"So, explain this whole Judy Garland thing to me? Why'd those queens at Stonewall get so upset when she died?" It's a question I had asked about seven years ago to a group of older gays (gelders?) at a dinner party. They gave me an earful, but it never quite set. Finally, having read this book, I finally 'get' Judy Garland.
Heartbreaker starts where Judy Garland's story is really ending. The author, John Meyer, spent night and day with her in some of the last months of her life.
Meyer meets Garland at the apartment of a mutual acquaintance. When he first meets her he is so struck that the fact that she is unbathed and in poor health escapes him. His star-blindness also puts him in a nirvanic state where he can, in the beginning, ignore her various addictions, bizarre behavior, and that, in fact, over time he becomes less her lover and more her enabler.
The true strength of the book is the author's vivid recall of dialogue which makes the conversations come alive as if you were listening instead of reading. This capture of the dialogue enables Meyer to showcase one of Garland's truly amazing abilities: to entertain through storytelling.
The action is quick and reads almost as a script for some perversion of an old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movie (of which I've seen none, but I think this is accurate). Although some of the choices made seem maddeningly outrageous, it fits to the nature of the people involved.
The author, as caught in the whirlwind of Garland makes some horrific choices during his brief time with her, as often is the case in an enabling/addict relationship. As Meyer eventually tries to break the patterns which are causing her to spiral out of control, eventually Garland finds someone else to allow her patterns to continue.
Meyer comes accross as excessively fannish, and, well, sort of gay. He frequents piano bars and after-hours clubs. In fact that first fateful meeting between Judy and John occurs in the apartment of a man that Meyer says had been hitting upon him. And frankly, the cadence in which he writes is, well, flame-y. His claim to being Judy Garland's lover during this brief time seems beard-y at times, but the book was written in a different era.
As a beach read, Heartbreaker is a perfect page-turner with a good mixture of humor and pathos. Also, as re-released this year the book includes a cd of recordings made while the author and Garland rehearsed, putting real voices behind those in the book.
Buy Heartbreaker: A Memoir of Judy Garland.
