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My Father's Daughter : A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Authors: Tina Sinatra, Jeff Coplon
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 524089
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 313
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.5 x 1
ASIN: B000066TPX
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Used - Good
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Amazon.com Review
For Sinatra fans, 2000 was a very good year. First came the discography Put Your Dreams Away; then, the newsy expose of the Chairman's FBI dossier, The Sinatra Files; and now, his life story as seen by his younger daughter Tina. Besides inside family stuff, Tina knows about Frank's life from having produced the CBS miniseries about him. The most publicized item in the book concerns Frank's kind words with the Mafia on behalf of JFK's campaign. But, beware the common belief that the Mafia stole the election for JFK--this is dubious--and don't miss out on all of the more interesting stories in the book. There's irony: JFK personally persuaded United Artists to make Sinatra's best film, that classic of Presidential-assassination conspiracy, The Manchurian Candidate. There's squalor: Before the Mafia helped him through his career slump, Frank walked past an Eddie Fisher movie marquee and promptly attempted suicide. There's poignance: "I'm not home much, but I'm a pretty damned good father," Frank unconvincingly claimed. Nancy Barbato Sinatra--the mother of Tina, Nancy, and Frank Jr.--comes off as saintly. Ava Gardner was nice to the kids, but a comparably neurotic brawler with Frank. Mia Farrow, Tina's schoolmate, was delightful, inclined to intense relationships with father figures (Salvador Dali, Yul Brynner), eccentric, and not as frail and malleable as she looked and Frank probably hoped: "She was just as career-driven as Ava, and probably more independent," writes Tina. "Mia was more of a day person, while the only dawns my father saw were on the back end of a hard day's night." Barbara Marx Sinatra, according to embittered Tina, made Frank's last 12 years a living hell. (Barbara has declined to comment on Tina's charges.) In straightforward prose that's studded with interesting facts (did you know Frank would tip $200 if you parked his car?) and 86 photos, Tina Sinatra paints a lively portrait of her inconsolably lonely pop-star pop. And she did it her way. Deal with it. --Tim Appelo
Product Description
"My father didn't die-he escaped."
He was a movie star, the king of nightclubs, the definitive recording artist of his time who stamped his sense of style on the postwar generation. Frank Sinatra seemed to have it all. Why would his daughter Tina Sinatra refer to his death as an escape? What happened to make his life so difficult?
In this "candid and intimate view of Frank Sinatra" (Publishers Weekly), Tina Sinatra offers an unflinching portrait of a legend, a father, and a man.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 A Touching Sinatra Memoir July 13, 2008
I had read this book quite a few years ago and liked it a lot. Knowing my dad is a big Sinatra fan, I thought he would enjoy a copy for Father's Day. He really enjoyed it. Here is a touching but warts and all memoir of a father who wasn't always around, at least in person, by a loving daughter. Quite a bit of 'insider' information on Frank Sinatra and some great pictures that I hadn't seen before. Very interesting to note that in Tina's opinion, the love of Frank's life was not Ava, but Tina's mother. I also wasn't aware of how controlling Barbara Sinatra was in the last years of Frank's life - what a shame. Overall a great read, just wish it had been a longer book!
Painful memoir of a father July 5, 2008
This book was a quick and easy read that sweeps past the professional details and gets at the story from the point of view of Frank Sinatra's immediate family. Tina Sinatra gives a loving account of the private man, presented as a bundle of conflicts - a man who loved both the pretty motherly wife and the sultry movie stars, who dearly loved his children but often from a great distance. The tomcat in need of a home-cooked meal, who relished family holidays.
Tina reveals the agony of the visits from Frank, with the buildup preceding those visits to the inevitable let-down when the time came to leave. She details the genesis of her adult relationship with her father, a relationship which became very close and loving.
One suspects that the purpose of this book was go get to what was REALLY bugging Tina Sinatra...enter, Barbara Marx. The last half of this memoir is devoted to the tense ups and downs of the relationship between the Sinatra children and Frank's controlling, grabby wife. The saga of Barbara's greed begins with her making a sweep of the valuables of the recently deceased Sinatra grandmother, and it goes downhill from there. The reader truly gets a sense of the isolation and helplessness that the increasingly feeble Frank must have felt as he was bullied time and again to amend his will, prenup, and his wife's considerable allowance.
Did Tina air a little too much laundry here? Maybe so, but this reader got the sense that this memoir, written within two years of Frank's passing, comes from a place of deep grief and sorrow for not only the loss but for the last painful years of Frank's life, a life possibly shortened by the antics of the manipulative Barbara.
I can relate to this memoir as I watch my own once happy-go-lucky father subjected to endless conflict and pain at the hands of his miserable and unstable wife - even following his heart attack last year. I watch as his fire goes out, spark by spark. And judging by some of the reviews on here, I am not alone. It is my hope that Tina found some much-needed peace since writing this book.
 So saddened... June 23, 2008
I recently learned of this book by Tina Sinatra about her late father. When I read it, I felt very sad. I have been a fan of Frank Sinatra for well over 50 years. My father used to sing Sinatra songs to me and I will never forget it. Tina has used her father, the "Chairman of the Board," a very private man, to try to fix herself.
As for her comments about Barbara Sinatra: Tina had favorable comments regarding her other two stepmothers, Ava and Mia. During those years, not only was Tina young and impressionable, but she did not have to go through the death of her father with those women. Having lost both of my parents, I know the experience can be horrible; and many times people look for someone to blame. I believe Tina is taking out her grief on Barbara. When a loved one dies, it is not a glorious scene as in a scripted movie. Frank Sinatra loved Barbara; she was his choice. His kids couldn't take it. They look back fondly on the ones who didn't stay with him. Barbara "stuck with him" (as the other two did not) for over two decades, even with three very spoiled stepchildren. She was there for him in his twilight.
Frank Sinatra worked a lifetime to create a persona, and he become a beloved American institution. Tina, in her selfish quest, has attempted to smudge his reputation and negate his life's work. Frank Sinatra will always be an icon to me and to many millions of fans. I would recommend this book to no one.
A real page turner... December 22, 2007
Not a big fan of Sinatra's, however this book was highly recommended so went online and rolled the die. VERY impressed. A big fan of biographies in general, however I've certainly plowed through my share of mind-numbing tributes with clear issues of partiality. Was a bit wary with Tina (daughter) doing the narrative, however was favorably impressed. She's clearly a "daddy's girl", yet at the same time gave a brutally honest depiction of her father and his relationships. Wish she would've devoted a few more pages on his fall-out with the Kennedy's, however. Overall one of the best books I've read in quite a few years. I'm a fan.
A Poignant, Tender Tribute To A Remarkable Man August 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought I'd read it all, seen it all and heard everything there was hear or know about F.S. but, curiously enough, I never bought this book! It was given to me at a time in my life when I had stopped reading about all the celebrities I had ever wanted to. The day before yesterday I found this book in the place I had put it years ago, next to all the other books about F.S. that I had read through the years. The books fill the space between Ava Gardner's, "Ava, My Story" and Mia Farrow's, "What Falls Away." I cannot thank Tina Sinatra enough for sharing her world with her father with us and Jeff Coplon for co-writing. This is the definitive book on Frank Sinatra, the man. Tina takes you on her journey and journal of loving memories about her relationship with her father over many years. From his final months as the husband of Nancy Barbato Sinatra until his death at age 82, Tina rode the F.S. rollercoaster which was her father's life. Through it all, the highs, the lows, the failed marriages F.S. remained loyal, respectful, loving, caring and protective of his first and only family. Then came Barbara Marx. If Leona Helmsley was the "Queen of Mean" this, then, was her adoring protege. How Tina, Nancy Frankie, Jr. or Nancy, Sr. tolerated this wretched individual is beyond comprehension, however, they respected her as the wife of their father. Respect was absolute in the real Sinatra family and he taught his family well. It was because of Barbara that Tina, Nancy or Frankie, Jr. did not have the opportunity of being with him in the final moments of his life. His children were everything to him and he garnered their esteem by never smothering them, never being judgmental and by always trying to be there when any of them needed him. As complex as he was, he was a pretty darned good father. To see him through Tina's eyes is to know who he really was when the glitz and the glitter were stripped away. This is a must read for any true Sinatra fan.
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