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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
OBSESSION Jan 15, 2009
This eloquent, disturbing book is a portrait of a strong person under extreme stress, and a recipe for those who would endure stress creatively instead of destructively.
In a few short years Maile Hernandez finished law school, got married, lost her young mother to cancer, and learned that her only child was autistic.
This convergence of stresses could have led to anything and everything: substance abuse, divorce, self-mutilation, suicide. But Mrs. Hernandez found a creative route through her own maze of problems. An indirect route, to be sure, and a painful one.
The trouble started soon after her mother's death, when her father suggested she fly to New York to see Patti Lupone in the revival of Sweeney Todd.
As a result of this trip Mrs. Hernandez conceived an obsession with Patti Lupone. The emotions she displayed were excessive, supervalent. She overestimated Patti Lupone, did everything humanly possible to approach her and become her friend, and when symbolically rejected by Patti Lupone, she was crushed.
These reactions were not normal, and Mrs. Hernandez knew it at the time. But she went on with the obsession, flying all over America to see Patti Lupone's performances, buying every piece of Lupone memorabilia available, spending large amounts of money on gifts for Patti Lupone. She sent e-mails to Lupone so gushing that she was embarrassed later to think she had written them.
In the course of this disorder she suffered mightily, but also had moments of joy and inspiration such as she had never felt before. Like Swann in Proust's Swann in Love, she now found life "interesting." The struggle energized her.
In the end, she began working on this book, and the work slowly extracted her from the obsession and made her think about the blessings of her marriage and motherhood. The great panic subsided.
I suspect the death of her mother -- an indispensable support -- was behind much of what happened. The Lupone obsession, the foray into the theater, could be viewed panoramically as a roundabout way to "work through" an unbearable grief.
Most important, Mrs. Hernandez made the whole experience work for her rather than against her. She began as a housewife with low self-esteem, and ended as a performer and a writer. Out of tragedy she made personal success, personal growth. Surely this is what Margaret Mitchell referred to as "gumption" when she distinguished between the gifted who are destroyed by life and the gifted who survive and prevail.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Everyone Could Relate To This Excellent Book! Nov 09, 2008
Let's face it. We are all fans of someone famous, whether it be Madonna or Brad Pitt or even Joe the Plumber. At times we simply like we put out there for us (whether it be movies or music or TV or performances). At other times, we become obsessed with them and we just know, if they just took the time to get to know us, we will strike up a life-long friendship. Sometimes these idols are all we feel we have to live for.
These modern days of MySpace and email has become the era of anti face-to-face communication, a communication that is personal, yet distant enough. It's an age when we can send a famous person an email and maybe even get a response, yet there are no handshakes and no facial expressions to demonstrate neither flattery or annoyance. It's safe, but can still be painful.
That's why I loved this book so much...because everyone wants to be acknowledged by someone they love, even if it's just one-sided and hidden behind typed words and a faceless identity that we can color exactly as we choose.
I could relate to the author, Maile Hernandez, and her quest to befriend the ultimate and unreachable star, Broadway legend and Tony winner Patti LuPone. I'm a big fan of Patti LuPone--I've seen her perform four (count 'em, FOUR) times on Broadway (twice in Sweeney Todd, and twice in Gypsy), I own a couple of her CDs, I really admire her as a performer and, when my friend recently moved to Connecticut (her mother is actually a cousin of Patti's who hung out with her when she was a kid), I joked that I would visit her just so we could follow Patti LuPone around town.
Mind you, I was kidding about the last part. Really, I couldn't even bring myself to wait at the stage door for an autograph from her because I'm afraid I would throw up on her shoes. But, nonetheless, I'm a fan of Patti LuPone. But I don't live for her, I have no desire to want to befriend her. She's just there, and she's truly great at what she does and that's good enough for me.
Just a few short years ago, Maile Hernandez of Phoenix didn't know in what direction her life was going. She was no longer practicing law (which she hated), she just lost her mother to cancer, and was coping with raising her autistic son Max with her devoted lawyer husband Conrad. She always wanted to be a performer, on any level, but had had to suppress this desire and passion for her family.
Maile also loves Patti LuPone more than any other performer, since the first time she heard her as a teenager. She desires to see her in perform as often as she can--whether it be in Broadway shows in New York City or one-off performances in Virginia or Las Vegas or San Diego. She will go anywhere and see anything (sometimes twice in one weekend) that LuPone is performing in. Maile just feels that special connection with Patti LuPone.
Maile (sometimes signing her name, sometimes anonymously) sends LuPone flowers and other special gifts (like specially made bobbleheads) , she sends her rambling emails that both flatter her idol and bring her up-to-date with every aspect and detail of her life, and she even proposes that they have coffee together. Maile just knows that, if Patti LuPone just took the time to get to know her, they would become confidantes and life-long friends.
Maile appreciates the rare times LuPone personally responds to her emails, and she is devastated when, regarding the majority of her attempts to make personal contact via the web, her emails go unresponded to. She simply cannot understand why she is being ignored and rejected by her idol. After all, they met in passing at a restaurant and LuPone had hugged her several times. So why could Patti possibly be brushing her off?
Regardless of being brushed off by her idol, Maile still attends every performance she can of Patti LuPone. In her extensive travels, she even has a series bizarre and often-hilarious hilarious encounters with other LuPone fans she meets on the Internet.
LuPone also inspires her to try being an actress herself, as Maile becomes a fixture on the local theater scene and expressing herself as she has always wanted to--in performance. Maile also becomes closer and closer to her husband Conrad, who accompanies her on most of her Patti ventures and even becomes a fan himself. She also becomes a better mother, who learns to appreciate every accomplishment (no matter how small and insignificant to the outside world) of her son.
The final chapters on winning opening night tickets for Gypsy on an online auction, only to have them revoked for some mysterious reason (had Miss LuPone read the draft of the book that Maile sent her via email and personally does not want Maile there to spoil her opening night?) --make you feel like your guts have been ripped out and stomped on by the famous feet of your idol. You, the reader, feel just as rejected as Maile.
I loved every page of this book. At first, I must admit that I thought, "Wow, she is really loca for sending Patti LuPone that email and that present. She's simply not living in reality." But as I read further and further, it dawned on me that Maile is just like all of us. She loves and respects a performer so much that all she wants is an acknowledgement that her passion is appreciated by the other person. Hernandez demonstrates in her writing how painful it is to be rebuffed and how bloody difficult, nearly impossible, it is not to take it personally. As much as we don't want to believe it, stars do not (I repeat, DO NOT) live for their fans, but fans often live for their stars. Famous faces can also be harsh, famous voices can also be rude and, most importantly, famous people are not as perfect as we want to see them. Maile Hernandez demonstrates all of these factors so vividly in this outstanding book about the pop culture of celebrity.
I must admit, though all of this is fascinating, my favorite parts of the books are those detailing the relationship between Maile and her husband Conrad--how Patti (no matter how unresponsive she seems to Maile) has brought them closer and closer together.
Maile Hernandez is truly a gifted and entertaining author, and I can't wait for her to publish her next book. But I swear to you, here and now, that no matter how much I loved her first book, I won't (I repeat, WON'T with a capital W) be sending her an email. But, between you and me, if I saw her at book signing, I would kindly ask her to pose for a picture with me. After all, I'm a fan :-)
4 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Great Roller Coaster of Emotions Sep 08, 2008
I just was so unbelievably awed by this book, and by the amazing journey this young woman took. And by how much she changed and grew.
There were so many times when I wanted to reach out and hug her, and say, "don't you realize that you already are an Important Person." There were other times I wept for her experiences and the emotions she went through regarding her son. Having a daughter with autism, I've experienced this same roller coaster of emotions, and the same desire to completely focus my energies and attention on something outside of that. At other times, I took pride in her triumphs, and some measure of relief in the idea that she was finally able to see the true value in herself that others saw in her.
The conclusion was magnificent and sublime. I want to just pick it up and
start reading it all over again right now!!!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Loved it! Jul 26, 2008
This memoir is beautifully written and was a joy to read. I was riveted and I couldn't put it down! If you like tender and humorous slice-of-life prose, this is the book for you. Whether you are a fellow fan of Patti LuPone and her work or if you have never even heard of her, this story captures the roller coaster ride that is fan-dom and the fears and dreams that all human beings experience. I especially love the ending!
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
A sensitive look at one of Patti LuPone's most ardent fans Jul 17, 2008
The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone
This is a well written, sensitive book that provides insight not only about the author, Maile Hernandez, a devoted fan, but also about Tony Award winner Patti LuPone who is currently starring in Gypsy on Broadway. Maile is an attorney living in Arizona with a husband and their autistic son. She shares her feelings for, and her interactions with Broadway Diva Patti LuPone. The book is interesting, funny, insightful, and at the same time sad. Although a story about personal growth, The Unreachable Star expresses the pain that can be felt from rejection by a beloved performer - even from a distance.
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