Second Act

Dynasty's femme fatale tells of a life in Hollywood.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Booklist Having had a rough time as a fiction writer lately， Collins has decided to mine her own life for publishable material. Of course， she did that once， in her first auotbiography， Past Imperfect (1984)， which does overlap this "second act." The book gets off to an unsettling start with Collins in the courtroom defending her writing prowess against Random House. Unfortunately， this chapter is so choppily written that readers may sympathize with Random's case. After that， the book flows more smoothly， though it never does more than skim the surface of a life that， one hopes， has had more depth than Collins gives it here. Throughout， even when the author is talking about her daughter's life-threatening accident or one of her own divorces， the tone is chatty， arch， and at times， bitchily funny. Collins is a name-dropper extraordinaire， and the book is at its best when she is dishing the likes of Warren Beatty (boyfriend)， Elizabeth Taylor (friendly competitor)， and Charleton Heston (costar and toupee wearer). As with so many other aspects of Collins' career， good or bad doesn't seem to matter much when it comes to Joan Collins' writing. As always， she'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Ilene Cooper See all Editorial Reviews