All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen To Be Famous Strangers

Spanning music, film, literature, time, and space, critic Massey's collection of essays strikes a nerve with her poignant and grittier form of celebrity worship. Focusing on female figures who have suffered or been subjected to unfair scrutiny for their relationships and public persona, Massey's essays link her own desires, struggles, and triumphs to her idols in enlightening and powerful ways, raising the question, how far is too far in the public fascination of celebrity? The gamut of women Massey features is broad and pleasantly surprising, as one might never expect to read about Joan Didion and Anna Nicole Smith in the same collection. Touching on relationships, mental illness, and sexuality without being preachy are Massey's strong points. Yet, sometimes the essays feel too much like a college assignment and less like a heartfelt personal discussion. In a collection in which the author references "the grass is always greener…" in a few instances, it can be difficult at times to decipher whether Massey is cautioning against celebrity or championing for certain women to achieve a more prominent status in the public eye.