Susan Ecker

3.5 stars
Sophie Tucker was unknown to me until I started I AM SOPHIE TUCKER. Starting the book spurred me to do a bit of looking into her and her life. There’s a lot to commend Sophie to readers. The Ecker’s have captured her boisterous and brazen voice perfectly. Sophie was a product of my favorite era in American history. The early 1900’s were a time of less stricture and regulation when the sky actually was the limit if you had the gumption to go for it. It’s an early who’s who of a time that produced some of our most memorable and notorious figures. With plenty of humor and a realistic look at exactly how hard people, regardless of age, worked just to survive; I AM SOPHIE TUCKER is a fascinating glimpse into the not so distant past.
It’s my understanding there will be more Sophie in the future and I’m certainly on board for that. The ending isn’t exactly a cliff hanger but it certainly piqued my curiosity to know what comes next. However, while I enjoyed Sophie immensely, the same qualities that make her so interesting also make her a bit grating after a while. So, while I’ve every intention of following Sophie it will be in small doses.

Reviewed for Miss Ivy’s Book Nook Take II, Manic Readers, & Novels Alive TV… (mer)

This was a fascinating read and something you felt that the real Sophie Tucker might have written. When she did her own autobiography back in the 1940's, it was sanitized, so the authors, who accessed Tucker's papers and scrapbooks and talked with those who knew and worked with her, wrote this as the first installment of a trilogy on Tucker - this part dealing with the young Sophie. I think they did a good job and interwove real events with what they perceived Tucker would have thought or said. Even if the book was not about a famous individual as Sophie Tucker, it was an interesting look at an immigrant's family struggle to get to America, make a living in America, and a young girl's defiance of her family to make a living in show business. The book also had numerous photographs of Sophie Tucker. It was a good read and very difficult to put down.… (mer)