false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172279872m/159629.jpg 159629 3 In 1957, a childrens book called The Lonely Doll was published. With its pink-and-white-checked cover and photographs featuring a wide-eyed doll, it captured the imaginations of young girls and made the author, Dare Wright, a household name. Close to forty years after its publication, the book was out of print but not forgotten. When the cover image inexplicably came to journalist Jean Nathan one afternoon, she went in search of the book--and ultimately its author. Nathan found Dare Wright living out her last days in a decrepit public hospital in Queens, New York. Over the next five years, Nathan pieced together Dare Wrights bizarre life of glamour and painful isolation to create this mesmerizing biography of a woman who struggled to escape the imprisonment of her childhood through her art. "Although I never read The Lonely Doll as a child or saw Dare Wright's photographs, it's as if I somehow did. Nathan has done an amazing job to capture Wright's life on the page and to bring us into the household of one of the saddest dysfunctional families ever.' -- Cindy Sherman The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll makes absorbing reading, both as biography and parental cautionary tale. Keep out of the reach of children. - The Globe and Mail Its a fascinating read and you cant help but feel compassion for DareThe Secret Life of the Lonely Doll is proof real lives are often more interesting than anything fiction creates. - The Ottawa Sun The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll prove[s] that a skilled biographer can write absorbing books about minor figures, particularly those with secrets. - The Toronto Star 154070 2004 The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright total:336|5:110|4:134|3:75|2:15|1:2| 336 1343 533 95 4 9 false false Tue Mar 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 18 22:54:53 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 02 15:59:51 -0800 2009 The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll is definitely a four-star book. I don't t...more...]]> 5 6 false false Wed Oct 24 07:17:10 -0700 2007 Mon Feb 18 21:06:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Oct 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 22:23:23 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 07:19:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Nov 11 01:25:58 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 11 01:26:38 -0800 2008
One of the most original books I've ever read. Really sick and amazing.]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 17:29:12 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 11:58:40 -0700 2008 It really seems like one that snuck under the radar. Oh my freaking god is what I kept wanting to shout out loud as it kept me up, reading page after page some nights past three in the morning. You are immediately drawn into the wack...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Oct 05 13:12:56 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 06 11:33:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jun 28 12:07:03 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 13:16:25 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 13 15:17:49 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 15:17:58 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 17 15:35:06 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 02 10:48:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 12 false false Sun Nov 01 16:23:09 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 14:43:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 16:20:15 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 20:31:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 28 02:41:56 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 02:46:23 -0700 2009
I cannot separate my feelings for this book from my general distaste for the original Lonely Doll books, which I found creepy even as a child.

Though the author has done a thorough job, I found her writing to be a distant and uninvolving. The book is full of all sorts of ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 01 06:14:31 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 15:32:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jul 05 04:50:05 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 04:54:09 -0700 2008 4 1 false false Sun Mar 09 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 19 04:07:48 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 12:03:03 -0700 2008 Quickie review: hopefully more detailed review to come later.
A fascinating biography of a woman-child who explored her self and situation through photography and children's stories. ]]> 5 1 false false Fri Sep 14 13:53:01 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 14:39:43 -0700 2007 i really liked this book. it could be bundled up with the "grey gardens" documentary in a care package addressed to britney spears.]]> 5 1 false false Sun Aug 19 04:43:30 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 04:44:45 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sun Oct 26 15:28:46 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 22 09:28:01 -0700 2009
Dare Wright is the author of the Lonely Doll series as well as other childrens books. From childhood until death, Dare was consumed with an unnatural attachment to her mother, Edie. Rarely separated from each ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sat Aug 23 22:19:46 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 23:38:04 -0700 2008 Lonely Doll books. Bordered in pink checkerboard, and illustrated with black and white photos of the doll and her adventures, the first book was about a lonely little girl doll named Edith, who had a lovely home, but nobody to live with her. She finds a family when t...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Feb 27 21:23:22 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 20 09:50:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=159629