Fosse

by Sam Wasson     (Get the Book)
Here's something you can't say about many celebrity biographies: at nearly 750 pages, it feels like it ends too soon. Wasson is such a lively, engaging writer that, as he takes us through the life and career of the multi-award-winning choreographer and director Bob Fosse, we scarcely notice we're turning the pages until there are no more to turn. Fosse is a fascinating subject: a perfectionist who seemed determined to drive himself into an early grave. He won numerous Tony awards for his stage work before segueing to the big screen, where in a shocking surprise he, not the favored Francis Ford Coppola, won the Academy Award for best director in 1973 (for Cabaret). Combining keen analysis of Fosse's stage and screen works (Wasson rightly approaches Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz not so much as an autobiographical story as a fantasy) with a compassionate look at Fosse's often-tumultuous personal life, the book is everything you could want in a celebrity bio, without any of the gossipy, trashy, third-hand-rumory rubbish that makes too many biographies so painful to read. This one's a pure joy to read, cover to cover; you read it not merely for Fosse's story, but also for Wasson's inventive way of telling it. If this book doesn't turn up on some literary-awards lists, it'll be a serious crime. --Booklist