What an interesting read. I learned things I never knew. A very well written story about Zsa Zsa and her family. Great job!

I have an indelible image of Zsa Zsa Gabor in my head and I was very curious to read about her life, and that of her siblings. This book has left me a bit perplexed: How could Sam Staggs turn such "dishy," vibrant lives in to such a tedious book ? I am shaking my head in disbelief, I just can't quite comprehend how he managed this feat.

Loves reading about the Gabor clan. I became enamored with each one and the resiliency they exhibited. Great read.

I really thought I would like this book and I tried- I really tried. But I just felt it was disjointed and all over the place. Nonetheless it was a serviceable group biography if you are really interested in Zsa Zsa and her sisters.

LOVED THIS BOOK!
Well written and highly detailed from credible sources.
Excellent study of Los Angeles and Hollywood at the time of the sisters.
You can read my story on Mailonline.com.

Sam Skaggs reveres the Gabors and it shows in this wondrously well-researched book. I was fortunate to interview him and his passion is evident in every page!

I’ve long had a fascination for the Gabors. I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising, given the extent to which they, like so many other glamour goddesses, have become gay icons. Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I saw that there was an entire book devoted just to them. Delicious and decadent, Finding Zsa Zsa is a heartfelt examination of the lives of these women, which were at once both beautiful and tragic.

Though the book’s title privileges Zsa Zsa, and though the book does so to an extent, it also goes into a great deal of detail about the other sisters and, of course, the indomitable mother Jolie. In Staggs’s capable (if at times luxurious and self-indulgent) hands, they are brought to live in all of their contradictions. Though they have often been derided as being famous for being famous (and though there is some truth to that assessment) all four of the Gabors were some combination of sensible, extravagant, and talented, though there were times when one of those traits would overshadow the others. Indeed, Eva would be the most successful in terms of acting, while Zsa Zsa could have done so had she put in a little more effort. And Magda and Jolie, not known for their acting, were nevertheless hard-headed businesswomen.

As was the case with his previous books, Staggs has a style that is really all his own. Though he looks with contempt at the sorts of biographers who were a bit too credulous in their approach to the Gabors and their conscious construction of their own image, Staggs tends to do the opposite, assume that his own assumptions and understandings are ironclad. It’s not really a good thing when you find yourself wondering just how reliable a writer is when they make claims that are more than a little outlandish.

What’s more, Staggs has a tendency to let his rhetorical flights of fancy get away from him, and while this can sometimes be charming, it can also get a bit cloying at times (though, considering the fact that the book is about the Gabor, perhaps this is self-conscious, though I rather doubt it). As with his previous books, he tends to be a little too in love with his own cleverness. A nice rhetorical flourish is fine used judiciously, but there are times in the book when his own penchant for showing off becomes more of a distraction than anything else.

Yet for all of its gossipy seaminess and Staggs’ flights of rhetorical fancy, he does ably demonstrate the extent to which the lives of the Gabors, as glamourous and glitzy as they often were, were all also marred by tragedy. This ranges from Eva’s premature death as the result of a fall to Zsa Zsa’s ignominious last days under the thrall of her final husband to Francesca’s unfortunate descent into mental illness and homelessness. Staggs is right to remind us of the terrible toll that female stardom often takes on the women involved, and how American culture seems peculiarly unwilling (or unable) to provide these aging stars the type of support that they need in their later years.

It’s clear throughout the book that Staggs has a genuine fondness for his subjects. He seems to have a particular affection for Francesca, and a strong dislike (one might even go so far as to say disdain) for Zsa Zsa’s last husband and his fame-hunting antics (and possible abuse of his wife). Again, this isn’t necessarily a problem, but it does mean that Staggs makes no pretense of objectivity.

Furthermore, though I don’t always agree with his conclusions of his analysis, I have to admit that Staggs has a perceptive film critic buried inside him somewhere, and the parts of the book where he analyzes both Eva’s and Zsa Zsa’s performances in their various adventures are some of the most insightful (and thus, to me, enjoyable) parts of the book. He has a keen eye for the sort of detail that makes for a smart reading of a film, and I sometimes think that a focus on more of that and less on seaminess would have helped.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Finding Zsa Zsa, though I also would have liked to see more detail about each of the women. Still, for those who want to learn more about these glamourous women and their racy lives, one could do worse than Sam Staggs.

I have always been a fan of Zsa Zsa sister Eva but never knew much about Zsa Zsa except what the media wanted you to see and know about her. She had an interesting, amazing and even I would say at time privileged life but I was still very intrigued by her after reading this book. Her family had an amazing story I highly recommend this book.

It’s fair to say that the Gabor women never bored anyone. For decades, pop culture frothed with the escapades of sisters Zsa Zsa, Eva, and Magda and their mother Jolie. These Hungarian glamour gals escaped the horrors of World War II Europe to thrive, strive, and live big in the American public eye. In a new book, Sam Staggs explores the lives of these women who were occasionally misunderstood, but never ignored.

Zsa Zsa gets the bulk of the attention in the book, for the most part because she had the highest public profile, though the author’s long association with her daughter Francesca clearly had much to do with the level of detail available about her. Hers is also the most fascinating story, a chaotic mix of marriages, movies, television appearances, oft unseen good deeds, and questionable decisions. I was fascinated to learn more about her acting career; there were several films of hers that I'd never heard of, and which seem to have revealed a talent that wasn't developed.

A more serious and career-minded actress, Eva would have liked the attention her sister got, though perhaps not the notoriety. Her Hungarian accent always limited her career opportunities. This is not to say she didn’t make her mark in legitimate roles. She excelled in the classic TV program Greenacres (1965-1971) and made brief appearances in celebrated films like Gigi (1958) and as a voice actress in the Disney productions The Rescuers (1977) and The Aristocats (1970). Eva never attained the level of stardom she desired though, with high quality lead roles always elusive. Here her frustration is made clear.

These two women and their loving, but bumpy relationship dominate the story, while their more stable, sober-minded sister Magda and their flamboyant jewelry store owner mother Jolie are mentioned as much for their relationship to these two as for their own stories. Unlike her sisters, Magda was in Europe and served her country during World War II, an experience which colored the rest of her life. Jolie seems to have been less bothered by her turbulent wartime past, instead enjoying all the pleasures she could grab and edging herself into her daughters’ spotlight as much as possible. In a revealing early passage, Staggs writes that Jolie enjoyed watching her daughters fistfight when they were girls. She clearly loved her children, but her values were often not healthy for them.

As far as covering the more sensational aspects of Gabor life, the book delivers, though it also reveals the extent to which the family cared for others, including their fellow Hungarians during the occupation and their father, who they tried to keep safe and provide for throughout his struggles in Hungary. While they embraced the glitter of fame and wealth, they were more connected to their roots than public perception would have you think. Zsa Zsa in particular comes off as more complex, truly the person she revealed to the public, but also more caring than is often perceived, though often made less so by her passions for the wrong men.

I often found myself thrown by the differences in tone throughout the book, from objective third person narrative, to strongly worded opinion and with the format sometimes switching to conversations between author and various interviewees. I also found it unnecessary to share the troubles of Zsa Zsa’s daughter Francesca in such detail. Outlining the particulars of an unpleasant incident at a coffee shop in particular seemed an unnecessary humiliation for this troubled woman, who predeceased her mother after struggling with her shifty stepfather Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt for years to have access to her ailing parent. I felt it didn’t add any further clarity to what was already clearly a troubling story.

Overall, this is an engrossing read. These women led vibrant, turbulent lives and I was left with a better understanding about who they were and how their family dynamic, and public life molded them.

I did not enjoy this book it was not what I thought it would be at all, I thought it was a biography of the Gabor sisters but it was just chapter after chapter of how perfect each sister was. Not my type of biography but fans of the subjects may love it

Finding Zsa Zsa is an interesting read. It was fascinating to learn about her and her family. I give it four stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This volume on the lives of Jolie (the mother), sisters - Zsa Zsa, Eva and Magda Gabor is an interesting insight not just into the family but the history and politics of Hungary during their lifetime. Many of the "myths" about their lives were debunked - like how old was Zsa Zsa really? Were her husbands all titled men? Was she really Miss Hungary? There are some very nice archival photos included in the book.

It wouldn’t be Summer to me unless there was a gossipy book read on the beach so thank god for Finding Zsa Zsa, which follows Zsa Zsa’s dramatic life from her years in Hungary where her family, being Jewish, suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis, through to her life of glamour and society balls, with plenty of time spent mulling over her nine (nine!) marriages and the scandals that became part and parcel of her larger-than-life persona.

At times funny, and at times unbelievably bitchy, this tell-all biography is certainly all encompassing; there isn’t a single event or facet of Zsa Zsa’s life that is missed out. But this book also reveals the other side to Zsa Zsa – her battles with bipolar, her traumatic involuntary incarceration at the hands of her then-husband Conrad Hilton, and her domineering mother who controlled and directed Zsa Zsa’s and her sisters’ ambitions ruthlessly.

For me, this was the perfect Summer read – an easy-to-read entertaining piece on one of the great pop culture icons of the 20th century that tells you more about everything you already know, but also reveals parts of their lives that they had chosen to keep hidden.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review. I knew that going in to this book, it would be an interesting read. I mean, we are talking about the Gabors after all! And let's face it, if reality TV had been around back in their day, we would have been inundated with those beautiful blondes--and I don't mean that in a bad way. Getting back to the book, however, I learned that there is much more to their story than glamour. It all started with mother Jolie and father Vilmos--a couple who did not stay together, but brought fourth three daughters--Magda, Eva, and Zsa Zsa. Of course, Magda, the least known of the three, had the most interesting story as she was part of the resistance during World War II. Eva traveled to the United States to become an actress and took her chosen professional very seriously while Zsa Zsa married a Turkish diplomat. Of course, the family squabbles were unavoidable, but in the end, the sisters were always loyal to each other and to their parents. They were devastated by their father's choice to remain in Hungary after the communist take-over and their uncle (mother's brother) and grandmother (mother's mother) were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Author Sam Staggs did a good job detailing their lives both individually and together, but he often made sarcastic comments throughout the book, which I thought were unnecessary and which took away from the Gabor story. He portrayed them as admirable women and there was no need to be snarky. If you are at all curious about the Gabors, I highly recommend this book. Their story is unique and while they were always careful to show their glamourous side to the public, there was also a very private side that they kept out of the spotlight. Oh and one more thing--Staggs did clear up one mystery for me and that was how Zsa Zsa got her name. It was an Hungarian nickname for her given name Sari.

I wanted to learn a little bit more about the Gabors, so when I got a chance to read the book, I took it. All I previously knew was that Eva Gabor was Lisa on Green Acres, a childhood favorite TV show, and Zsa Zsa slapped a police officer. Sadly, this will not be a book that I even finish. In the 25% that I did read, I learned that Zsa Zsa was a consummate liar, a mention that Magda and their parents were briefly held by the Nazis, and Jolie, their mother, did not live in reality. One would think that in this reality TV world that we live in would make this book more interesting, but it did not for me. It took me a week to get this far as I kept dozing off when I read it. The author wanted to write a book about them but he kept making editorial comments that were less than flattering, so I wasn't really sure if he admired them or loathed them. Also, thank goodness for the built in dictionary on my Kindle. It was almost as if the author picked the most difficult words in the thesaurus. When I have to continually look up words, it distracts me from the story and I have to re-read portions. I don't mind getting a definition here and there, but several times in each chapter makes it very slow going. On the plus side, I did learn several new words! I hope other readers can get some enjoyment as I know how difficult it can be to write a book, but this will probably not be an author that I continue to read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Fascinating and gossipy biography of some really famous sisters. Their lives were quite odd to be honest but the book was well-written, if a bit slow at times. It was well researched and I learned a lot not only about them but about Hollywood in that era.

If you are a Gabor fan, and want all of the details, this book is for you. Sam Staggs provides almost textbook-like detail about Zsa Zsa’s life, with some gossipy information thrown in. It reads like an informational book, not a tabloid.

As someone that absolutely loves stories about legendary Hollywood families, I was excited to receive the NetGalley ARC of this book. By the end of the book, my excited had dwindled. I wanted to love this book but can only say that I merely "liked" this book.

There is no doubt that Sam Staggs did a ton of research for this book. However, I felt the putting together of said research was quite scattered. It was difficult to follow at times and kind of move about unnecessarily. Some stories were wonderful and others were just not necessary and bordered on boring.

I believe that this book could have been better but enjoyed it for the most part. .

Fun reading! It was so fascinating to see how the Gabor sisters' (and mother's) fame lined up so well with the model of the Kardashians! While of course we're dialing back current-era standards to what we expect to be a more innocent time, the Gabors had a lot of spice going on. For those who love to time machine it back closer to golden age of Hollywood, this is a fantastic beach read! Even if you have very little knowledge of who Zsa Zsa and Eva were, it delivers even without needing to know the stats of their lives. Well done.

Colourful tribute to the Gabor’s dynasty. From the golden era to the last memorable moments they left to us. This book is a hidden treasure from the archives.

#FindingZsaZsa #NetGalley