Jeff got this for me for my 25th birthday and I'm starting it midway through my 26th year. I would've read it earlier, but it's just too heavy to carry around.

The author spends an inordinate amount of time energy on his seeming obsession with Ms. Hepburn's purported lesbian tendencies which are pure supposition on his part. He then wastes more time defending his position. It ruined the book for me. ( )

The author states near the beginning of this book that he is not really a fan of Kate or her films. He doesn't come right out and say why he is writing this book. Several other reviewers here have pointed out that this author has also written a book about how homosexuals have shaped Hollywood. In this book he spends a lot of time speculating as to different people's sexual orientation. While it appears there are times he has solid evidence for his speculation there were several times where he seems to be strechting to get where he wants to go. Ultimately, he wants you, the reader, to agree with him that Kate was probably a lesbian.

I have two issues with this book, the author points out that especially towards the end her life Kate spent a lot of time and effort in recording her history. She wrote her memoirs and opened up to doing interviews more than ever before. Kate did not choose to be remembered as a lesbian and if she did have interests in that area she did not believe it defined her.

The second issue I have with the author is that I do not believe someone's sexual orientation defines them as a person. Ultimately it is only one aspect of who someone is. With the laser like focus this author brings to the issue I feel his analysis of people is unfairly narrow.

I do not feel this should be considered Kate's difinitive biography. ( )

Just about every biography of Katharine Hepburn was written and influence by Katharine Hepburn herself, however, this book was undertaken after her death and the research that was used were paper trails - itineraries of ships, trains, planes, along with schedules for theater shows, etc. Mann also explored her sexuality in a way not previously defined. He insinuates at times that she was gay, transgender, bisexual, but never comes to a conclusion.

However, I'm not sure how well we can accept the stories that he tells. Someone else's life will always seem different to other people than to the person who lived it.

This book said many things about Katharine Hepburn as well as Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, and Howard Hughes but whether you care to believe it, is your choice. ( )

"The difference between this book and many of the other biographies of Katharine Hepburn is that it was written outside of the perview of the subject. As we come to see in this book, the do-it-by-self independent personality that so many people admire is a) constructed by Hepburn herself (and the media) and b) somewhat true regardless. Hepburn worked very hard to create and protect and use her image. One easy example of this is the number of interviews she gave, despite being known to be a media-shy recluse.
Mann decided for his book that he would try to get to the truth about Hepburn's story by following paper trails (for example - a ship she might not have been on because it left a month early) and talking to/reading the papers of friends and family who were enough out of the public eye that they did not self-edit quite as much. He compares differing stories and tries to figure out where stories started and how they changed.
The author also deals with questions about Hepburn's sexuality. He frankly discusses the close relationships with women and men, but does not try to give her a label. Hepburn wouldn't have accepted one. Was she gay? Bisexual? Transgender? It is risky to go back and try to label someone, and Mann avoids this while still illuminating portions of the star's life that other biographers have shied away from. As a reader, I especially appreciated that he presented what he found without sounding gossipy or disrespectful - Hepburn was a complicated person, and therefore, so were the results of this book.
I recommend this book to Hepburn fans, and for people interested in how the media molds information. I was worried that it might "spoil things" for me because I have been such a big fan of Hepburn, the legend, but my only regret with this book is that by getting to know a bit more about her, I am saddened by the loneliness she at times faced." ( )