Loving Mailer
Writer-model-actress Mallory provides a titillating account of her not-so-secret life with late, legendary author Norman Mailer, beginning in 1983 when the Hollywood starlet met Mailer at literary hotspot Elaine's. It was hardly love at first sight: their first time, Mallory thinks of Humpty Dumpty, while Mailer coos lines like "Take off your panties. I want to experience your soul." Mallory and Mailer maintained a long, tempestuous relationship-he called her "each week...for nine years"-that revolved around sex and writing. Mailer was a strict mentor, but Mallory benefited from his association, publishing extensively during their time together. Mallory harbored the notion that she might become Mailor's seventh wife, "because of the way Norman made love to me," but ultimately concluded that Mailer would not leave his sixth wife because "she knew things about Norman that he did not want revealed," including his possible bisexuality. Unfortunately, Mallory's whining and armchair psychoanalysis quickly wears through reader goodwill; by the time Mailer leaves Mallory in September 1991, it's impossible to work up any sympathy, though Mailer fans won't be surprised by the literary legend's personal shortcomings.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.