The Carpenters: The Untold Story : An Authorized Biography

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An excellent section as a reference for 'what went wrong' with Karen's therapy but unfortunately many readers just don't get or understand what was actually written there.

Coffee table sized, close to 400 pages, littered with previously unseen photographs (the majority in color), ephemera, it’s a design super-show. Karen's quest to be thin seems to have begun innocently enough just after high school graduation when she started the Stillman water diet. Karen Carpenter's velvet voice charmed millions in the 70s… but behind the wholesome image she was in turmoil. Most of Karen's family and friends had assumed Burris's lifestyle and net worth were comparable to her own. The book is too often based on his impression of everything, but his feelings and memories can be wrong.

I loved this, but that may have more to do with the memories the book triggered than with the book itself. Karen began to share with friends her growing misgivings about Tom, not only concerning his finances but also his lack of feelings for her. Having full access to the Carpenters’ archives meant Lennox and May were able to provide an extensive history of the group.

It gives an accounting of nearly every rainy day and Monday they spent in a hectic 1970, the year “(They Long to Be) Close to You” became their breakthrough hit. After the meeting with Levenkron, Richard became angry with the treatment plan, which he thought to be worthless. With candor, heart, and humor, he sheds new light on the Carpenters' trials and triumphs—work that remains the gold standard for melodic pop.I felt it would have been better if it would have been "heart stopped" or "cardiac arrest" or such instead of "heart attack". One chapter includes a Year in the Life, which maps out 364 days the duo spent in 1970 — from the release of their breakout single “(They Long to Be) Close to You” to their self-titled third album. It merely goes through all of their recordings in almost too much minute detail, while failing to give enough space to some of their biggest hits or behind-the-scenes stories. Because it's Richard-approved, this is one pretty detailed, elaborate, and extensive book NOT on his personal life or his sister's personal life and their "demons," it's a book about their career, their albums, and their music, all of which that were and even still are often under looked and haven't received as much careful attention or appreciation, until now. The one thing I found that I feel was off was when it was in there that Karen died from a heart attack.

Carpenters: The Musical Legacy,” meant to mark the 50 years since the duo’s debut, was co-written by Carpenter, along with Associated Press journalist Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May. Learning of her plan to leave, Levenkron reminded Karen she was abandoning the program much too soon, and that treatment takes at least three years. He was upset that Karen had not checked herself into an inpatient facility as one would do to conquer substance abuse.It has the heft and visual history of a coffee table book, but it's also a nearly note-for-note musical biography of the pair that goes back to their childhood lives in New Haven Connecticut where Richard Carpenter found the seeds of the group's sound in his father's records and a toy jukebox. Levenkron explained that the family's attempts to threaten or bribe Karen out of her behaviours would never make them go away.