Little Girl Blue

The Life of Karen Carpenter

By: Randy L. Schmidt

Narrated by: Cheryl Bentyne

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar.

Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970's, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Little Girl Blue reveals Karen's heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; her love for playing drums and her frustrated quest for solo stardom; and the ups and downs of her treatment for anorexia nervosa. After her shocking death at 32 years of age in 1983, she became the proverbial poster child for that disorder; but the other causes of her decline are laid bare for the first time in this moving account.

Little Girl Blue is Karen Carpenter's definitive biography, based on exclusive interviews with her innermost circle of girlfriends and nearly 100 others, including childhood friends, professional associates, and lovers.

©2010 Randy L. Schmidt (P)2013 Randy L. Schmidt

Revealing

Very good read. Revealed many aspects of Karen’s life and career that I did not know. Worth reading.

Kept me listening all week

Narrator had a smooth voice which seemed to fit the kind of vanilla image Carpenter had, as well as Carpenter's own voice. I found the end of the book with her marriage, attempts to get better, solo album, and decline to be far more interesting than the beginning. My only criticism is that I would have liked to hear more psychological evaluations of the family. There is no doubt in my own mind that Karen's mother was a dangerous narcissist, and I suspect both kids were as well, including Karen, at least to a degree. And her relationship with her brother was also very bizarre. Karen's personality, at least as expressed in this book, is very contradictory and could have used some analysis.

a delight but also suffused with sadness

very well researched and written
accurate description of her life and music.
can't stop listening.

One of my favorite books

I enjoyed reading about Karen Carpenter’s life as a singer and through her struggle with anorexia. She’s one of my favorite singers.

I love karen

very informative. easy to follow and insightful on the life and loss of the amazing star: karen carpenter