Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild

Only three more days until Jesse comes home, and I can't wait. I thought I was holding up pretty well without him until riding home from his mom and dad's last night. Danny's Song by Loggins & Messina came on the radio and I turned into a bawling baby. Almost four years ago to the day, that's the song I played for him to tell him that I was pregnant with Mia. She's missing him a lot too; she woke up crying twice last night until I brought her into bed with me. But he's having a great time. He called me from the Cafe du Monde where he was eating a beignet and listening to a band play.

Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild by David Stenn is a fascinating look into the life of a movie icon. I really knew nothing about her until I read the book Flappers which perked my interest. This well-written book thoroughly answered my questions. From her childhood tragedies to her lonely death, Bow's life reads like the kind of dramatic movie she always wanted to star in. Bow was victimized by people her entire life: her mother, her father, boyfriends, Paramount studios, etc. She was so desperate for their approval that she allowed others to use her up. She used sex as a weapon to keep men at bay, and yet somehow managed to maintain an air of innocence about her. Her eventual diagnosis of schizophrenia and decline into solitude are a sad end to the story. Stenn does a good job with his writing, but occasionally blocks out words that don't seem very offensive and at other times uses words that clearly are offensive. Considering this book is about a woman best known for her looks, more pictures should have been used throughout.