One Lifetime Is Not Enough

Born to a rich Hungarian family, Zsa Zsa Gabor first got married at the age of fifteen, but left her husband after the death of her lover, Turkish leader Ataturk. Eight more marriages came after that, including George Sanders, Prince Frederick von Anhalt, and Conrad Hilton (yes, from THAT Hilton family). Not to mention a small army of lovers that included Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Frank Sinatra, and more.

Gossipy memoirs are always a fun guilty pleasure, the sort of thing to tuck inside a weekly news magazine at lunch. Gabor reveals plenty of sexy details (including making out with Greta Garbo) that are above and beyond even what tabloids usually print, and she does in it a very straightforward, matter-of-fact manner.

Unfortunately, her exploits start to get annoying. The word "diamond" is used constantly (we get it, Zsa Zsa -- you love diamonds), and there is little of Gabor's life except who she slept with and why. There isn't a great deal about her daughter or family... except when ex-hubby George Sanders married her sister Magda. Some of her stories are questionable -- like Sanders wanting to watch Gabor bed a Catholic priest, or Gabor sleeping with Sinatra to make him leave her apartment. And others raise weird questions (if she's so amazingly sexy, why did her husbands keep cheating?).

Gabor gushes ad nauseam about her assorted lovers and husbands, few of which are actually around much. Initially, since her first lover was a god-king, it's an interesting tale. But when she gets to Hollywood, these guys mostly start to blur together. What's more, Gabor certainly was telling the truth when she said she liked being around men more than women -- her descriptions of women like Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and any other beautiful heterosexual actress are pretty catty, to say the least.

Zsa Zsa Gabor's autobiography starts off as a delicious gossipfest, but eventually deteriorates into a listing of the men she slept with and/or married. "One Life is Not Enough" is way more than enough.


It's trash, but I couldn't put it down!   August 20, 1999
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is one of those books that you're embarrassed to be seen reading, buying, or checking out of the library. Zsa Zsa has written the most egotistical book I've ever read! Some of it is SO hard to believe, such as the little chapter about the priest who wanted to break his vows for one night of passion with Ms. Gabor (to make it even more incredible, her husband allegedly encouraged her to accept, telling her that it was his fantasy to see her with a priest). But this book was great entertainment, like a saucy bit out of the National Enquirer. Despite the fact that it may have lowered my IQ a few points, it was worth the hours it took to read it. Great pictures, too, of the young Zsa Zsa, who was a great beauty back in the days.