A Girl Like I

read Loos's later autobiography a few months ago, and I had hopes that this book on the earlier portion of her life would be more relevant to my research needs. Not really; she tends to dwell on old Hollywood gossip rather than discuss the day to day work as a scenario writer in the early silent film industry, but that doesn't make this a bad read.

One thing that has become clear to me in reading Anita Loos's words on her own life is that she is an interesting person, though not a particularly likeable one. She's arrogant and selfish, and rather proud of that. Her taste in men is appalling, and she's fully aware of that in hindsight. However, she's a fantastic, breezy storyteller. The way she explains the backgrounds of her parents and show more family is especially fun. Less fun: how she flows back and forth across time (either for experience's sake for the blur of memory forty years later) is exasperating for me, as a researcher wanting info on a specific era, but probably would be no issue at all for a regular reader. show less

Autobiographical memoirs and essays. Loos provides a humorous glimpse into the flapper era, far breezier than Fitzgerald's darker vision.