The Lady From the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara is a rather unusual book. It tells the story of how O’Meara tracked down information about Milicent Patrick, the artist who created the creature from the black lagoon for the movie of the same name. Starting with how O’Meara first learned about Patrick as a teenager who loved horror films it mixes in the story of Patrick herself as a child. Moving from there it chronicles the trajectory of O’Meara’s search for information about Patrick as well as Patrick’s life and career. With sections covering the early stages of Patrick’s education and career it parallels O’Meara’s search and mixes in historical information about the lifestyle and culture of early show business.
This book was a bit unusual in that it is part biography and part detective memoir with a heavy dose of social commentary mixed in as well. It makes for an interesting blend that can be confusing but is mostly well balanced. I say it can be confusing because it jumps back forth from Patrick’s story to O’Meara’s story multiple times in each chapter. Now both storylines are told in chronological order so they make sense in that regard but the switching can be confusing, especially if you are not expecting a change. It also doesn’t help that it mixes in social commentary by veering off course and focusing on just how heavily show business is a male dominated industry, both then and now. I actually agree with quite a bit of what the author was saying or pointing out about that but I also found it frustrating when I really just wanted to learn more about Patrick. A good thing that came from that though is that the book was refreshingly blunt about almost everything. You can definitely tell they didn’t censor a lot and that it was also part memoir on the part of the author as she held nothing back. Not many authors are that open about themselves and their thought processes, at least not in their first book anyway. Sure it was mildly frustrating for the story to get interrupted by rants but it allowed a lot of insight into just how the author viewed their topic. I genuinely appreciated the honesty that was shown. It also shows just how much the author researched as they included a lot of data and numbers to back up what they were saying which was in addition to the research that they did on Patrick in the first place. Any author this dedicated deserves at least some respect, even if you don’t always agree with them. In terms of how the presented Patrick’s story, I honestly thought they did a pretty decent job. There were a few places where I thought some of their conclusions were not entirely supported and they didn’t always circle back to things that they should have but they also did a really good job of explaining just how difficult it was to find information and how there was a lot they couldn’t prove because of that. It was a good book even if I thought it could use some minor work so I am giving it 3.5 out 5.
This book is an interesting example of nonfiction that is part biography, part detective memoir and part social commentary so if you enjoy any of those you might consider trying it. It might also appeal to readers who want to learn more about marginalized minorities or about the hidden side of show business. The book is aimed at adults and I would mostly agree with that due to how blunt the author is in their use of language. There is some language that many people would object to so keep that in mind. I don’t think there was any content that was objectionable though unless you don’t like the critique on male-dominated workplaces. It was a good book though so if it sounds interesting consider trying it. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments if you do.