Randy L. Schmidt

Unlike the recent 'biography' of Freddie Mercury, which made me angry with the laziness of the authors, this objective study of Karen Carpenter stirred different emotions - sadness, of course, but also frustration. I wanted to go back in time and smack her mother and brother's heads together for feeding Karen's demons and then doing nothing to halt the tragic spiral of self-doubt and self-harm that eventually killed her. For me, and I suspect for most people, Karen was the Carpenters, with show more her beautiful voice. Richard might have been a great pianist and composer - of other people's songs (I wasn't aware that nearly all of their catalogue of hits were covers or written by other lyricists - not a crime, but I'm a fan of Queen, who wrote all their own material) - but she was the star. To quote Richard, I am very much 'Team Karen' - he's probably not as black as he's painted, but he could have encouraged his sister instead of holding her back to further his own career. And Agnes, Richard and Karen's mother, was probably the original 'soccer mom' - for her son's benefit, at least. Horrible woman - the biopic was spot on.

Yes, the Carpenters were MOR, no, they didn't write original songs, yes, they got stuck in a rut - but who can listen to Karen's soulful, emotional voice and not be moved, whether to sing along or just listen with a smile? Her death at 32 from a disease that nobody really understood, after being taken advantage of by those closest to her for most of her life, is one of music's great losses. show less

I thought this book was a sad, but well-researched retelling of Karen Carpenter's life and tragic death. The author did not have her family's cooperation (her passive father and domineering mother are long dead. Brother Richard didn't want anything to do with it), but he did have access to two of her close friends. I have the impression that no one ever knew Karen Carpenter very well, and when she died, she took her secrets with her.

The last third of the book was very sad: She was defeated show more by the shelving of her solo album (perhaps it deserved to be shelved; nonetheless, she had put her heart and soul into it), followed by the failure of her impulsive marriage to a man who was not what he seemed. Her therapist at the time (a man who had made a name for himself in the then-obscure field of eating disorders) advocated a treatment approach that required the patient to become dependent on the therapist. It was perhaps the opposite of what Carpenter needed. Such a waste. show less

I've given this 5 stars and I never finished it and I never put it on the Given Up On shelf.

Simply put I found it too upsetting to finish. I knew the ending and I really did not want to see that slow motion car crash unfold.

Karen Carpenter, for anyone too young to know, had one of the most amaing voices to appear in the 20th century. By and large the songs were crap but that voice would just stop you dead and pull feelings out of you that bypassed any conscious process you may have been show more engaged in at the time. I still cannot hear Rainy Days and Mondays without tearing up.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__SPIzKxVL0)

I wasn't interested in all the dates and places, it was the family dynamic I was interested in and it pretty much is all laid out here.

Suffering from an almost (at the time) unknown disease called anorexia nervosa, ignored, belittled and diminished by her mother this biography reads like a catalogue of intentional errors and wilful ignorance as she slowly fades away.

Sad, so sad, poor Karen. show less

I don't know the exact reason why, almost 30 years later, Karen Carpenter's death still leaves me sad whenever I hear a song of hers on the radio or my iPod shuffle. From all accounts written about her, from everything friends of hers have said, Karen was a very fun and funny woman...kind, super talented and a genuine person. That's probably a major part of it.

But the way she died and how it eventually came to overshadow (in some ways, at least) her amazing voice and musical legacy...somehow show more that makes it all the more tragic.

In his heartfelt and touchingly sincere book _Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter_, Randy L. Schmidt gives the lovely singer what very few writers before him have: the ability to be taken seriously, free from any gaudy tabloid fanfare.

Schmidt's deep admiration for her is apparent, but so is his keen knack for attacking the story with a warm yet still objective approach.

Very few biographies have been written about Karen Carpenter, but of the ones that have been this is the one to read, the one that lays the story down without making it sound like a VH1 Behind the Music special. show less