I appreciate the reviews readers took the time to submit to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and a few other sites. Feedback is appreciated. I truly understand why some people will never want to believe the hard information in GNGS, but I took no liberties with this book. I insisted upon Dennis’s polygraph test, and if he had failed it, I would have included that result in the book. But Dennis passed every question and issue put to him, and our polygraphist scrutinized each and every word to avoid “interpretation.”
One reviewer noticed something interesting over the years: in every TV or documentary interview Dennis gave before the release of GNGS, Detective Rasure was interviewed behind Dennis calling him a liar. A question we keep being asked: Why didn’t you go to the police? explains itself. The police didn’t want to revisit this case.
In 2008 I was told about a "Natalie Wood death forum" online that discussed the Natalie Wood case. One woman who had posted there I truly appreciated (and still do) is Gail A., a monitor of a private Natalie Wood fan chat. Gail is a Natalie fan with a vast knowledge of Natalie biographical information. She shared some wonderful Natalie anecdotes with me and she explained that she had mixed emotions about the Natalie case after having read Gavin Lambert’s Natalie biography in 2004. Prior to that book, she hadn’t believed Dennis in interviews, but it was Lambert’s information that made her reevaluate the case, as well as her inability to comprehend the 4-hour wait to call for help for Natalie. It is true: the Coast Guard was not contacted until 4 hours after Natalie went missing.
I explain my friendship with Gail because there is someone virtually stalking her over the Internet and misinterpreting Gail's association with GNGS. Gail was not my co-author. Gail was a valuable reader. It is beyond inappropriate that she be attacked. I never "interviewed" Gail, yet she is being cited as one of my sources. She is also being accused of posting every drop of information being talked about in relation to this book, as well as being called derogatory names. Other reviewers are being accused of being Gail. This is inconceivable, and frustrating to real people who have real opinions.
Please see chapter 40, page 303 for the few brief paragraphs I offer explaining how Gail and the Wood death forum are what incited me to finish GNGS. Dennis Davern deserved his turn at this story being talked about incessantly over the Internet three decades later!
Please, if you are a negative reviewer, I appreciate your opinions, but stay focused with your posts and reviews. The Natalie Wood case affects people to extremes. I think the reason for that goes far beyond specific details of Nov. 1981. Again, for both sides of the spectrum on this story, had crucial details been thoroughly investigated, we wouldn't be here discussing this story so many years later.
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Hi Marti, first of all I want to thank you for your amazing work on Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour. It was an amazing, fascinating read in so many ways. It is a truly touching book.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right that this is a necessary message to those writing unfounded comments, and I admire the reasonable way in which you defend yourself, Dennis and Gail. Unfortunately, it is my impression the worst comments are coming from some obsessive Wagner fans who are deliberately trying to discredit your work and do not care to be fair. It is clear some of the harsh reviews are written by people who have not even read the book. I noticed one such review on Amazon, where the reviewer seemed only to be commenting on what she presumed the book would say. Looking at that reviewer's profile, I discovered she is the author of a book about Hart to Hart!
There is simply no way any reasonable person could read Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour and not see the thought, care, attention to detail and commitment to fairness and truth within its pages.
You mention Lambert's book here and in your book. I have not been able to read much of it as I find it too unpleasant in tone and too distant a view of Natalie (ironically, since its sources were those closest to her). But even skimming pages reveals its transparent bias, and some barely concealed attacks - on, for example, Lana, Natalie's exes and even Natalie! Attempting to read some of the book again yesterday, the marked contrast between his approach and an honorable one like yours really struck me.
In blog entries such as this, you continue to show a style of writing and analysis that is level-headed, fair and kind-hearted. I admire you and thank you for it.
Christine,
ReplyDeleteYour comment has rendered me speechless -- it couldn't have come at a better time. I will think about all you said before answering, but I I can't thank you enough for it. Marti