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| Life with My Sister Madonna | 
 enlarge | Authors: Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy Used: £6.00
You Save: £11.99 (67%)
New (24) from £6.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 271
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 1847374387
EAN: 9781847374387
ASIN: 1847374387
Publication Date: July 14, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: As new, excellent condition
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Insightful look into Madonna's life August 29, 2008
This is an entertaining look at Madonna's life through the eyes of her obviously embittered brother Christopher. It's probably Christopher's bitchier comments about his sister that are the most revealing. You get the sense of a classically complicated brother-sister relationship. Very tellingly at the end Christopher relates a conversatin with his father where he calls himself a 'Loser'. I came away feeling sorry for Christopher, and thinking that it wouldn't be that hard for his older sister to forgive his irritating ways and take him back into the fold.
There's no real depth to the book, and you leave it feeling as slutty as if you've just read a back catalogue of Heat magazine. However, it's grossly intriguing nonetheless.
Enjoyable read that ultimately reveals more about Christopher himself than Madonna August 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Barcode: 9781847374387
I bought this book to read over the holiday and both being a massive Madonna fan as well as hearing all the fuss over this book in the media i was intrigued to find out what the book was really like.
Having finished it, it is fair to say that there is very little in terms of 'dirty laundry' or 'shock horror revalatory statements' to be found here. The book didn't change my opinion of Madonna at all, simply becoming another element that makes up her incredible legacy as a performer.
Thus, despite pretty much purely focusing on Christopher's life in terms of his relationship with Madonna, it becomes far more a story of himself. Now, each to their own but i actually found Christopher pretty likeable - the writing style casual and on the whole pretty well-written for this kind of book. That said though, he is not without his faults and my lasting impression is of someone who grew overly used to opportunites and bonuses being Madonna's brother provided him with, only to feel the blows twice as hard when he reached tough times.
Christopher seems keen to say he has carved his own place in the world, and the passion he clearly shows towards his art and design is commendable but as towards the later stages of the book when he complains of poor accomodation and a whole host of financial difficulties he does begin to rub you up the wrong way. Without a doubt the worst part of the book is Christopher's decent into a drug-fuelled life of super-models and suchlike and the reek of self-obsession is at its highest in his catty emails to Madonna.
So, put simply, this is the story of two siblings who came from a large, very traditional Christian family and while Madonna, for all her quirky lifestyle bits and pieces is well, still amazing, Christopher seems to have got worse over the years. You feel sorry for him when Madonna refuses to pay him for various design jobs and while i'll maintain he does overall seem like an OK guy, he's grown accustomed to an extravagent lifestyle that he never really had in the first place.
Christopher's relationship difficulties with Guy Richie seem petty as well, he bigs up the fact that he has some kind of homophobic agenda against him and that Guy has driven him out of Madonna's life but he hardly seems to have tried investing in any kind of friendship with his brother-in-law at all, apparently just letting this quasi-bitterness keep hanging between them.
Taking a chronological route, starting from the Ciccone siblings' childhood right up to the present day - it's interesting to see personalities develop over the years as well as Madonna's stratospheric rise to global fame. There's a good balance of most areas of her life and the book flows well as a whole. Even if you aren't keen on this book or Christopher, i feel there is still some worth to it as it will have provoked an opinion, which is clearly this book's key intention.
The essence of it all essentially is Christopher presenting himself to the reader, you can like him or not and in many ways, i did find this as an outlook on Madonna refreshing. There are so many unnoficial biographies of her out there and whatever degree of truth there is to Christopher's stories about her (you never can tell 100%), at heart it is a first hand account of just how close you really can get to the Queen of pop before you lose it all.
 Some startling revelations August 23, 2008
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
From the innocence of childhood to the tawdry world of celebrity and stardom, Ciccone leaves no stone unturned in what has been recently hyped by the media as an "astoundingly frank" account of his relationship with his celebrity sister. However, readers must be warned that the author is far from a particularly likeable character. It is really rather sad to witness quite such an overwhelming air of bitterness coupled with such transparent attempts at self-glorification- a recurring tendency that goes so far as to pervade accounts of their childhood. While I was intrigued to learn of the extent of the two siblings' rivalry, personally I found the boastful chapter on his (self-proclaimed) genius for "Monopoly" to be most objectionable. To be perfectly honest, if he really did beat his sister twenty times in succession during the summer of 1972, that does not impress me in the least. Still, there are many insights to be gathered within. Apparently the young Ms. Ciccone was an exceedingly dilligent high-school student, who excelled in each and every subject (in fact, today she is a member of mensa, with an IQ of 178- equal to that of Steven Hawking!). However, her strongest interests of all were initially reserved for the subject of fashion and textiles, which she had dreamed of studying at college- before her love for ballet gradually began to take over. Although she was ultimately to depart for Michigan in order to study as a dancer, this passion never left her (and was later evidenced by the song "Material Girl").
All in all, this is a book that contains many interesting snippets of information, although one sometimes has to question how credible the source really is, despite the first-hand nature of his account. It is also necessary to comment on his style of prose. While I am certainly no homophobe, quite such a 'fabulous' approach to writing can become somewhat grating after a few pages. Indeed, it's fair to say that Ciccone is a camp as a row of pink tents (or perhaps "as gay as a nine-bob note"- as my father would put it). Anyway, if you're interested in the Queen of Pop's dirty laundry, this is the only place worth looking (eBay used to be good, but nothing has surfaced for auction since her maid was dismissed in disgrace). However, for true fans of Maradona (myself included) not even the worst of these accusations could do anything to eradicate rose-tinted impressions from waking memory. I can safely say that nothing will ever change the manner in which I would wish to picture the singer (ie. in the process of performing anilingus on a naked man, as seen on page 42 of her controversial coffee-table book "Sex").
Enjoyable August 9, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book by Madonna's brother isn't as you might fear (or hope) a character assassination of his sister. It's not a bitter expose either. I wouldn't be surprised if Madonna actually authorised this just to chuck some work Christopher's way.
The most enjoyable parts of it for me are in the details of how Madonna's career took off and how the dynamics of their brother/sister relationship were affected.
Chris Ciccone comes across as a pretty okay guy who hasn't blamed everything that didn't go his way on his sister. There's not much new to learn about Madonna but this is at least a book written by someone who really knows her. And it's an easy read.
brilliant holiday read August 4, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Fantastic biography by Madonna's brother Chris. Although he professes his deep sincere love for his sister this is a clear case of making much needed cash for the author which will include all his fees from interviews and magazine deals he has made since the book came out.
I imagine Madonna feels totally betrayed by her brother who enjoyed a very privileged life whilst living and touring with her in her up and coming years. He was reliant on Madonna for all his finances and I imagine she was sick of him being a leech.
Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, full of juicy gossip about Madonna and to be fair because Madonna is so private this is the first true look into how she has lived her life to date which is worth the read alone.
It is very clear that Chris is bitter towards his sister and has a big chip on his shoulder because he thinks Guy Richie does not like GAY men.
(chris is gay!)
There is nothing to hurt Madonna in this book, so what if she is selfish and spoilt! Personally I imagine Chris could have said a LOT MORE!!
FANTASTIC READ - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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