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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 Used: $8.75
You Save: $17.25 (66%)
New (54) Used (36) Collectible (1) from $8.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  197 reviews
Sales Rank: 6332
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
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| Customer Reviews:
 They deserve each other July 15, 2008
33 out of 49 found this review helpful
I do hate a bully. But I hate people who wallow in their victimhood even more.
Very early in this book, Madonna summons her brother from Detroit to NYC to live with her, then when he arrives, she opens the door and says, "Hi, Christopher, you can't live here after all." A little later, she summons him there again, from Canada, to be her back-up dancer. Same scenario: the moment he arrives, the deal's off, she's replaced him that morning. This goes on and on and on and on and on. Chris just can't stop going back for more. Not even after she asks him to purchase some paintings for her and then refuses to reimburse him, *stiffing him out of his entire life savings*. He sneers at Ingrid Casares and others in Madonna's entourage for their sycophantic behavior. But who could possibly be worse in that department than he is? He drops everything in his life, repeatedly, for privileges like letting her spit her cough drops into his hand and picking up her underwear. He abandons his own ambition of being a dancer, sells his own dreams, his soul, his dignity, his self-respect, everything, to live at the epicenter of Madonna-land, following her around and working on her projects, then he whines that he has no identity that's separate from hers.
Chris, you complain that Madonna paid you so little for your interior design work. Well, at least at that point you had a portfolio of several mansions you had designed. If you were any good at it and had an ounce of self-determination, you could have used that to land other work. That way, you would have gotten paid three times as much as your sister was paying you (if we can trust your statement that she paid you a third of the industry standard) and you would have built your reputation. If you're so desperate for success and respect in your own right, why don't you go out and earn some? Instead, you're trying to make money and enjoy the spotlight via a project based on her - again.
Your sister does truly sound like a sociopathic nightmare - with all the magnetism and charm that sociopaths often exhibit, along with the complete inability to consider the well-being of anyone besides themselves. But I don't know which one of you is worse. It's too bad you went separate ways because it seems to me that you deserve each other.
 Madonna is a Sociopath July 17, 2008
31 out of 40 found this review helpful
I read this in two days. We all know what an egotist Madonna is, but I never thought she would be so disrespectful to her family, even her late mother's memory.
These reviewers who so smugly say Christopher should have stopped depending on her, did you read the same book? She blackballed him so that he could not work without her.
It's sad to think that someone like her can pass off her bitchiness as a product of determination and guile. Well it isn't, even if a lot of people honestly believe that.
People, like Madonna, who claim to have acheived everything all by themselves are always the ones who received the most help and are too spoiled to notice.
Based on everything we know of her so far, this book does not contradict. Madonna must be a sociopath. I mean clinically. I think this society's worship and respect for someone who clearly lacks a conscience is disturbing. Some call it determination, but not all determination is that ugly, nor does it need to be.
I can't believe how lame Madonna's father was in not teaching her to be humble and be nice to her brothers and sisters. Maybe they should have talked once in a while in that family so they could teach their kids properly. Although I truly do believe Madonna has something physiologically wrong with her brain, this is also a product of bad parenting.
Sadly, she's still selling albums, not because they're as catchy as her older ones or because they're any good, but based on her old days of grandeur. Even I buy her albums, and it isn't because I like the music. I'm simply curious to see what that relic is up to. Because of her album sales, she will never get the help she needs - a lobotomy.
As for Christopher's victimhood - yes, he did most of it to himslef, but what I read was that he was a younger brother still wanting his older sister's love and respect. Of all the family members, Madonna was the only one who could understand his homosexuality, so she was his whole family. For a boy who lost his mother at so young an age,and who isn't mentally ill, that means a lot. And, obviously, the father allowed the whole family to be submissive to her and Christopher learned this at an early age.
 An eye-opener, but ultimately quite depressing . . . July 16, 2008
27 out of 31 found this review helpful
I felt sad for both Chris and his sister Madonna after reading this book. Despite all of the joy she brings to the world as an artist through her spectacular music and exuberant shows, the private Madonna makes every single person around her miserable with her ruthless insensitivity. The only person she can't push around is her husband, Guy. Christopher can't blame Guy for the deterioration of his relationship with Madonna. They had numerous disturbing issues long before Madonna even met Guy.
Christopher became just another enabler for Madonna, reinforcing her bad behavior by succumbing to it. They are both emotionally scarred individuals, stemming from the loss of their mother at an early age. Still, that is no excuse for Madonna to be a heartless sadistic monster (is it any surprise that she wore a fur coat made from hundreds of animals and once hunted birds for sport as an excuse to wear her "stylish" new hunting gear?); nor does it excuse Christopher for being a doormat. He would have been better off putting her in her place, abandoning the ostensibly glitzy lifestyle, and finding his own path in life.
The book is plainly written in an odd, present-tense narration. Christopher continuously interrupts the storytelling with his own negative opinions about Madonna (he clearly has very little esteem for her artistry). Many facts have been mixed up (e.g., Madonna was NOT singing "Holiday" while wearing the blonde afro wig in the Girlie Show; she was in a military costume for that song). But this was never meant to be an accurate historical account. Rather it is Christopher's redemption after a lifetime of humiliation and emotional abuse at his sister's hands. And on that level, he succeeds brilliantly. Madonna will never dare to hurt her little brother again.
 Or, how I let my sister walk all over me July 30, 2008
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
There's a very true saying that you can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family. If you could, most modern celebrities would have no family.
And it might as well be the title for "Life With My Sister Madonna," written by the pop singer's brother Christopher Ciccone. While it starts off vaguely interesting, Ciccone's book eventually devolves into a justifiable but long-winded rant about his sister's flaws, which grows more tedious and bland with each passing page. Even dozens of celebrity cameos can't make it interesting.
Christopher and Madonna were raised in a large Italian-American household of siblings and half-siblings, and both became interested in dance at the same time. But while Christopher's interest veered off into painting and design, his sister rapidly became a punky pop singer who used sexuality and shock tactics to get herself publicity. But with fame came a worldview that was increasingly selfcentric.
As Madonna's star rose, Christopher stayed close as her dresser and designer, all throughout her disastrous marriage to Sean Penn, several tours, and up until shortly before the birth of her first child. But Madonna's selfish demands, unreasonable behavior and relationship with second hubby Guy Richie put a wedge between the siblings at last.
The basic message of "Life With My Sister Madonna" is that Madonna is a manipulative, control-freaky, fame-hungry diva who would use anything (including her mother's grave) to get attention, and would stiff and ignore her family whenever it suits her mood.
Well, like we didn't know that already.
In fact, nothing much in this supposedly intimate tell-all is shocking, because virtually all of what is inside has been reported a dozen times before. Lesbian flings, using and dropping people, the "Daddy Chair" for a conveniently-timed conception, her abusive first marriage and many other stories have been reported in books and tabloid media. And despite having been there for it all, Ciccone adds little to them.
There are a few that haven't made the news -- the gay jokes at her wedding, her refusal to pay her brother for his work, her harassing his psychiatrist -- but most of the time Ciccone just gives his personal impressions of people like Madonna's yes-lackey Ingrid Casares. More often we get to hear about Ciccone's not-terribly-interesting love life, artistic pursuits, and how he came out to his family.
And unfortunately Ciccone's writing doesn't improve matters. It starts off tolerably, but takes a sharp nose-dive when Ciccone becomes Madonna's dresser (basically he mopped the sweat off her body and told her how awesome she was), and preens a lot about how invaluable he was to Madonna. By the time Ritchie appears, it's degenerated into a gooey dribble of celebrity name-dropping and complaints, composed in a vaguely stoned manner.
In fact, the most interesting part of the entire book is Ciccone's meetings with various stars such as Warren Beatty, Dolly Parton and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yet even then, there's the underlying feeling that he's telling us to demonstrate, "See? These people are nice, and my sister isn't!"
Which is rather funny, because Ciccone doesn't come across very well himself -- he seems rather brittle and doormattish, allowing a thousand nasty things his sister does to slide because... well, because she's Madonna and she's a star. It's hard to muster much sympathy for someone who allows himself to be ill-treated from day one, merely because his sister is famous.
"Life with My Sister Madonna" is pretty much a long, boring nightmare of divatastic proportions. It promises to be juicy, but after the first bite it dries into a mummy.
Brave Christopher July 18, 2008
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
I'm giving this book four stars---not because it's the most beautifully written book out there but because it's honest and took some bravery on Christopher's part to write. My heart goes out to this adult little brother, who clearly still loves his big Sis but really does need to work through his issues with her and certainly won't be able to in this lifetime. She is indeed a narcissistic piece of work. Christopher needed to realize his boundaries with her a long, long time ago but that's one of the great things about this story. It illustrates just how complicated, compelling and hopeless sibling relationships can be. Especially when that sibling has their worst behavior excused at every turn. Good luck, Christopher!!! Keep on with spiritual studies and therapy---and follow your own gifts! (Oh--and study up on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. You'll recognize someone you love there.)
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