I received an ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) from NetGalley for my honest opinion of this book.

The book’s title says it all. More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood Natasha Gregson Wagner is an intensely private person who rarely talked about her mom, Natalie Wood, even when there were officially-sanctioned documentaries about the movie star’s life. The fact that she finally felt at peace enough with her mom’s death to write a book about her says a lot.

Natasha was very close to her mother. Too close, some would say. She grew up always wanting her mother at her side, had severe anxiety every time her mother left her, and then had the unthinkable happen to her. Having lost my own champion, my father, die when I was a child, I have an inkling to what Gregson Wagner went through. But I didn’t have to deal with the unscrupulous press and a vindictive aunt continually dredging up a parent’s death.

Years of therapy, good and bad relationships, and becoming a mother led to this book being written. It’s heartfelt, and well written. It dragged a little in the middle, when Natasha herself was trying to find herself as an adult, so I can’t give it a full five stars, but it is a solid 4.5.

If you’re looking for more Natalie Wood books, check out this other family-authorized coffee table book called Natalie Wood: Reflections on a Legendary Life (Turner Classic Movies) It goes through her career and has some of the most stunning pictures of Natalie I’ve ever seen.

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