Marlene: A Novel

After finishing this novel, I felt as though I had just read actress Marlene Dietrich’s own autobiography; the writing is THAT convincing. Instead, MARLENE is talented author C.W. Gortner’s biography of the famous German-American’s career, written as historical fiction.

Marlene Dietrich (1901-92) is a fascinating character, a woman way ahead of her time whose life was full of drama. There’s her father’s early death and how World War I (1914 - 18) deprivations impacted her childhood. Her dominating mother was hard to please, and unable to let go of the privilege she herself enjoyed as the child of one of Berlin’s more prominent families. Marlene finally must break away from her mother to pursue her own dreams. There’s the show more tense but mutually dependent working relationship with Austrian-born filmmaker, Josef von Sternberg. Plus, Marlene’s successful Hollywood years, her non-traditional marriage and her many love affairs with famous people of both genders — all against the rising Nazi threat in her home country. One aspect that came as a surprise to me (who knew only basic information about Dietrich before this book), was the long-term commitment she made traveling around during World War II (1939 - 45) to entertain soldiers, despite personal sacrifices and primitive conditions.

It’s a compelling read. Not only about one woman’s climb to stardom but also a glimpse into the old studio system where employers controlled nearly all aspects of the lives of their stars. As well there’s the lifelong pull between Dietrich’s country of origin and her adopted country, which exerts a major influence on so many of her life decisions.

Don’t expect to find Dietrich completely lovable. This is a more nuanced portrait. I found her doggedly ambitious and quite self-centered — a woman determined to live her life on her own terms, often ignoring the needs of those around her. I also personally found the ending of MARLENE a bit abrupt although there’s an Afterward where Gortner ties up some loose ends. Recommended especially for anyone interested in Old Hollywood. show less

After finishing this novel, I felt as though I had just read actress Marlene Dietrich’s own autobiography; the writing is THAT convincing. Instead, MARLENE is talented author C.W. Gortner’s biography of the famous German-American’s career, written as historical fiction.

Marlene Dietrich (1901-92) is a fascinating character, a woman way ahead of her time whose life was full of drama. There’s her father’s early death and how World War I (1914 - 18) deprivations impacted her childhood. Her dominating mother was hard to please, and unable to let go of the privilege she herself enjoyed as the child of one of Berlin’s more prominent families. Marlene finally must break away from her mother to pursue her own dreams. There’s the show more tense but mutually dependent working relationship with Austrian-born filmmaker, Josef von Sternberg. Plus, Marlene’s successful Hollywood years, her non-traditional marriage and her many love affairs with famous people of both genders — all against the rising Nazi threat in her home country. One aspect that came as a surprise to me (who knew only basic information about Dietrich before this book), was the long-term commitment she made traveling around during World War II (1939 - 45) to entertain soldiers, despite personal sacrifices and primitive conditions.

It’s a compelling read. Not only about one woman’s climb to stardom but also a glimpse into the old studio system where employers controlled nearly all aspects of the lives of their stars. As well there’s the lifelong pull between Dietrich’s country of origin and her adopted country, which exerts a major influence on so many of her life decisions.

Don’t expect to find Dietrich completely lovable. This is a more nuanced portrait. I found her doggedly ambitious and quite self-centered — a woman determined to live her life on her own terms, often ignoring the needs of those around her. I also personally found the ending of MARLENE a bit abrupt although there’s an Afterward where Gortner ties up some loose ends. Recommended especially for anyone interested in Old Hollywood. show less

I am a fan of C.W. Gortner, it is well researched and well written. I was very interested in her childhood, the details are sad, her mother was very cold and not affectionate. Her father died when she was very young. Her sister was an invalid and had to be homeschooled. Marlene wanted to please her mother but it was impossible, she undertook violin study but it did not embrace her emotionally.

She was sent to boarding school, her mother was not rich, her mother cleaned houses for people and wore her hands raw cleaning the floors. Marlene credited her for knowing how to clean her home. In boarding school, she found friends for the first time in her life. She got into acting because of her fascination for the movies. She loved both men and show more women. There were some graphic scenes but I wondered more about what she was thinking about.

I enjoyed reading about her engagement with the USO to entertain the troops and yearned for more information about her later years but the author, C.W. Gortner said that he would have written more than one book. She took a strong stand against the Nazis after she learned about what happened during WWII. I still want to read more about her. She was a fascinating woman. show less

Marlene Dietrich is immediately identifiable. One of the screen sirens from the Golden Age of Hollywood, her sultry movie roles and photographs made her a huge star. But that public persona was just a part of who she was. C.W. Gortner's Marlene, a fictionalization of Dietrich's life from 1914 until 1946, fleshes out the woman and the actress, telling her fascinating story from growing up in Germany with the deprivations after WWI to international stardom and then to ultimately turning her back on her homeland under Nazi rule.

Raised by a very strict, widowed mother who was forever conscious of their lineage and its due, Dietrich had a difficult relationship with her mother and her compliant, medically fragile older sister, Liesel. show more Interested in more than the children, kitchen, church triumvirate that most German girls of her class aspired to, she didn't fit in with her fellow students either. Introduced to the movies by a French teacher, she found her passion. Initially showing some talent at violin, she was sent to a conservatory. Although her professor tutored her privately, her grades only showed improvement because he was enthralled by the teenager. Having her first affair with him, she learned early the absolute power her sexuality held. It was this raw sexuality that eventually led to her success in the decadent cabarets and then German movies where she outshone her costars and which led to Hollywood coming to call. Combining a need to escape her mother's sense of morality with her own determined drive for fame and money, Dietrich, more than many women of her time, crafted her own life.

Openly bisexual, Dietrich indulged in affairs with numerous people. There were those who could further her career and those to whom she was magnetically drawn. She married once and had a daughter. Husband Rudi and daughter Heidede were paradoxically incredibly important in her life and also brushed aside more often than not. Her most enduring relationship was with the public Dietrich she herself created. Her life was unconventional; from her friendships within the gay and trans community in Germany before WWII to her financial support of her husband to her legion of affairs, Dietrich trod her own road. Gortner does a good job showing the scandals and defiance that marked her life. He shows her sheer determination and the ways in which she was always a survivor, pushing forward after any setback. But most importantly he shows how she fell in love with people and things that shaped her life indelibly.

The narration of the novel is in the first person, which allows Gortner to give Dietrich motivations for all of her actions, some the reader will sympathize with and some of which they will disapprove. The drawing of Germany and the feeling of a desperate sort of decadence between the wars is quite well done. There are quite a few steamy sex scenes in the novel and while Dietrich was undeniably voracious sexually, for pleasure and for gain, these scenes didn't really add much to the narrative itself. The middle portion of the novel, detailing many of her movies, her directors, and her leading men, lags some although it does also show the ultimate control that the studios had over their contracted actors and the way that that control chafed Dietrich. As Hitler gains power in Germany and Dietrich's feelings about the Nazis become clearer and more focused, the novel picks up speed. In fact, her USO tours and her refusal to return to Germany are the strongest pieces of the novel, beautifully showcasing her strength and character. The ending of the novel, not the end of Dietrich's long life by any stretch of the imagination, is a bit abrupt but does creatively tie her back to Garbo, whom she's spent so long first trying to emulate and then trying to distance herself from in becoming her own distinct star. Those who have an interest in Old Hollywood will thrill to all the cameos of actors and actresses, including an author or two, who play larger or smaller parts in Dietrich's life. Once started, this is a hard novel to put down because in it, Dietrich is once again the star of her own life. show less

Ah Gortner... He's one of those authors that you know is going to be good when reading his works. He knows how to create dramatic characters in an equally dramatic setting to create a story that stands out. This book is no different!

Before starting this work, the most I knew about Marlene Dietrich was that she was a famous black and white movie actress from the World War II era and that she was an ardent anti-Nazi. What the author has done has flesh her out so completely that I felt I was meeting someone completely new. He gives her such a rich background and shows us as she develops into the personality history comes to know, that the reader can't help but be held fixated by.

I love how the author showed us so many aspects of her show more background. World War I, acting school, her many affairs, and her nightlife in decadent 1920s Berlin all show us the complex character that can't be fit in any one character mold. She's one of those personalities that defies convention and compartmentalization.

Her best admirable aspect, though, that the author showed was Marlene’s brash disregard for how the world saw her. She didn't let society, family, lovers, or the movie industry dictate who she was or how she thought. Any woman who has the balls to show even a small part of her true self to the world is to be admired.

Then of course, there is the author’s usual talent at historical detail. Not only is history explored and used to develop Marlene; equal measure is given to history itself. The author gives us an intimate and intricate look at a society on the brink. The interwar years in Germany were a time of great change, with political organizations popping into and out of office with disturbing regularity. Berlin provides an incredible backdrop for the story of both Marlene and of the development of Germany into the fascist state we knew it became. It was fascinating to see how Berlin developed from decadent night clubs where porn shows were the norm to a city full of jack boots and censorship. Seeing Germany's descent into madness through Marlene’s eyes contributed to the overall historical tone of the story as well as to her own growth and journey.

Needless to say, even though the year is yet young, I think I'm safe to say this book is among my best of 2017. The author has created a glorious story of a country in flux, torn between so many mirrors of itself that no one knows the true Germany. Along with that tale, we get a hell of a woman who is full of grit, courage, and enough ambition to topple Hollywood. Marlene is one of those personalities that you can't help but love and admire. It's safe to say that I will be looking for more of this author’s work, if this book is any indicator of his level as a writer. show less

The first moment I got this book in the mail (Thank you, William Morrow Paperbacks!) I got excited and at the same time had to settle down (I was sick with an awful flu that knocked me down and got the entire household sick). It could not have come at a better time. I say that not only in the sense that I needed a book to get me out of a reading rut and also to distract me from this flu, but considering what’s going on in the world now, it’s perfect timing.

I loved this book. Everything about it was all that I had imagined Marlene Dietrich would be. The book captured who she was; strong willed, free spirited, glamourous yet determined to make her name out there known in the world. What I loved best was how her attitude during this show more particular time period. She participated in just about every deadly sin listed but did it with grace and poise. I loved how this book captured that essence and that was what made her shine even through the War. I absolutely loved her bravery and willingness to stand up against the Nazis even though she loved her country dearly and it tore her apart to see it ruined by the end of WWII.

The writing in the book is well done. It was enough to engage the reader and to keep the pages turning. Now, I do notice in some other reviews I’ve read, some readers didn’t like the fact that the book stops at a certain time period (after WWII). Fair enough, perhaps they wanted more out of Marlene. I was satisfied with it, because if you really think about it, the absolute highlight and prime moments of her life was during this time period. This book was meant to capture those particular occasions. So try not to feel jilted or robbed! It’s still a great read and it goes by rather quick!

I’d have to say one of my absolute favorite parts in the book was her experiences in Weimar Berlin. It was beautifully written and you could just feel the cigarette smoke, the music, and you can almost picture the decadence that permeated throughout the cabarets. It was perfect!.

Another part that I loved, and that I had waited throughout the book to read and was getting worried that it wasn’t going to be mentioned, was Lili Marleen. Such an iconic song it had to be in the book! And it was. It tugged at my heart and I welled up with emotion reading that particular passage.

Beautifully written and an excellent novel I greatly recommend this book to historical fiction lovers or lovers of Marlene Dietrich. Her actions during the WWII is crucial and something to emulate. Especially for what we are going through right now in the world. show less

I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads FirstReads in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by C.W. Gortner, and I really enjoyed his writing style. I didn't have a lot of background information on the main character, aside from recognizing her name as one of the famous women of old Hollywood. I don't think I've ever seen one of her films, but I did know she spend a lot of time touring in the USO during World War II. I had also heard rumors that she was bisexual and had a virtual army of Hollywood lovers. Gortner does not skirt this at all in the novel. In fact, a good bit of the book seemed dedicated to Marlene's various affairs with men and women in Europe and America.

The first third of the book covers show more Marlene's childhood in Germany during World War I, and her subsequent young adulthood among German cabarets and gay clubs. The second third of the book follows the development of her film career and her eventual move to Hollywood. Eventually the shadows of Hitler and World War II fall across our story, which I think did a lot to endear Marlene to me. The final third of the book follows Marlene as she tours with the USO, going to war torn Europe to help bring some entertainment to the troops, to the detriment of her own health. I found the final third of the book to be the most interesting.

After reading this novel, I'd be more than happy to try something else by the author. I think I'd also like to see a film featuring Marlene. She seems like a bad-ass woman who does what (and who) she wants - opinions of others be damned. show less