My Judy Garland Life
This sweet book is an affectionate study of Judy Garland’s complicated life; a meandering treasury of in-depth research and Judy-centric imaginings, ingeniously interwoven with episodes straight from the author’s own lived experience. It is a tender tribute; a diaristic, non-linear story, which investigates phases from the lives of both women. It also functions as an essay on addiction (to drugs, alcohol, work and love) and the impact of bereavement (Boyt is a trained bereavement counsellor).
There are interviews with those who knew Garland (including one with her daughter, Liza Minelli, who has some advice for Boyt) and surveys of members of the official Judy Garland fan club, many of whom identify with Garland’s out-of-place-ness.
Boyt sees the injustices that befell Garland; the profiteering Hollywood bosses and mostly feckless husbands (she married five times) who took advantage of her as she searched for love in the wrong places, propped up on pills and engaging in bonkers behaviour. Boyt admires Garland’s lack of caution, which opposes her own natural tendency towards safety and comfort. She wants to offer herself up to Garland, as cook, cleaner and all round best gal pal, lavishing her in undiluted TLC.
Boyt recognises in Garland a kindred spirit, someone whose outsides do not match her insides. Garland offers Boyt a heightened experience of all of life; the vibrant highs and the murky lows. In return, Boyt holds her up as a hero, revealing a woman whose upbeat stage and screen personas entertained the masses but disguised a troubled soul.
My Judy Garland Life is published by Little Brown Book Group
