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Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia
by
Stephen Fried (Goodreads Author)
At age seventeen, Gia Carangi was working the counter at her father's Philadelphia luncheonette, in Hoagie City. Within a year, Gia was one of the top models of the late 1970's, gracing the covers of Cosmopolitan and Vogue, partying at New York's Studio 54 and the Mudd Club while redefining the industry's standard of beauty. She was the darling of moguls and movie stars, ...more
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Published
December 6th 2011
by Pocket
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Peachy
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This is an astonishing story of an incredible woman's life and death. Stephen Fried lays bare everything I wanted to know (and possibly things I didn't know I wanted to know until I read the book) about Gia Carangi. Her story opens with John Keats famous quote from Endymion, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever..." which I think clearly explains what we are thinking and feeling inside when we see a photograph of someone beautiful - they never look unattractive, their life is perfect and...more
Found this paperback in a store last month and bought it only because I had seen some bits and pieces of the HBO movie Gia and wanted to know more. I am so thankful that I read this book. Once I started I was totally engaged. The author had me caring about a young lady who died long ago. He did exhaustive reporting to recreate the world of Gia: her childhood in Philly, her instant success as an exotic beauty in a world of blondes, and her subsequent demise. I was totally moved and wondered why. ...more
The life of Gia has always fascinated me. After watching the movie I sought out a novel so I could get a more true account of her life. That’s what you will find in this book. It doesn’t center on the Gia/Sandy relationship. It gives a more true account of her sexuality and just how deeply drug use destroyed her mind and body. Though I appreciated the novel as being more real and a greater telling of Gia’s life my rating is a bit low because of some aspects of how it was presented. I enjoyed get...more
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Surprisingly not-so-trashy depiction of the life of Gia Carangi, model superstar whose cinderella lifestory crashes horribly in a few quick years.
What helps the book is the clear dogged effort expended in getting the fundamentals right, offering glimpses of the New York Eighties, the world of haute-couture modelling agencies, clubs, cocaine and the rest.
This starts in my hometown of Philadelphia, which is well drawn and scaled by mr Fried :
On Saturdays, Kare...more
What helps the book is the clear dogged effort expended in getting the fundamentals right, offering glimpses of the New York Eighties, the world of haute-couture modelling agencies, clubs, cocaine and the rest.
This starts in my hometown of Philadelphia, which is well drawn and scaled by mr Fried :
On Saturdays, Kare...more
Here is what I liked about this book: This book was well written and loaded with great information. Information, not only about Gia but anything you wanted to know about the modeling industry in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the culture of that time, New York and the bar scene. The author even had some comments about the politics of the time with some typically left-wing media type comments about Ronald Reagan. Here is what I didn’t like: I thought I was reading a book about Gia Carangi and ...more
I ate this biography up. The dark side of our late '70s and early '80s "glamour" culture in NYC, including the modeling industry, music, clubbing, sexuality, drug use and AIDS. If you've already seen the movie with Angelina Jolie, you probably don't need to read it - I think the film did it justice. Of course, the book's got lots more juicy detail in it.
By far one of my favorite books ever. I don't know if it's b/c I NEEDED to read this at the time that I did in my life or if I had too many similarities to Gia that made me want to change...either way... it's all true and quite brutal, which makes it totally honest.
The passages on Philly in the 70s were (for obvious reasons) my favorite, especially when Fried describes Gia's Bowie obsession and the recording of "Young Americans" at Sigma Sound.
this book was very sad. it tells a story of a wasted life. the whole time you can see every dangerous turn she takes and you wanna just say, "no!!' don't go that way. but, its too late. she dies anyway.
Such a beauty on the outside, swiss cheese on the inside. Tragic and possibly too close to reality for the industry
I don't know what it is about this book, but I've reread it a bunch of times and never find it boring.
Loved this book to bits. It is one of the few that I will read over and over again.
parvaneh haeri
added it
فیلم جالبیه با بازی انجلینا جولی .داستان غم انگیز و یا بهتر بگم نکبت بار زندگی یک ملکه ی زیبایی .به اسم جیا ماری . فامیلش یادم نیست . قشنگ تریی جای فیلم به نظر من اون جایی بود که جیا جلوی مادرش با تمام وجود گریه میکنه و ازش میخواد که نرو من به تو نیاز دارم اما مادرش اونو ترک میکنه و میره . خدا به ادم همه چیزو یک جا نمیده
Anne
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone who liked the movie, or is interested in the fashion industry and it's effects on the soul
Recommended to Anne by:
Doris Vega
Shelves:
for-the-20-somethings
I was initially drawn to this book because I saw the movie "Gia" and was intrigued by the character depth and complexity portrayed there. The book delves more deeply into the psyche of Gia and reads like a documentary. There are a few excerpts from her journal which add to the "based on a true story" effect, which always makes the story more engaging. I quite enjoyed the (forgive me here) journey of this tortured soul and the colorful way her story was written. I was thor...more
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I'd never heard of Gia Carangi before and as I was browsing my friend Jaime's book collection, I noticed she also had all the Cosmopolitan covers too. I got interested because Gia was a Philly girl too. An fascinating story for sure. Very detailed recollection from people who knew Gia and also an interesting story of how Fried met with the people and got the 411. Not a short read like I originally expected but a life worth reading about. They had the 20/20 interview on Youtube, which was gr...more
Very sad sad story of a supermodel
Beautiful girl, tragic story: the rise and sudden fall of one of America's first top models chronicled in detail. Truly the ugly side of modeling...
Well jeez let's see... I kinda read this book mostly because i am interested in becoming a junkie/model. Ok that is a pretty lame joke/lie. Naturally i read this book because Gia is HOT HOT HOT (and sadly dead) and i wanted to know about her life and see how wide of the mark that Angelina Jolie film was (verdict: kinda!!). The book is detailed and tells you LOTS about the 80s modelling scene (yaaawn) but also everything you'd wanna know and more about Gia The Hot Dead Supermodel Junkie. Verd...more
After reading this book I think Angelina Jolie did a pretty shitty job playing Gia. Good acting, bad casting. I love me some angelina but she doesn't capture Gia's essence or vulnerability.
But the book does. Absolutely. Sandy Linter, Gia's long time girlfriend, said that everything in this book is true and she learned even more about Gia after her death from reading this. (quoted from her blog). That in itself is good enough reason to read it for me.
But the book does. Absolutely. Sandy Linter, Gia's long time girlfriend, said that everything in this book is true and she learned even more about Gia after her death from reading this. (quoted from her blog). That in itself is good enough reason to read it for me.
Completely tragic yet so compelling! Definitely makes me look at fashion magazines a little different.
I read this years ago and it didn't make much of an impression on me, but this time around I thought it was entertaining (if sad) as hell. Gia's not all that interesting, but modeling in general has always fascinated me. A good companion to Michael Gross' Model.
Lurid, sensationalized trash. Gia herself, with her over-the-top, pushy mom and nutty family is hard to like. She's a borderline sociopath, an addict, selfish, childish, and irresponsible beyond comprehension. She uses people as if they were Kleenex. Still, she's a hottie! Too bad her obvious mental health issues and no firm hand to guide her ruin everything. And I do mean everything.
This is book is a very frank and stunning expose of the modeling industry. Gia was one of the first women to be called a supermodel. Gia was as brash, dramatic and emotionally unstable as she was beautiful. Unfortunately, Gia was one of the first women to die of AIDS at age 26 in the early 1980's. Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia is a great book to read.
Eff that Janice Dickinson~ HERE'S America's first supermodel. She's much more beautiful than Angelina Jolie and even though she made a series of spectacularly bad choices, I still have much sympathy for her, especially regarding the men who constantly hit on her, saying 'You're too pretty to REALLY be a lesbian.' Not great literature, but a fun read indeed.
You can't help walking away from this book moved by the thought that this poor person had to face HIV, AIDS, her addictions almost completely alone... and at a time when these diseases were very misunderstood (and still are).
You will also never look at Jack Nicholson the same way. Yuck.
You will also never look at Jack Nicholson the same way. Yuck.
This is one of my favorite books and I could easily just read it over and over again. Gia Carangi was easily one of the most gorgeous creatures alive at one point and it's a shame how she threw her life away on heroin. A tragic and in-depth story.
I really enjoyed this book. More for personal reasons then anything. Its got everything in it..drugs, beauty, money, success, the loss of success, love, all of it, and of course the tragic ending, that in turn really makes you think.
Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. AIDS, despair, loneliness. This is the tragic tale of Gia, the supermodel from Philadelphia who had it all, except for love. And that was all she wanted.
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Stephen Fried is an award-winning investigative journalist and essayist and an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His most recent book, Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time was named one of the ten best books of the year by the Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer and was a Southwest Boo...more
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