmaker. She longed to tell stories about the unrepresented characters she wanted to see on screen: unconventional women in unusual circumstances, needing to express themselves and maintain their autonomy. Her genre-blending films reflect a passion for classic Hollywood storytelling, mixed with a playful New Wave spirit, informed by her years living in downtown NYC.
-
-
An Inspiring Listen
- By Tiffany Bartok on 06-26-24
By: Susan Seidelman
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
Cocktails with George and Martha
- Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- By: Philip Gefter
- Narrated by: Alexa Morden
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn’t be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.
-
-
Another Bad Narration
- By TPH on 02-25-24
By: Philip Gefter
-
Candy Darling
- Dreamer, Icon, Superstar
- By: Cynthia Carr
- Narrated by: Justin Vivian Bond
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up on Long Island, lonely and quiet and queer, she was enchanted by Hollywood starlets like Kim Novak. She found her turn in New York’s early Off-Off-Broadway theater scene, in Warhol’s films Flesh and Women in Revolt, and at the famed nightclub Max's Kansas City. She inspired songs by Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones. She became friends with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, borrowed a dress from Lauren Hutton, posed for Richard Avedon, and performed alongside Tennessee Williams in his own play.
-
-
Thee candy darling’s bibile
- By Anile on 04-15-24
By: Cynthia Carr
-
A Complicated Passion
- The Life and Work of Agnes Varda
- By: Carrie Rickey
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of her sixty-five-year career, the longest of any female filmmaker, Agnes Varda (1928-2019) wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed films of her era. She helped to define the French New Wave, inspired an entire generation of filmmakers, and was recognized with major awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice Film Festivals, as well as an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards. In this lively biography, Carrie Rickey explores the "complicated passions" that informed Varda's charmed life and indelible work.
-
-
A wonderful look at an elusive talent
- By Mark G. Wheaton on 09-14-24
By: Carrie Rickey
-
The Editor
- How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
- By: Sara B. Franklin
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones began working as a secretary at Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, she spent most of her time wading through manuscripts in the slush pile and passing on projects—until one day, a book caught her eye. She read it in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing. Legendary editor Judith Jones finally gets her due in this intimate biography.
-
-
Gorgeous writing, perfect reader
- By Erin on 06-11-24
By: Sara B. Franklin
-
Desperately Seeking Something
- A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls
- By: Susan Seidelman
- Narrated by: Jaime Lamchick
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starting out in the mid-70s, a time when few women were directing movies, Susan Seidelman was determined to become a filmmaker. She longed to tell stories about the unrepresented characters she wanted to see on screen: unconventional women in unusual circumstances, needing to express themselves and maintain their autonomy. Her genre-blending films reflect a passion for classic Hollywood storytelling, mixed with a playful New Wave spirit, informed by her years living in downtown NYC.
-
-
An Inspiring Listen
- By Tiffany Bartok on 06-26-24
By: Susan Seidelman
-
Mike Nichols
- A Life
- By: Mark Harris
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed author of Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back comes a magnificent biography of one of the most protean creative forces in American entertainment history, a life of dazzling highs and vertiginous plunges - some of the worst largely unknown until now. Mark Harris explores, with brilliantly vivid detail and insight, the life, work, struggle, and passion of an artist and man in constant motion.
-
-
Loved the book, but driven nuts my mispronounced names.
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-21
By: Mark Harris
-
Cocktails with George and Martha
- Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- By: Philip Gefter
- Narrated by: Alexa Morden
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn’t be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.
-
-
Another Bad Narration
- By TPH on 02-25-24
By: Philip Gefter
-
Candy Darling
- Dreamer, Icon, Superstar
- By: Cynthia Carr
- Narrated by: Justin Vivian Bond
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up on Long Island, lonely and quiet and queer, she was enchanted by Hollywood starlets like Kim Novak. She found her turn in New York’s early Off-Off-Broadway theater scene, in Warhol’s films Flesh and Women in Revolt, and at the famed nightclub Max's Kansas City. She inspired songs by Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones. She became friends with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, borrowed a dress from Lauren Hutton, posed for Richard Avedon, and performed alongside Tennessee Williams in his own play.
-
-
Thee candy darling’s bibile
- By Anile on 04-15-24
By: Cynthia Carr
-
A Complicated Passion
- The Life and Work of Agnes Varda
- By: Carrie Rickey
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of her sixty-five-year career, the longest of any female filmmaker, Agnes Varda (1928-2019) wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed films of her era. She helped to define the French New Wave, inspired an entire generation of filmmakers, and was recognized with major awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice Film Festivals, as well as an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards. In this lively biography, Carrie Rickey explores the "complicated passions" that informed Varda's charmed life and indelible work.
-
-
A wonderful look at an elusive talent
- By Mark G. Wheaton on 09-14-24
By: Carrie Rickey
-
The Editor
- How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
- By: Sara B. Franklin
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones began working as a secretary at Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, she spent most of her time wading through manuscripts in the slush pile and passing on projects—until one day, a book caught her eye. She read it in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing. Legendary editor Judith Jones finally gets her due in this intimate biography.
-
-
Gorgeous writing, perfect reader
- By Erin on 06-11-24
By: Sara B. Franklin
-
Everything Nothing Someone
- A Memoir
- By: Alice Carrière
- Narrated by: Alice Carrière
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière. From an early age, Alice is forced to navigate her mother’s recovered memories of ritualized sexual abuse, which she turns into art, and her father’s confusing attentions—her childhood is spent in an adult’s world, with little-to-no boundaries or supervision.
-
-
This book is awful.
- By af_90 on 12-17-23
By: Alice Carrière
-
You Get What You Pay For
- Essays
- By: Morgan Parker
- Narrated by: Morgan Parker
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dubbed a voice of her generation, poet and writer Morgan Parker has spent much of her adulthood in therapy, trying to square the resonance of her writing with the alienation she feels in nearly every aspect of life, from her lifelong singleness to a battle with depression. She traces this loneliness to an inability to feel truly safe with others and a historic hyperawareness stemming from the effects of slavery.
By: Morgan Parker
-
Patricia Neal
- An Unquiet Life
- By: Stephen Michael Shearer
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The internationally acclaimed actress Patricia Neal (1926-2010) was a star on stage, film, and television for more than 60 years. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Alma Brown in Hud, which earned her the 1963 Academy Award for Best Actress.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Randi Vallance on 10-14-23
-
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue
- Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
- By: Julie Satow
- Narrated by: Karen Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.
-
-
Read like a text book for fashion students.
- By JACKI on 06-24-24
By: Julie Satow
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
No Judgment
- Essays
- By: Lauren Oyler
- Narrated by: Lauren Oyler
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her writing for Harper’s, the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and elsewhere, Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature—whether celebratory or scarily harsh—have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today’s fraught environment?
By: Lauren Oyler
-
With Love, Mommie Dearest
- The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic
- By: A. Ashley Hoff, Bruce Vilanch - foreword
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse. When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule.
-
-
AMAZING narrator for a wonderful book!
- By A. Diozzi on 06-16-24
By: A. Ashley Hoff, and others
-
The De Palma Decade
- Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
- By: Laurent Bouzereau
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language.
-
-
A must for De Palma fans and cinephiles. Outstanding reader!
- By David FL on 09-19-24
-
Radiant
- The Life and Line of Keith Haring
- By: Brad Gooch
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 18 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as diverse as it was at war with itself, beset with poverty and crime but alive with art and creative energy. And every single one of these drawings was done by Keith Haring.
-
-
excellent!
- By Kristina Hammond on 05-22-24
By: Brad Gooch
-
A Murder in Hollywood
- The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Casey Sherman
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the outside, Hollywood starlet Lana Turner seemed to have it all—a thriving film career, a beautiful daughter, and the kind of fame and fortune that most people could only dream of. But when the famous femme fatale began dating mobster Johnny Stompanato, thug for the infamous west coast mob boss Mickey Cohen, her personal life became violent and unpredictable. Lana's teenage daughter, Cheryl, watched her beloved mother's life deteriorate as Stompanato's intense jealousy took over.
-
-
Not what you think…
- By christopher j rago on 02-26-24
By: Casey Sherman
-
Didion and Babitz
- By: Lili Anolik
- Narrated by: Lili Anolik, Emma Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Could you write what you write if you weren’t so tiny, Joan? —Eve Babitz, in a letter to Joan Didion, 1972. Joan Didion, revealed at last… Eve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin, and filth of her apartment, a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. The boxes were pristine, the seals of duct tape unbroken. Inside, a lost world. This world turned for a certain number of years in the late sixties and early seventies, and centered on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood.
-
-
Fascinating and escapist listen
- By Alyssa on 11-17-24
By: Lili Anolik
-
The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- By: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
-
-
Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.
- By Nancie Keay on 06-17-24
By: Griffin Dunne
What listeners say about Miss May Does Not Exist
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SoFlaGal
- 07-28-24
Miss May indeed exists
Fascinating biography of a woman who beat the system but didn’t want anything to do with it - Hollywood and Broadway. Excellent listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Yenrab Namrehs
- 06-30-24
A Rose-Colored Apologia for Elaine May
There is no question Elaine May is a gifted, briliiant writer born with a sense of story denied to other mere mortals. Equally, she is a talented performer and actress. Her contribution to improvisation is seminal. She was, at times, a great theater director. She can't direct movies worth a lick.
And therein lies the problem with this book. It takes no critical eye. Worse, the author cannot get the stars out of her eyes. Everything Elaine May does is great. If it isn't great--Ishtar, for example--the author raises a rousing defense that the cost of a movie and/or its commercial success should not be barometer of a film's value or success. That precious few of the movies--if any--that Elaine May directed enjoyed either needs to be looked at objectively, not pollyanna-ish as the author does here. By failing any semblence of objectivity (apparently May can do no wrong), she undercuts the creative force May was in so many other areas.
Even May's well-known and maybe well deserved reputation as a script doctor needs more scrutiny. Many of her script-doctored scripts were movies directed by Mike Nichols. It does May no disservice that she worked better as a team with Nichols than she did independently (which is blatently obvious to even the most casual observer), but the author doesn't touch that. If she had, it would mean conceding that May wasn't flawlessly brilliant constantly.
In retrospect, the influence Elaine May had on entertainment, television, the theater, and Hollywood is unquestionable. Maybe another book will be written with a more cooler assessment--which will give Elaine May the true credit she richly deserves.
It would sure make this book better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barb
- 07-26-24
Interesting
Slow in the beginning but became very interesting as it went on. I remember her and the repartee.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- john burke
- 06-25-24
Genius missing in action.
I hate to ask the question because by all accounts Elaine May was truly fascinating, intelligent and supremely complicated. I do think genius is thrown around way too often. Even with the most difficult of geniuses we can still point to a work that is their own, not only their own but some consistent output. The screenplay that she appears to have written almost entirely herself would be The Birdcage and that was an adaptation already. I love the film but I would definitely never call it a work of genius. There's of course the many projects she kept her name off of but those were her coming in and changing what was already there. In the instances where she created her own plays those relied heavily on improv and the plays seem to have gone nowhere or referred to as sketches. With this book i get a sense that Elaine May is a genius missing in action....more of a spectre of it than the embodiment. Either way great listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cathy
- 09-25-24
My inspiration since I was 8 years old
Beautifully written, beautifully read, beautifully lived. Well worth the time you’ll invest. Truly an inspiration.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The Book Fairy
- 06-15-24
THE DEFINITIVE!
I just finished reading an incredible bio on the brilliant #ElaineMay. I was so excited when I discovered this book was being published because there really hasn’t been any biography written on her - if any! @carriecourogen holds nothing back here. She dives deeper than deep in bringing out the creative and comedic psychosis of Elaine May in all her idiosyncrasies which ultimately culminates into her “hidden genius”. Miss May is one of the true greats of comedy and film. She’s intensely private so I’m not surprised she didn’t/wouldn’t meet with Carrie and since we probably will never ever get a personal memoir from Elaine May, I am throwing this book into the ring to be classified as the DEFINITIVE Elaine May biography!
Since I like to listen to the audiobook as I read along, I was even more excited when @erinbennettnarrates’s voice came across my laptop/phone again. She’s my favorite narrator and her voice feels like a dear old friend. It felt good to sip some tea and catch up!!🥰 THANK YOU, Carrie & Erin for this marvelous work… and Thank you to Elaine May, Hollywood’s hidden genius and one of my Sheroes! ✨🎬✍🏼
P.S: This book NEEDS to be adapted into a documentary film! HBO better be calling you soon, Carrie!!! (I’m serious) let’s get this made! 🫶🏼
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barry Cutler
- 06-22-24
Great Talent With Author's Agenda Interfering Some
I highly recommend this biography to learn about the life of one of the greatest talents, Elaine May. Unfortunately, the author's feminist agenda interferes when she attempts to make that May's story. No doubt, May suffered many of the prejudices many or all women suffer. But that's the author's spin. While the book is well-worth reading, the author should have stuck with May's life rather than muddying matters with her agenda.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Skinner
- 08-17-24
The sadness of genius
Learning about her past and remembering the work I had seen and loved on tv, at age snd film was interesting but an overall sense of gloom was not what I needed in 2024.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!