Disappointed

I was looking forward to this biography very much as I enjoy movies that feature Herbert Marshall and I wanted to know more about him. This biography reads more like a very long resume of his work rather than an examination of the man himself. While I am more aware of the breadth of Marshall's work, I really don't feel I know the man any better. He was married four times, yet there is very little examination of his personal relationships. WHY did these various marriages end? The reader is told when Bart marries a woman, that it's all happy, but then he's suddenly seeing the woman destined to be the next wife, there's a divorce and a re-marriage. WHY? Nothing personal is explored in any depth. His drinking to relieve his constant pain is referenced a few times, but in a "charming" way, even after one of his wives is arrested for DUI. Was his alcoholism a factor in the demise of the various marriages? I'm not even sure if his fourth wife was with him when he died. On a technical level, the proof-reader who is thanked so heartily in the last pages of the book needs a refresher course. There are misused commas scattered all over the place. Words are missing from sentences and there are words that are misused. (Learn the difference between "a while" and "awhile" as one example) There are a lot of poorly constructed sentences as well. I could go on, but I'll just say that the poor writing was distracting and confusing. I've read 16th Century manuscripts with more clarity. I just finished an excellent biography of Barbara La Marr by Sherri Snyder and she wrote a very clear and personal biography with far less information than I'm sure there is about Herbert Marshall. I was expecting a biography of similar quality with this one. I was very disappointed. On a positive note: there are lots of photographs and that is always enjoyable in a biography. Not worth $28.00 for a paperback, though.

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