This was the book that inspired the Broadway show and later 2 movies. I feel for the person who had to decide which stories to cut for time - and there were many. Each chapter moved the story along, but also stood alone, more or less, as a little story. I enjoyed it, and took it with a grain of salt. She is an entertainer and it is an entertaining book.

Spoiler: Her life is really sad and her mom is pretty delusional. But I guess Gypsy turned out pretty normal. Or like, or normal as someone can be with no education and a delusional parent. Also. I LOOOOOVE that they always had so many pets, even into her adult life. Good read. Easy too. A lot of name dropping that I don't know because I'm too young to know but otherwise, very interesting perspective of a very interesting life.

This book definitely feels like memoir, impressionistic in nature, a mix of truth and fiction. It was very interesting but kind of glosses over the bit where Gypsy learns to take her clothes off on stage. One day she lowers her shoulder strap, the next she's in a tease costume, the next she's a world famous burlesque performer. There had to be some interesting psychological insights in the moments between.

There is quite a bit of animal cruelty in this book, just the nature of vaudeville I guess.

Of course she finesses a lot of details--they all did. But the parts that ring true (because I've seen echoes in so many autobiographies and biographies of early film stars who started from similar beginnings) are the harrowing details of life in vaudeville.

I hope someone is doing a study of the life of the traveling players because that part of our history seems to have come to an end, and at least for the children dragged from flophouse to flophouse as their mothers and or fathers (usually mothers, I find) pursued their dream of fame and riches, maybe that's good.

HOW DID THIS NEVER MAKE IT TO MY READ SHELF? I READ THIS FOREVER AGO!