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suekinaz's review
3.0
There aren’t many of us of a certain age who aren’t fans of Audrey Hepburn. Her grace, style and story of overcoming is admirable over and above her acting skill. While this book highlights her commitment to her work with UNICEF (with frequent side mentions of her fondness for Kent cigarettes) there was a little too much repeat detail. I confess to skimming to the end, disappointing.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC
bargainsleuth's review
2.0
I did not enjoy Dutch Girl, Robert Matzen's biography of Audrey Hepburn's years spent in Europe during WWII. However, that didn't stop me from picking up this book about Hepburn's life after her career in films. While I appreciated the effort to highlight all the good works Hepburn did through UNICEF over the years, I really cannot stand a docudrama-type biography. Just like Dutch Girl, Matzen adds flourishes to his writing that make the book read like an historical fiction novel. That's a fairly popular trend in recent years regarding biographies, but I immediately am suspect when a writer does that. How are we to know what is real and not real in a NON-FICTION book?
I wish someone would write a comprehensive biography of Audrey Hepburn's whole life without embellishment--truly she led an extraordinary life and was a good human being, too. Oh, and she acted in some movies and plays, too.
I wish someone would write a comprehensive biography of Audrey Hepburn's whole life without embellishment--truly she led an extraordinary life and was a good human being, too. Oh, and she acted in some movies and plays, too.
nina_chan01's review
5.0
I've always thought it unfair that Audrey Hepburn is mostly remembered for being extremely pretty in films when the work she did as a UNICEF ambassador changed and saved lives. Having all she went through to ensure that people didn't just sweep children's suffering under the rug and pretended it wasn't happening simply because it was in impoverished countries has been inspiring. But I never really knew the whole story of everything she did, experienced, and sacrificed to achieve what she did.
This book is both fantastic and heartbreaking. The beautiful, honest writing by Matzen is both the reason I admire it and that it took me 6 months to read it. It is a no-holds-barred retelling of the highs and lows of each campaign and all the work Hepburn and the people at UNICEF did. It paints a vivid picture of entire communities decimated by war and famine. It is both the good and hope in people doing their best to bring aid and the horrors of that aid not being enough or getting there in time. And through it all, a slight wisp of a woman with more will and determination than an entire battalion walking into Hell in hopes of being able to give those suffering a voice.
It is not an easy read. I continually had to walk away from it just from how well Matzen places the reader right next to Hepburn as she walks through starving villages and war-torn cities. It hits hard and keeps on hitting even when the chapters are about things that happened in Hepburn's life outside of her work for UNICEF.
Even with that, I very highly recommend giving this one a read to see what true strength of character is and how one person lending their voice to a cause can change the world.
Happy thanks to NetGalley and GoodKnight Books for the eye-opening read!
This book is both fantastic and heartbreaking. The beautiful, honest writing by Matzen is both the reason I admire it and that it took me 6 months to read it. It is a no-holds-barred retelling of the highs and lows of each campaign and all the work Hepburn and the people at UNICEF did. It paints a vivid picture of entire communities decimated by war and famine. It is both the good and hope in people doing their best to bring aid and the horrors of that aid not being enough or getting there in time. And through it all, a slight wisp of a woman with more will and determination than an entire battalion walking into Hell in hopes of being able to give those suffering a voice.
It is not an easy read. I continually had to walk away from it just from how well Matzen places the reader right next to Hepburn as she walks through starving villages and war-torn cities. It hits hard and keeps on hitting even when the chapters are about things that happened in Hepburn's life outside of her work for UNICEF.
Even with that, I very highly recommend giving this one a read to see what true strength of character is and how one person lending their voice to a cause can change the world.
Happy thanks to NetGalley and GoodKnight Books for the eye-opening read!
poisonenvy's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
As most of my friends can attest (and anyone who's ever visited my apartment), I've am very much in love with Audrey Hepburn. I've been in love with her ever since I first saw Breakfast at Tiffany's in tenth grade. I've watched her entire filmography, most of the movies more than once, and she's about the only celebrity that I would ever willingly read biographies of (she is my one exception to my 'I don't care about celebrities and I have some pretty serious concerns about celebrity worship and our culture's obsession with them).
Earlier this year, this book and Robert Matzen's other biography on Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl, went on sale on Chirp Audiobooks, and so of course I snatched them both up. I read Dutch Girl -- a book detailing Audrey's teen years in World War II and in Nazi occupied Holland, which delved a little into the efforts the teenager made with the resistance there -- and was pretty excited to read about this book. Warrior had the same audiobook narrator as Dutch Girl, and Tavia Gilbert once again knocked it out of the park with her excellent narration.
It relays a lot of the information that was present in Dutch Girl, but I don't think this is a failing. Matzen drew a very clear path between the horror Audrey went through in the war, including famine, and how it shaped her dedication to helping other children who were suffering through famine and war in her later years.
This book chronicles the final years of her life working for UNICEF - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund - and as part of that work, she toured poverty and war torn countries, doing what she could to raise awareness and raise money for these children. She did it in an entirely selfless way; it has been said by those closest to her that her tireless work with UNICEF is ultimately what led to her death at the age of 63.
There's certainly more material to work with in Audrey's final years, but even still Matzen delves deeply into only tangentially related topics -- including Bob Geldof and the Band-Aid/Live Aid event (which I was disappointed was not examined more critically) -- in the same way he did in Dutch Girl, but, like Dutch Girl, I appreciated many of them for giving a more robust picture of what was happening at the time.
While the book did, in fact, touch quite a bit on how Western Imperialism and European Colonialism is the driving factor between many of the conditions in developing countries, though not with any real depth, I was a little disappointed that it didn't go into what effects Audrey Hepburn and UNICEF had in the countries they visited. I do, however, recognize that that topic is well beyond of the scope of the book, which is, at it's core, a biography written on the final years of Audrey Hepburn's life.
This book was excellent though. Very listenable, and only served to raise Audrey Hepburn even higher in my esteem.
Earlier this year, this book and Robert Matzen's other biography on Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl, went on sale on Chirp Audiobooks, and so of course I snatched them both up. I read Dutch Girl -- a book detailing Audrey's teen years in World War II and in Nazi occupied Holland, which delved a little into the efforts the teenager made with the resistance there -- and was pretty excited to read about this book. Warrior had the same audiobook narrator as Dutch Girl, and Tavia Gilbert once again knocked it out of the park with her excellent narration.
It relays a lot of the information that was present in Dutch Girl, but I don't think this is a failing. Matzen drew a very clear path between the horror Audrey went through in the war, including famine, and how it shaped her dedication to helping other children who were suffering through famine and war in her later years.
This book chronicles the final years of her life working for UNICEF - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund - and as part of that work, she toured poverty and war torn countries, doing what she could to raise awareness and raise money for these children. She did it in an entirely selfless way; it has been said by those closest to her that her tireless work with UNICEF is ultimately what led to her death at the age of 63.
There's certainly more material to work with in Audrey's final years, but even still Matzen delves deeply into only tangentially related topics -- including Bob Geldof and the Band-Aid/Live Aid event (which I was disappointed was not examined more critically) -- in the same way he did in Dutch Girl, but, like Dutch Girl, I appreciated many of them for giving a more robust picture of what was happening at the time.
While the book did, in fact, touch quite a bit on how Western Imperialism and European Colonialism is the driving factor between many of the conditions in developing countries, though not with any real depth, I was a little disappointed that it didn't go into what effects Audrey Hepburn and UNICEF had in the countries they visited. I do, however, recognize that that topic is well beyond of the scope of the book, which is, at it's core, a biography written on the final years of Audrey Hepburn's life.
This book was excellent though. Very listenable, and only served to raise Audrey Hepburn even higher in my esteem.
ejpass's review
5.0
5/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: biographies, Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl, humanitarian work, UNICEF, Robert Matzen
Note: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read Dutch Girl the other year and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to find (and receive) Warrior on NetGalley. I absolutely sped through this book, I loved it so much (it's also a good 100 pages shorter than the first one).
Once again, Matzen doesn't disappoint and goes into detail about Hepburn's desire to help the children and the scope of her humanitarian work for UNICEF. There are personal anecdotes from her life and the lives of those around her sprinkled throughout, but I think Matzen does it in such a way that it works well in the biography. I found that I enjoyed reading about adult Audrey and liked that Matzen kept more to the topic of her UNICEF work than he seemed to her Resistance work in Dutch Girl. I found it really interesting to read about how Hepburn prepared for her UNICEF trips and was fairly surprised about some of the places she visited. She really seemed to be dedicated to her humanitarian work and I think Matzen gets that across well.
Like with the first book, Matzen again pays due to Hepburn's relationships. She has this network of people around her that are able to help her with UNICEF and support her career decisions. I think showing these relationships also drives home just how empathetic and connected to other people she was during her life. The close relationships she has span the ages and obviously have an impact on her, which Matzen shoes. I also think Matzen did a good job showing the impacts of the shorter relationships she fostered in the countries she went to for UNICEF and how some of those moements and conversations stayed with her throughout her life.
Overall a pretty good book. It does a good job of showing Audrey's UNICEF work while also depicting how her career, family, and WWII all played a role in her life. Due to the timeline of things, Matzen does include some information about her film career as well as the end of her life, but I don't think those chapters detract from her UNICEF work.
Recommended for people who like: biographies, Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl, humanitarian work, UNICEF, Robert Matzen
Note: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read Dutch Girl the other year and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to find (and receive) Warrior on NetGalley. I absolutely sped through this book, I loved it so much (it's also a good 100 pages shorter than the first one).
Once again, Matzen doesn't disappoint and goes into detail about Hepburn's desire to help the children and the scope of her humanitarian work for UNICEF. There are personal anecdotes from her life and the lives of those around her sprinkled throughout, but I think Matzen does it in such a way that it works well in the biography. I found that I enjoyed reading about adult Audrey and liked that Matzen kept more to the topic of her UNICEF work than he seemed to her Resistance work in Dutch Girl. I found it really interesting to read about how Hepburn prepared for her UNICEF trips and was fairly surprised about some of the places she visited. She really seemed to be dedicated to her humanitarian work and I think Matzen gets that across well.
Like with the first book, Matzen again pays due to Hepburn's relationships. She has this network of people around her that are able to help her with UNICEF and support her career decisions. I think showing these relationships also drives home just how empathetic and connected to other people she was during her life. The close relationships she has span the ages and obviously have an impact on her, which Matzen shoes. I also think Matzen did a good job showing the impacts of the shorter relationships she fostered in the countries she went to for UNICEF and how some of those moements and conversations stayed with her throughout her life.
Overall a pretty good book. It does a good job of showing Audrey's UNICEF work while also depicting how her career, family, and WWII all played a role in her life. Due to the timeline of things, Matzen does include some information about her film career as well as the end of her life, but I don't think those chapters detract from her UNICEF work.
bookishpip's review
3.0
This was an incredibly in-depth exploration into the later life of Audrey Hepburn; in particular, her many important and influential experiences working as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Having very little knowledge of Hepburn, I went into this fairly blind, and was humbled by her wealth of experiences. Especially strange to read about was the extremity of the contrasts in her life; caring for sick and dying children whilst campaigning one moment, and in Hollywood the next. I was also blown away by the parallels drawn between the experiences of Hepburn and Anne Frank; growing up the same age in the Netherlands and experiencing the horror of the Nazis in such different ways. What an incredibly fulfilling and interesting life Hepburn led, and what an inspiration she was.
I must admit, however, that I did find it to be a touch repetitive, and - dare I admit it - a bit too much information. It was a bit of an overwhelming read. I understand, appreciate and admire the level of research and detail provided in this book, but personally I hate to admit that it didn’t make for the most riveting reading experience. I found myself skipping through large sections, especially in the second half.
Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a rigorous account of Hepburn’s UNICEF years.
Having very little knowledge of Hepburn, I went into this fairly blind, and was humbled by her wealth of experiences. Especially strange to read about was the extremity of the contrasts in her life; caring for sick and dying children whilst campaigning one moment, and in Hollywood the next. I was also blown away by the parallels drawn between the experiences of Hepburn and Anne Frank; growing up the same age in the Netherlands and experiencing the horror of the Nazis in such different ways. What an incredibly fulfilling and interesting life Hepburn led, and what an inspiration she was.
I must admit, however, that I did find it to be a touch repetitive, and - dare I admit it - a bit too much information. It was a bit of an overwhelming read. I understand, appreciate and admire the level of research and detail provided in this book, but personally I hate to admit that it didn’t make for the most riveting reading experience. I found myself skipping through large sections, especially in the second half.
Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a rigorous account of Hepburn’s UNICEF years.
meaghanreadshfx's review
4.0
Audrey Hepburn is an absolute fashion icon and I couldn't wait to read this book! The way she holds herself and helps others is just full of natural elegance. This book really explores the extent of her work with UNICEF and also who Audrey really was as a person.
themoonphoenix's review
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Audrey Hepburn is known for her beauty and her movies, she is beautiful both on the outside and on the inside, she was kind and humble. After her retirement in Hollywood, she lived a quiet time in Switzerland, until she became involved with UNICEF.
Audrey may be a shy and reserved person, but she was never weak, she was a fighter and a warrior, just like the title of the book, strength manifests itself in different ways and hers was raising her voice to those who needed it.
She was not only the pretty face to raise funds, she got completely involved, made visits to countries in need and sometimes went to war zones, she cared about people and was fond of children, she understood their pain because she also lived something similar (she grew up under the domination of the Nazis).
She raised her voice for those who could not do it on their own, to get them food and medicine, and try to give them a better life. Traveled to dangerous areas, mixed with people, listened to them and offered her support and comfort, they were happy to see her, right there she was not a famous actress or a fashion icon, she was helpful, she was empathetic and kind.
This is a very well-documented biography, the bibliographic record is extensive and among the collaborations is the youngest son of the actress, providing more intimate and unknown stories.
She is one of my favorite actresses, I started watching classic movies because of her, I have read other biographies and I knew she worked with UNICEF but I did not know much about what she was involved, usually her biographies focus on her movies and fashion style, with a small mention of what she did after retiring. Audrey was a great actress and even a great person, I wish her humanitarian work was also just as admired and inspiring, as well as her iconic fashion style.
If you're Audrey a fan or want to know how UNICEF works, this biography might interest you.
Audrey may be a shy and reserved person, but she was never weak, she was a fighter and a warrior, just like the title of the book, strength manifests itself in different ways and hers was raising her voice to those who needed it.
She was not only the pretty face to raise funds, she got completely involved, made visits to countries in need and sometimes went to war zones, she cared about people and was fond of children, she understood their pain because she also lived something similar (she grew up under the domination of the Nazis).
She raised her voice for those who could not do it on their own, to get them food and medicine, and try to give them a better life. Traveled to dangerous areas, mixed with people, listened to them and offered her support and comfort, they were happy to see her, right there she was not a famous actress or a fashion icon, she was helpful, she was empathetic and kind.
This is a very well-documented biography, the bibliographic record is extensive and among the collaborations is the youngest son of the actress, providing more intimate and unknown stories.
She is one of my favorite actresses, I started watching classic movies because of her, I have read other biographies and I knew she worked with UNICEF but I did not know much about what she was involved, usually her biographies focus on her movies and fashion style, with a small mention of what she did after retiring. Audrey was a great actress and even a great person, I wish her humanitarian work was also just as admired and inspiring, as well as her iconic fashion style.
If you're Audrey a fan or want to know how UNICEF works, this biography might interest you.