Madonna

A Rebel Life

By: Mary Gabriel

Narrated by: Elise Arsenault

In this riveting biography, award-winning author Mary Gabriel chronicles the meteoric rise and enduring influence of the greatest female pop icon of the modern era: Madonna.

With her arrival on the music scene in the early 1980s, Madonna generated nothing short of an explosion—as great as that of Elvis or the Beatles—taking the nation by storm with her liberated politics and breathtaking talent. Within two years of her 1983 debut album, a flagship Macy's store in Manhattan held a Madonna lookalike contest featuring Andy Warhol as a judge, and opened a department called “Madonna-land.”

But Madonna was more than just a pop star. Everywhere, fans gravitated to her as an emblem of a new age, one in which feminism could shed the buttoned-down demeanor of the 1970s and feel relevant to a new generation. Amid the scourge of AIDS, she brought queer identities into the mainstream, fiercely defending a person's right to love whomever—and be whoever—they wanted. Despite fierce criticism, she never separated her music from her political activism. And, as an artist, she never stopped experimenting. Madonna existed to push past boundaries by creating provocative, visionary music, videos, films, and live performances that changed culture globally.

Deftly tracing Madonna’s story from her Michigan roots to her rise to super-stardom, master biographer Mary Gabriel captures the dramatic life and achievements of one of the greatest artists of our time.

©2023 Mary Gabriel (P)2023 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"A gorgeous and unsettling narrative...Ninth Street Women is supremely gratifying, generous, and lush but also tough and precise -- in other words, as complicated and capacious as the lives it depicts...It's as if once Gabriel got started, the canvas before her opened up new vistas. We should be grateful she yielded to its possibilities."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

"Ninth Street Women is like a great, sprawling Russian novel, filled with memorable characters and sharply etched scenes. It's no mean feat to breathe life into five very different and very brave women, none of whom gave a whit about conventional mores. But Ms. Gabriel fleshes out her portraits with intimate details, astute analyses of the art and good old-fashioned storytelling."—Ann Landi, Wall Street Journal

"Ninth Street Women is a must read...Gabriel seamlessly weaves the intimate and the public, the lives and the art, making us feel we were there...It is a story that is a part of the American story, told here in vivid, meaningful detail, an absolutely pivotal text."—Margaret Randall, Women's Review of Books

Epic

An epic book for an epic woman and life. So delicious for a Madonna fan and music lover. I relived every fabulous album as the author meticulously expounded on every interesting detail. Where would we be without Madonna? Wow! What a life!

She’s an icon

I love Madonna but her story in life was boring. I admire how far she got and her intelligence & talent but boring story

A great look back at a great era

I loved this book. Of course it portrayed Madonna in the best light. But it was also very candid. I especially loved how nostalgic it was. Like a history book, it reminded me of the events and trends of the day. I enjoyed every minute.

Missed Opportunity

I read this book to learn about Madonna. Not Penny Marshall or Jamie King. WAY TOO much info on unnecessary bits, whereas things like Madonna’s childhood were given short shrift. Also, lots of bias from author re Madonna’s music and tours. She clearly likes Rebel Heart and dislikes Hard Candy. Not with it.

40 year fan who still learned new things

I loved this book. Yes the narrator mispronounces Lourdes. But the amount of research that went into this book is phenomenal. And the level of respect the author has for Madonna really shows. This was worth the time and money.

Its great!

Everyone needs to calm down. Im enjoying it, and I'm a serious Madonna fan. There are not too many serious books about Madonna and this author has clearly done mountains of research. It's 41 hours long and I am really enjoying it.

The author doesn't take sides like her brother's book (that book was interesting too). The author also doesn't fixate on Madonna's controversial moments like other books. The focus is on Madonna's background (how she got where she is musically and artistically) and why she does the things she does.

The narration is pretty good. The narrator mispronounces a few words, but there aren't that many audiobooks that havent done this.

Madonna and my life

This biography clearly shows how much Madonna has influence my life. it's amazing how much I did not realize Madonna influenced me. I am happy to know more about her artistic expression and appreciate her work more than ever. she is truly a phenomenal, strong woman to look up to.

Loved her more and learned a lot!

I really loved the historical perspective of this whole biography. The author justifies her title and helps piece together a deep understanding pop culture in Madonna’s life and my own (born 1979)

Fascinating portrait of one of most important artists of our time

Well researched and fascinating portrait of Madonna. If you aren’t going in as a fan, I’d be surprised if you didn’t come out as one. Her tenacity, drive, creativity and humanity in the face of constant criticism, misogyny and now ageism is astounding. Sadly, I think her true worth won’t be appreciated by many until she’s gone. Don’t wait that long .

Book Good, Narrator Not So Much

This is a thoroughly researched account of Madonna and her art. While there are some insights into her as a person, the greater focus of the book is on the art. I think that the author did a great job on this front. The grand problem I had with this book was with the narrator. She was slow and kept butchering names. When I bumped it up to 1.5, she went by at a normal speed and it was much more tolerable. Still, it was not a good reading on her part. This book deserved more, I think.