What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Book cover of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Book description

The literary classic that inspired the iconic film - the story of two sisters and the hell they made their home.

Once an acclaimed child star of vaudeville, Baby Jane Hudson performed for adoring crowds before a move to Hollywood thrust her sister, Blanche, into the spotlight. As Blanche's film…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Laurence Klavan

Author

It lacks the film version’s famous, freakish appeal, including Bette Davis's wild, classic performance. Yet Henry Farrell’s horror novel about a weird, washed-up child star and her wheelchair-bound sister powerfully captures the lazy, languid midday atmosphere of Los Angeles, in which a person’s career and sanity can dry up in the sun.

From Laurence's list on Hollywood murder, crime, and failure.

Stephen Rebello

Author

It’s well worth digging up Henry Farrell’s grotesque, sadistic 1960 tale of two aging sisters – one a former kiddy vaudeville sensation, the other a movie star of the '30s and '40s -- living out their animosities and regrets in a faded Los Angeles mansion. It’s also fascinating to compare the novel to its crueler and less impactful 1962 film incarnation starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, let alone the miniseries “Feud: Bette and Joan” about those two ferocious dueling divas as they made the movie. Maybe most fun of all is speculating how Farrell may have fictionalized details from…

From Stephen's list on the down-and-dirtiest showbusiness Romans à clef.