Florence Foster Jenkins: The biography that inspired the critically-acclaimed film

A so-so biography of a woman who considered herself a great opera singer. There seems to be a lot of filler background information on her life because there are not many records found of her early life. She didn't really make a name for herself until she was about 40. One thing I did not understand (and the book doesn't discuss) was she had a lot of years of musical training and NO ONE told her she was terrible? It wasn't until later in her life that people were gong to see her sing BECAUSE she was bad. People made fun of her and she still didn't get it. Was it because she had money (and not a lot of it) that New York society praised her performances?It wasn't until about 150 pages into the 240 page book that it was even mentioned she couldn't sing.I was hoping for a more entertaining biography, but this book is pretty bland.

Flora Foster Jenkins lives in infamy for being a terrible singer who thought she was just the opposite. I became interested in knowing more about her after having seen the movie of the same name.Clearly, the authors did a lot of research, but were unable to come up with many really personal details that give the reader a real sense of the woman about whom they were writing. There was a lot of detail about peripheral things in her life, about the people with whom she had contact and about the music that she sang. Details about what Flora Foster Jenkins was actually like or why she had an inflated sense of her singing ability is decidedly lacking. So, the reader is provided with a caricature of the woman.Consequently, the book is ultimately unsatisfying. There is a good deal of period detail provided, and one comes away with a feel for the era in which Flora Foster Jenkins lived. The book is about the woman, however, not the era in which she grew up and in which she lived, though clearly it had its impact on her. As a book about the woman, the book fails to deliver. Worse yet, it is pretty boring.

I became fascinated by the story of Florence Foster Jenkins after seeing the movie with Meryl Streep and I wanted to learn more. I read everything I could find on the Internet, bought the book by Darryl Bullock (highly recommended, by the way) and then bought this one. This one started off a little dry, very academic in terms of simply reporting facts, discussing Florence's background, etc. Then we hit New York and the book really takes off. I absolutely loved the descriptions of Florence's recordings. The authors really became poetic as they discussed the epic failings of Madam Jenkins' song styling. And the description of her Carnegie Hall concert was beautifully done, fully capturing the tragedy behind this woman's bewildering belief in herself. One nice addition to this book are the photographs, which include both pictures from Jenkins's real life, and scenes from the movie.

I decided to read this book because I saw the movie and loved it, but the movie left me with some unanswered questions that I hoped the book would answer. And the book did answer most of those questions. The authors had obviously done a great deal of research because the book was filled with facts--every musical program she ever planned, every song/aria she ever sang, etc. There were so many details and facts that I found the book very boring and had to force myself to finish it. Of course, there had to be facts because this was about a woman's life, but it seemed as though the authors were putting in every detail that they learned in their research just to show they had done research. My advice is to skip the book and watch the movie unless you are seriously interested in learning every little detail there is to know about Florence Foster Jenkins.

This is basically quite an interesting biography of FFJ. What I disliked the most is that it's pretty heavily loaded with numerous details about what songs were performed plus many names of names and names of people who attended the concerts etc. I found myself skimming over most of that but did appreciate the time the authors took to research it all. On a positive note: this book made me appreciate FFJ, the woman, much more than having watched the movie.

It started well and is well written. It kept my interest most of the time. I would have preferred more information about their life together. The lists of performers and society members of the time was a bit overwhelming. I did like the sense of history and the culture of the day.

I am glad to have learned about this woman. Had never heard of her before the movie came out. This gives more insight but some of the vocabulary words were not even in a dictionary! However I laughed a lot at her antics and enjoyed the book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had never heard of FFJ before the movie came out, so I was eager to learn more about her life. A delightful story, especially if you're a music love like I am.

A very entertaining and vivid biography of an absolutely fascinating woman. Madame Florence was a wealthy woman with a dreadful singing voice who was a figure of fun to many with her self-promoted recitals. But there was a lot more to this remarkable lady than that and this book is a worthy celebration of a life well lived on her own terms. Highly recommended.. .

My interest in the subject was started by the movie and the subsequent coverage of it. The book is patchy and at times not fluid in its content. I have definitely learnt more of her but I definitely more from other sources. Worth a read if interested.

A biography of the life of Florence Foster Jenkins with photos and posters and some script from the play.

Rather boring

misleading packaging expected DVD