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Life with My Sister Madonna | 
 enlarge | Authors: Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $14.45
You Save: $11.55 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  135 reviews
Sales Rank: 491
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416587624
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42166092
EAN: 9781416587620
ASIN: 1416587624
Publication Date: July 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Mint, Not a Book Club Edition and brand new... ready for someone on your gift list or your own book collection. Ready to ship after 8/16.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Madonna up close, by the brother who knows her better than anyone. Christopher Ciccone's extraordinary memoir is based on his forty-seven years of growing up with, working with, and understanding the most famous woman of our time, who has intrigued, scandalized, and entertained millions for half a century. Through most of the iconic star's kaleidoscopic career, Christopher played an important role in her life: as her backup dancer, her personal assistant, her dresser, her decorator, her art director, her tour director. If you think you know everything there is to know about Madonna, you are wrong. Only Christopher can tell the full scale, riveting untold story behind Madonna's carefully constructed mythology, and the real woman behind the glittering façade. From their shared Michigan childhood, which Madonna transcended, then whisked Christopher to Manhattan with her in the early eighties, where he slepton her roach-infested floor and danced with her in clubs all over town -- Christopher was with her every step of the way, experiencing her first hand in all her incarnations. The spoiled daddy's girl, the punk drummer, the raunchy Boy Toy, Material Girl, Mrs. Sean Penn, Warren Beatty's glamorous Hollywood paramour, loving mother, Mrs. Guy Ritchie, English grande dame -- Christopher witnessed and understood all of them, as his own life was inexorably entwined with that of his chameleon sister. He tangled with a cast of characters from artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, to Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Demi Moore, and, of course, Guy Ritchie, whose advent in Madonna's life splintered the loving relationship Christopher once had with her. The mirror image of his legendary sister, with his acid Ciccone tongue, Christopher pulls no punches as he tells his astonishing story. Life with My Sister Madonna is the juicy, can't-put-it-down story you've always wanted to hear, as told by Madonna's younger brother.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 130 more reviews...
 "I remember eeling a rush of power by association. I am Madonna's brother." August 21, 2008
"I remember feeling a rush of power by association. I am Madonna's brother."
I wanted to title this , "Madonna's not the only diva in this family."
Christopher Ciccone's Life With My Sister Madonna details the childhood and formative years he spent with his sister Madonna. From their early years loosing their mother to cancer, to Madonna and Christopher sneaking off to take ballet lessons, their joint hostilities to their stepmother Joan, the need to break free of their Michigan upbringings and the heady beginnings of Madonna's career on New York's club scene, Ciccone gives us his view of his sister's ascent. He also details how his career dovetailed with his sister's. He was her dresser then progressed to designing sets for shows, directing music videos, designing her homes, purchasing art for her, choosing her homes and being a one man support system.
Chris Ciccone isn't the first sibling of a successful person to feel as though they haven't been given their due. Nor is he the first to struggle with the inequality such a relationship. He isn't the first to pen a "my side of the story" type book. He isn't the first to take advantage of or to be taken advantage of by celebrity. I think this book could have been much more disastrous for Madonna. It isn't a hatchet job. It is written with a fondness and bewilderment that made me shake my head. In the end, the book that was to expose the inner workings of one of music's most profitable performers does the exact opposite. This book makes Madonna and in turn, her brother, looks very ordinary.
 Take it With a Grain of Salt.... August 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is somewhat interesting and a very quick read; yet, I cannot help but wonder why Christopher wrote this book. He claimed on a telelvision interview that he did not write this book to get revenge or put Madonna down. Yet that's exactly what this book feels like when you read it. In the book, Christopher comments many times about his great love for his sister, to the point where it seems like adoration or idolatry. However, he quite liberally sprinkles the book with nasty little comments and petty complaints about Madonna (ie- her mediocrity, lack of talent, terrible treatment of him, etc..) Does he realize what a backstabber he appears to be in his own book? What kind of a brother writes such negative things about a sibling, and then claims to love her so much?
Christopher comes off as a sort of aimless person with no real ambition of his own. If he didn't like Madonna's supposed ill treatment of him, why did he put up with it for so long? (I mean, toweling off your naked sweaty sister during a concert is just gross, not to mention faintly incestuous!) Why not just focus on his own career, independent of her? It makes no sense. He is trying to appear as the devoted loving brother, but I'm not buying into that. I think he enjoyed the party lifestyle and the easy access to drugs that being the close sibling of a celebrity afforded him. I think that Madonna has tried to get him help for his drug problems and he is in denial that he needs any kind of help at all. There is a point towards the end of the book where he bemoans not being able to see his niece and nephew, and claims Madonna tries to control him and does not love him as much as he loves her. Baloney! I think she loves him very much, but is unwilling to watch him ruin himself and his life with his drug habit. A person doesn't try to help someone they hate.
I'm not sure what Christopher was trying to accomplish with writing this book. It certainly was not the shocking expose that he would have you believe; unless you consider it shocking that a person with a major cocaine habit would write a book denying his drug abuse and then try to blame all of his troubles on his most succesful sister. I feel very sorry for him and the Ciccone family, but not in the "woe-is-me" way Christopher tries to engender. Take it with a grain of salt, and remember there are two sides to every story!
Brother Tells Not a Whole Lot August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Overall, the book was insightful but to be honest, he didn't really say that much. I expected more! For the most part, we kind of already knew that Madonna is a woman with determination, drive, etc. I guess I was a little surprised over his accounts on how she treated him, but this is only his side of the story. Where's hers? I'd love for Madonna to do her own book. I'm from Michigan so it was cool to hear and see some of the references to her hometown and to her father's winery in Sutton's Bay (great place, recommend a visit!)
Pretty Good August 18, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read it in a couple of days. If you are a Madonna fan you will enjoy this book.
 a real view of the material girl August 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book may be biased from a sibling rivalry,but it still packs a straight forward punch at the real Madonna through her career/personal life adventure.
Christopher is a very easy read,and pulls you into the facinating world of pop megastardom.
Madonna is suprisingly ambiguous in her identity aside from her insatiable desire for fame.
The roots of their Michigan family,the dominance Madonna had over her father's affection,are clear and perceptive. The evolution of their parallel lives reads like great soap opera.
Christopher owes his world to his sister,and she has gained from him.
The story is a familliar one-of dysfunction and love.
I appreciated this book as someone who lived in the east village in the Madonna salad days-and the insights in how she tripped the kights fantastic.
I do not like Madonna-but I liked the book for it's insights and family memories.
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