While continuing to wait for my book to arrive (ten days now) I've identified another site with a free preview, Scribd.com, which includes some chapters not contained in either of the Amazon previews:
Scribd
There are more examples of the author's mean-spiritedness on the first page of the chapter on "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes," which is on page 102 of the eBook, and which spreads beyond Agnes to her co-workers too:
"Our Vines also offers us the toe-curling spectacle of a customarily austere Moorehead massaging liver-lipped screen husband Robinson's shoulders."
and
"Nearing forty-four when she did this film, Moorehead is still believable as the mother of a small child and looks almost preternaturally youthful. The child in question is Selma Jacobson, played with her usually precocious intensity by the ridiculously talented Margaret O'Brien."
From Nissen's point of view, Margaret O'Brien must be described as "ridiculously" talented, AM is "preternatural" in still appearing youthful at age 43 (which is not so unusual at all), EGR is "liver-lipped," and what most viewers would find to be a warm, domestic moment between husband and wife, Nissen sees as "toe-curling spectacle."
It seems difficult for him to give a compliment without putting a negative spin on it. From the chapter on "The Bat," found in the Scribd preview:
"Her hair in the film, either up or down, is mostly her own (I have my doubts about the braid, though)" [I have my own doubts about the author's knowledge of his subject -- the hair is all her own, braid included.]
and
"And young! Except for bags under her eyes, she has been served well by the lighting and makeup departments."
Again, one must wonder what would have motivated Nissen to invest so many years researching someone he obviously does not like.
Is anyone else here buying a copy of the book?
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