Dianaworld

Praise for Edward White’s The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock * : *
[A] masterful study… There have been thousands of books about Hitchcock. This is the best of the bunch, a brilliant investigation of a man full both of ego and fragile self-esteem, a sour mixture of self-disgust and self-regard -- Roger Lewis * The Daily Mail *
Anatomising someone of Hitchcock’s stature risks an equally chaotic frenzy of stabs, but with these 12 scalpel strokes White cuts close to his subject’s heart -- Victoria Segal * The Sunday Times *
The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is overflowing with anecdotes, memories and curiosities… the book offers lots of insights into what made him such a revolutionary director of masterpieces such as North by Northwest and Rear Window -- Martin Chilton * The Independent *
Perceptive and gracefully written, The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is a bracing study of the master of suspense… it is a rare book that could pleasurably be twice as long * The Economist *
Using an approach that manages to balance chronology and theme, [White] presents the subject from a dozen angles, many of them in implicit opposition… his use of sources is inventive, and he exhibits breezy authority on a range of relevant themes, from dietetics and mid-century slimming to Catholic prayer -- Leo Robson * New Statesman *
[The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock] is entirely accessible without being glib or sensationalist; it is well-researched and wide-ranging in its cultural references without being pedantic or effete... One completes this book feeling one knows Hitchcock as well as he could be known, and with renewed respect for his gifts and his influence on culture -- Paula Marantz Cohen * The Times Literary Supplement *
A provocative new way of thinking about biography....The radial structure vibrates, like Hitchcock’s best films, with intuition and mystery -- Parul Sehgal * The New York Times *
Running the gamut from 'The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up' to 'The Man Of God', White's book deftly divvies up the director's 80 years into a dozen readable chunks -- Neil Smith * Total Film *