A Vintage Nerd Book Club: More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood

Have you ever heard someone be described as an "open book"? Its a person who just lays it all out there for the world to see. The best kind of open book is someone who is willing to share their deepest and most secret thoughts and feelings unabashedly. I think it takes a certain about of courage and resolve to be open to others especially when it comes to our pain.

The book More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood by Natasha Gregson Wagner felt exactly like that. Natasha truly laid out all of her stories, feelings, and thoughts about her life with and without her mother, Natalie Wood. She opened herself in a way that was beautiful, raw, and easily relatable. There aren't many books that I have read where I felt instantly connected to the author because of their style of writing but Natasha's style reads almost like a diary. I began writing in journals at the age of nine and there is a style to it that is forthcoming and accessible. That is exactly how this book reads to me. And I cannot tell you what a joy and pleasure it was to read a book about something so special and intimate like this that was also written so candidly.

Most of us know who Natalie Wood was. She was a child movie star with films like Miracle on 34th Street(1947) who became a teen movie star with films like Rebel without a Cause (1955). Then she accomplished something most child movie stars never get to accomplish, she became not only a movie star as an adult but an international movie star with films like Splendor in the Grass (1961), West Side Story (1961), and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). She enjoyed an incredible career as an actress but the role she seemed to love the most was that of being a mother to Natasha and Courtney.

Natasha covers the beginnings of her life and intermingles them with her mothers. I also lost my mother at a young age and I have a daughter of my own so I understand how much of a mothers life blends in with her daughters. I have already had milestones with my daughter that my mother never had a chance to have with me. And when those moments happen you think of her because she is never far from you mind or your heart. Natasha is blessed more than most that she has access to many people who knew her and heaps of films both on screen and homemade, to have kept her connected to her mother in ways I only dream of.

This book is absolutely a must read for those who are fans of Natalie Wood but also who may have lost a parent especially at a young age. There is a sense of mourning that never stops. In my case I have a million questions about my mother because I do not have access to friends and family that knew her. To just feel that connection and remind myself that she is real. All I have are some photos and a cassette tape of her speaking a little. Reading Natasha's book reminded me over and over of the importance of connection and staying connected because like it was for her, my mother was the most important person in my life once. No matter how many years pass that isn't something we should allow ourselves to forget.

Natasha's book is a reminder that a life lost no matter how they lived or died affects us all incredibly deeply. She really shares what it feels like for her to lose her mother, not only how she dealt with it but also how she dealt with her mother's fame. That is a distinctive type of burden that only children and grandchildren of very famous people have to learn to deal with. I think Natasha does so with great amounts of grace. I admire her openness and candor and appreciate beyond words her sharing her story in this way. I also love how her story comes full circle by sharing some memories of being a mother to her own daughter, Clover. This book is beautiful in every way.

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