Reader Rating:
I happened across this book at work and put it at the top of my reading list. I found it interesting that the author was deeply affected after watching the TV movie about Karen Carpenter when he was a teenager. In my case, I became a huge fan, in his case, he was left questioning "How could this happen?" This lead him on a search for answers which many people warned him against. Apparently the Carpenter family was and still is very tight lipped and controlling when it comes to their image. Even in cases where they had given their approval on projects, they still wouldn't give any information which caused screenplay writers and biographers to get very frustrated. During the making of the TV movie, the script was rewritten several times and continued to be rewritten on a daily basis as filming progressed. Part of the issue was how the mother, Agnes was coming across. Richard thought they portrayed her as cold and cruel, and even agreed to give more details on his drug abuse in exchange for softening Agnes' edges. Many people said that the mother was exactly how they made her out to be and was even called "the dragon lady" by some friends. Cynthia Gibb, the actress who played Karen, related the day they shot the scene with the therapist. The therapist tells Agnes to tell Karen she loves her and she just says that it's ridiculous and that's not how they do things. Everyone filming was uneasy what Richard would say about the scene, but he was happy because he thought it made the therapist look like an a**hole. I thought this was a startling revelation. In spite of her weighing as low as 77 lbs, the Carpenter family refused to believe that she had more than just a dieting problem. Much of Karen's problems stemmed from not having any control over her life. It stated that Agnes owned her life and Richard her voice. Throughout the book it detailed instances where she was shut down for making her own decisions. During the period Richard was recovering from drug abuse, Karen decided to record her own album. After everything was finished, she played it for Richard and other executives who told her it was crap, shelved it, and told her to start working on a new Carpenters album. To Agnes, Karen was just backup for Richard, who she idolized. By Karen doing a solo album, she was jeopardizing Richard's career. Also unsettling was her own marriage. At first, her husband seemed perfect. Right before the marriage, he told her that he had a vasectomy before they met, a fact he kept hidden even though he knew she very badly wanted to have children. She told him the wedding was off and called her mother who told her that she "made her bed and now she had to lay in it." She went through with the wedding only to have her marriage quickly fall apart after that. He ended up being emotionally abusive and a gold digger.
Details from close friends revealed her struggle with anorexia. At one point she was taking 80 laxatives and 10 thyroid pills a day. During meals she would move food around her plate and even distribute her food to everyone at the table saying that it was so good that they had to try it. She would often layer her clothes to hide her weight loss. During her autopsy, it was discovered that Karen had been using ipecac syrup to help her throw up which weakened her heart. It's hard to believe that she was only 32 when she died. She looked so much older in her pictures.
Other interesting things I found out where details about different songs and how Karen sang in such a soft quiet voice that surprised people when they heard it in person. Many described it as just a whisper, but when sung into a microphone, it was like velvet.
I enjoyed the book but there are parts that are a little tedious, even for a Carpenter fan.
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