As It Turns Out
Thinking About Edie and Andy
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3.6 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The story of the model, actress, and American icon Edie Sedgwick is told by her sister with empathy, insight, and firsthand observations of her meteoric life.
As It Turns Out is a family story. Alice Sedgwick Wohl is writing to her brother Bobby, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1965, just before their sister Edie Sedgwick met Andy Warhol. After unexpectedly coming across Edie’s image in a clip from Warhol’s extraordinary film Outer and Inner Space, Wohl was moved to put her inner dialogue with Bobby on the page in an attempt to reconstruct Edie’s life and figure out what made Edie and Andy such iconic figures in American culture. What was it about Andy that enabled him to anticipate so much of contemporary culture? Why did Edie draw attention wherever she went? Who exactly was she, who fascinated Warhol and captured the imagination of a generation?
Wohl tells the story as only a sister could, from their childhood on a California ranch and the beginnings of Edie’s lifelong troubles in the world of their parents to her life and relationship with Warhol within the silver walls of the Factory, in the fashionable arenas of New York, and as projected in the various critically acclaimed films he made with her. As Wohl seeks to understand the conjunction of Edie and Andy, she writes with a keen critical eye and careful reflection about their enduring impact. As It Turns Out is a meditation addressed to her brother about their sister, about the girl behind the magnetic image, and about the culture she and Warhol introduced.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wohl—translator and older sister of downtown New York City art world habitué Edie Sedgwick—debuts with a perceptive account of her sibling's life. Born in 1931, Wohl grew up on isolated Santa Barbara–area ranches as the oldest of eight children, all brought up by extremely controlling parents. In response to Edie's shock at catching their father having an affair in 1957, he "called the doctor and said she was crazy; the doctor came and put her to bed and shot her full of tranquilizers." Edie was in tumult, argues Wohl, long before she met Andy Warhol or entered the wild world of the mid-1960s that ended in her 1971 death by a drug overdose. Wohl barely saw Edie during her Warhol years, and in an attempt to piece together "what she had that I so totally failed to see, but that he saw and put to such effective use," traces her meteoric rise and positions her as a precursor to today's social media influencers, though only at Warhol's doing, as it wasn't "in Edie's nature." Striking photos help tell the story, and Wohl's exhaustive examination of her sister's vulnerability and star appeal give this a unique position among the many books on the Warhol scene. The result is a thoughtful exploration of a tumultuous life.
Customer Reviews
Transcendent Glimpse into love and terror.
This book is a very important book for vision of the sixties as well as a chronicle of what beauty and wealth can mean as a beginning as well as an ending. Life may be well- written but it needs a hand like Wohl’s to shape and hone it. That patrician, wise voice was music to my ears. As an extra in several of her worlds. I appreciated every well chosen words. Indelible, indelible!
Yes Edie would have stood a chance if she had not been born at the wrong time and seen too much. The era of drinking, unbridled psychiatry and parental despotism only barely sideswiped me by comparison, but Wohl vividly describes an time when the wealthy had virtual carte blanche over their vulnerable children’s lives. My mother weathered this world. I only wish she could have read this book.
Little Edie, Lotta Warhol
The author is accustomed to writing about artists, and she seems to believe she understands and holds enormous admiration for Andy Warhol. However, I bought this book looking for insight about the author’s sister, Edie Sedgwick. Sadly, not in this book. Even the author admits she didn’t know or understand Edie. A waste of time unless you’re interested in one woman’s second-hand knowledge of Mr. Warhol’s art and motivation for his work.