Book Reviews

Biography time!

A "You gotta be kidding!"

one last dance
Patrick Swayze
by Wendy Leigh


I so looked forward to reading this biography. I have videos of Dirty Dancing and Ghost and have seen several of Patrick Swayze's movie. I have fallen in love with his and Lisa Niemi's love story. What a beautiful romance.

Then to read something so shoddily thrown together to capitalize on Swayze's illness and (at the time the book was written) upcoming death to pancreatic cancer.

In the first chapter...the title of the song mentioned is NOT "Down on the Range." It is "HOME on the Range."

Leigh made another two errors in her abbreviated version of Dirty Dancing. A reviewer on Amazon.com also mentioned an error in Leigh's version of Ghost. But I refuse to reread any portion of the book to locate it.

The writing by Leigh reminds me of the quality of writing in the gossip rags. She very quickly pulled together whatever interviews she could find of Patrick Swayze along with quotes from his childhood friends who took dance lessons from his mother. To me the quotes were more of a "he said, she said, he said" thing.

My question is...with the errors that were extremely easy for me to catch (along with other reviewers on Amazon) how many of Leigh's so-called facts...are in fact true?

Go ahead and read this. It won't take long to muddle through it. But wait until someone releases an authorized biography of Patrick Swayze before you believe everything in Leigh's version.


On the other hand...

An American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood
by Marc Eliot


Be sure to read and absorb this book. Being the child - ahem - that I claim to be, I just vaguely remember the cute Rowdy Yates from the television series Rawhide. But the quiet serious Man with No Name in the 'Spaghetti Westerns' I do remember well. And who can forget the oft repeated phrase from Dirty Harry, "Make my day."

Eliot's extremely well-written book is so easy to read. I have no doubt that if you like Clint Eastwood, you will enjoy this book!

The Daingerfield Public Library has an extensive biography section. Be sure to visit!