The Real Patsy Cline

by Doug Hall

Book by Hall, Doug

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Patricia Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better biographies I've read on Patsy Cline. A little big heavier focus on facts (recorded this song, performed this show, etc) with a few anecdotes thrown in. Good starting point for some information about Patsy Cline.

[Meghan Portillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

First - some Product Information. This book is 160 pages total, with less than 100 pages of actual text (this can easily be read in one sitting). There are a lot of photographs and some letters between chapters. Apparently this was written as a companion to two video biographies (which I haven't seen) - "Patsy Cline - The Real Patsy Cline" and "Patsy Cline - Remembering Patsy" ... so this book's purpose was to include information that these video biographies wouldn't allow time for. I don't know how much biographical information made it into those and not into the book.

This book seemed more concerned with chronicling the songs she sang and recorded than in her actual life -- less than a page was devoted to her life before she started singing; the car accident that nearly killed her was barely mentioned; the only extended mention about her relationship with her husband was the refutation of how he was portrayed in "Sweet Dreams." The second to last chapter (there are seven total) is about the plane crash and the last chapter consists of friends, family and colleagues reminiscing.