Thing of Beauty by Stephen Fried (1994, Paperback, Reprint)

This book is a MUST for all Gia admirers who love and want to keep her memories close to heart. What I liked about it the most was the author really lets the reader know WHO Gia was by interviewing the many people who knew and who were close to her...not only was she just about the most beautiful woman who ever graced the earth and magazine covers but she was a real PERSON....with raw, deep, sensitive emotions. She experienced a lot of pain and had a strong need for parental love and approval. The author examines the relationship between Gia and her Mother. Gia could never quite get the love and approval from her Mother that she needed so badly. He closely examines the "Mother & Daughter" relationship and what it feels like when a daughter can't get what she needs from her Mother and how far she will go to get attention that she craves. Sometimes Gia was misunderstood by others, sometimes she didn't understand herself. Dating men as a means to meet other beautiful woman she was attracted too, fitting in the whole "Hollywood & modeling" scene entrenched with sex and drugs....Gia struggled just like anyone else might who was trying to be individual and wanted acceptance for her sexuality yet, felt fearful of the rejection in a society where homosexuality wasn't always accepted, was Gia really gay? I don't think we really know...Does it even matter? Not to me. I think the public tends to think that the lives of beautiful women is easy street, that they don't have the problems other people do...but when you read the book you can really begin to understand that we are all the same- HUMAN. Beauty sometimes comes with a high price to pay. Maybe Gia didn't have to try as hard as some models did for fame and success as it all just sort of came naturally to her...she really didn't have to try hard to have that certain "look" she had whatever "it" was...raw beauty from the inside and out, from a very young age but she struggled just as much and even more so than I would imagine others did to reach "fame" in the modeling industry. The most painful part of the book for me was hearing how Gia fell into a downward drug addicted spiral....how a beautiful woman who had "everything" was stripped of it all....and who had paid the price to be loved and accepted-AIDS and ultimately, her death. What I disliked the most about the book is once I really felt like I got to "know" Gia I wanted there to a "happy ending" and there wasn't a "happy ending." I didn't want Gia to die....hearing how she prepared to die and her request to have a "closed casket" if she couldn't look her "best" was difficult for me. It was so very sad. In comparison to other nonfiction books, I believe this is one is better than "average" the many details the author includes in the book really make you feel like you knew Gia personally. I wish I had.