American Rose

American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee by Karen Abbott, 349 pages (or 397 if you count the bibliography)

American Rose is a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee, arguably the best-known stripteaser of all time and she of Gypsy fame. While it is factual, the book reads like a novel set simultaneously in the golden days of vaudeville, in Depression-era New York and at the 1940 World's Fair. The characters seem larger than life (which, after reading the book, seems to be how Gypsy would have preferred it). Rather than taking a chronological approach to Gypsy Rose Lee's life, Abbott alternates chapters focusing on Gypsy as a child (back when she was plain-jane Louise Hovick, who played second fiddle to her younger sister while performing on the vaudeville circuit), on Gypsy as a star trying to make a comeback in the '40s and on the Minsky brothers, who were largely responsible for creating the New York burlesque scene and giving Gypsy her big break. It took a few chapters to get used to, but reflecting on it, the approach makes sense.

Before I read this book, I knew next to nothing about burlesque, the art of the striptease or Gypsy Rose Lee. I have no idea why this book piqued my interest, but I'm glad it did. I came away from it with a much greater knowledge of vaudeville, the politics of burlesque and the woman who Abbott, in an interview on NPR, likened to "a cross between Lady Gaga and Dorothy Parker."