The Art of Her Deal

The Untold Story of Melania Trump

By: Mary Jordan

Narrated by: Mary Jordan

In this “scrupulously reported biography” (NPR) Jordan documents how Melania Trump had discussing being First Lady nearly two decades before she landed in the White House and how she encouraged her husband to enter the race for president.

Based on interviews with more than one hundred people in five countries, The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump is “an extraordinary work” (Salon) that draws an unprecedented portrait of the first lady. We see that behind the scenes Melania Trump is not only part of President Trump’s inner circle, but for some key decisions she has been his single most influential advisor.

Jordan interviewed key people in Melania's close circle who speak publicly for the first time and uncovered never-before-seen photos and tapes of the tall woman with “tiger eyes,” as a judge in an early modeling contest said. The Art of Her Deal shows Melania’s ascent from a modest life, tracing her journey from childhood under a communist dictator to her complicated relationship with Donald Trump. The picture that emerges is “that the first lady is not a pawn but a player...and a woman able to get what she wants from one of the most powerful and transparently vain men in the world” (NPR).

And while it is her husband who became famous for the phrase “the art of the deal,” this is the story of the art of her deal.

©2020 Mary Jordan. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

it was very bias

So when I started reading it, I thought it was gonna be a book about melania, because I think she's very interesting and quiet. but I realized as I began listening that this author had an agenda. on the very first chapter, I almost cut it off. Because I didn't want to hear about her opinion on President Trump or anybody else. I just thought she was going to write about melania. But I decided to go ahead and keep listening. Once she hit chapter 2, it got a little better, I started to actually enjoy the book and it stayed really good through the middle. But then when you get towards the end, once again, it gets pretty bad about attacking. And talking about trump, and I just didn't see why she had to bring him into it when this is just about melania. And I could say, Hey, maybe she's with Trump, so that's why she has to say all this stuff, but the thing is she talked about Michelle and Barack Obama and she made them sound really good. She also talked about Hillary Clinton, and she made her sound Okay, so that's why you know it's more slanted, than it is middle of the road. Especially when she said something about Michelle Obama said that Trump was going to make people who are crazy and carrying guns. Come to the White House and wanna shoot her children. It's so funny because two attempts were on trump's life, but that was probably after her writing this book, it's just ironic.That's all. So I gave her 4 stars because I did enjoy listening about Melania, but I would have given her 2 stars because of the biased nature I chose not to be biased. I chose to be someone who is more open minded, and just realized I read a biased book. and i gave her 4 undeserving stars lol

Loved this Book

This book was wonderful.. The narrator did a fabulous job with telling the story about Malania Trump's life from the beginning.

very interesting

it was very interesting. I would have given it a 5 star if it was an authorized telling. but all the same gave me a good understanding.

Good

But I don’t think authors should read their own Books. Let the professionals enhance the material.

Much Better Than I Expected

Well read and very interestingly written, I enjoyed every minute of this book.
It’s scrupulously fair but very factual.
I ended feeling more sympathetic to Melania than I expected but doubt it will change any minds. Highly recommended

Poor Reader

I would really recommend that either the author re-record her book or have about her audio book reader re-record it. When emphasizing or trying to use expression, Mary Jordan comes across as angry. I’m sure she is not, but her voice belies the words and content she is reading, just as she has shown us that Melania’s measured emotions and neutral facial expressions belie her real feelings.

Not sure about this book

I tried to listen to this book with an open mind, but too many named people touting her modeling prowess when most likely they wouldn't have remembered her at all if she wasn't first lady of the US turned me off the rest of the book.

Informative, but not the most interesting

I got this book because it looked like the best one I could find on Melania. I wanted to learn more about this first lady that so little is known about, especially after preparing a presentation on her for a college class and finding very little information. This book is informative about what can be learned about her life and seems to understand Melania as a person. However, it is not the most engaging read, especially when it is repetitive. The narration is good and I like that it's read by the author.

boring subject equals stale book

Just a bland gathering of safe and boring info. Really felt like a waste of time.

Awful Narration

Look, the book itself is fabulous. Great story, well researched. Mildly gossipy (in a good way) without being sensationalist. The one downside as an audio book is that Mary Jordan is just not a great reader. Her timing is painful, it veered from “9th grader reading her term paper “ to “mother scolding her child” ( now I’m going to tell you this really slowly so you don’t keep screwing up!). Usually I love it when an author reads their own book- it imparts a sense of intimacy as though you were a guest at a really terrific dinner party. Editors should realize that just because someone can write it does not follow that they can narrate. Read this book- it is great fun. Just don’t bother listening to it.