Unfortunately this just didn’t work for me, and although I found it mildly interesting at the beginning, the relentless narrating of anecdotes meant to be amusing but which weren’t, and the parade of one-dimensional characters soon palled. Ludwig Bemelmans arrived in Hollywood as a script writer and was taken under her wing by socialite and interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl. Eccentric and self-willed, she seemed to be a magnet for the great and the good, but I found her irritating in the extreme and couldn’t understand Bemelmans’s infatuation with her. He soon becomes very much a member of the family, but it was no family I would want to be adopted into. I found the book singularly lacking in wit or charm and gave up before the end.

To the One I Love the Best is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon and an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this book it was such an interesting and fun story that kept me intrigued til the end.

I honestly have tried to pick this book up several times and each time I just put it down again. I just cannot get into the book. Maybe it would have appealed to me more had I been a fan of the Madeline books when I was younger, I don't know. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I not forced myself to read it for as long as I did.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for sending me an advanced copy

Easy book! Kind of wanted more from the characters and how they came to be with their relationships. Very interesting writer but I wasn't too invested in the subject matter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book blind. I initially was drawn in by the cover, but this is definitely a must read.

I am delighted that this will be republished for a new audience. I have been a fan of Bemelmans since I read Hotel Splendide a good few years ago now. I enjoy his memoirs far more than his work for children. He is witty and has a great ear for dialogue and the eccentricities of people which I love. He moved in some rather exalted circles and I love his gentle lampooning of the upper classes, while all the time you can feel his affinity and love for the people he is ribbing. This is delightful. It tells in lightly fictionalised terms of the time he spent in Hollywood and Paris in the Fifties with acclaimed aristocratic interior designer, Elise Mendl. It's an absolute joy.

I'm delighted to see Ludwig Bemelmans' memoirs and novels being re-issued recently, so that a whole new group of readers can discover what a gem he is. Hilarious and brutally honest, every page of this book crackles with wit and life.

I want to state a few factors that might have made me appreciate less reading this book: 1) I do not have much exposure to Elsie de Wolfe and I feel like this is making me miss a point 2) I leafed the first page knowing merely about Bemelman as the author of Madeleine.

It took me more than a month to finish reading this. The first few pages was fun but then I find myself not relating to and sometimes getting lost in the scenes. I understand that this memoir is about friendship but I found it hard to grasp that relationship -- finding it hard to see the better in 'Mother'. There were chapters that bored me but there are also chapters that amused me mainly because of the eccentric scenes and witty retelling.

I might have expected more out of this but I'm just glad to have gone through this book as a person who disliked DNF-ing.

ps. That title got me.

I had a hard time getting into this one. I was really hoping I would like it but it I found it difficult to get invested in the characters and story.

Bemelmans' writing is simple and elegant, with a touch of humor that makes the book all the more enjoyable to read.

I have loved Madeline since the age of three, so I was very excited to find out that Bemelmans wrote for adults, too. I didn't enjoy this memoir as much as I had hoped, but that is not entirely Bemelmans' fault. His writing was beautiful and it was fun to hear about his personal life. I really disliked everyone else he came into contact with, though, including Lady and Sir Charles Mendl. I don't mind eccentricity, but to me Lady Mendl's eccentric monologues were hard to follow in this memoir. Any of the guests that the Mendls had to dinner were portrayed as one-dimensional, which made it hard to like them, either, especially when casual racial slurs escape their lips later on. I was also disappointed that none of Bemelmans' drawings decorated these escapades, but they may be included in the finished copy. Overall, Bemelmans is a talented writer, but I didn't care for the subject of this piece.

This book is Ludwig Bemelmans' tribute to his friend, Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl, aka "Mother." Originally published in 1955, Bemelmans chronicles his friendship with Lady Mendl, the celebrated and eccentric decorator, through a series of anecdotes. It is a world of parties, lavish settings, and larger-than-life characters, told through Bemelmans' fond and slightly amused perspective. If you love Old Hollywood, glamour, and extravagance, this book is for you. (Note: as with many books from previous eras, there are some instances where the language has not aged well. Readers should use their discretion on whether or not they can look past it.)

To the One I Love the Best by Ludwig Bemelmans
Publication date: 7 March 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
~~~~~
Ludwig Bemelmans’ charming intergenerational friendship with Elsie de Wolfe, the late-in-life “First Lady of Interior Decoration,” provides an enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life's oddities.
~~~~~
I went into this book knowing nothing about nothing, but the description caught my eye. Originally published in 1955, this is a somewhat fictionalised account of Bemelmans' friendship with the doyenne of Interior Design, Elsie Lady Mendl de Wolfe.
It was charming, nostalgic and witty, a really loving snapshot of a time and a place and the people within it.
Elsie, despite being a 90 year old lady described as weighing "about ninety pounds without her jewels," is a force of nature, wants to be known as "Mother," larger than life and somewhat overbearing. She commands a room and she commands the page. She's quite the terror to her poor husband, Sir Charles, but theirs is still a loving relationship and they absolutely steal the show.
However, as I said, this was written in a time and a place and there are several instances of language and stereotypes used to describe black people and people of certain nationalities that are very much of their time, but nonetheless unpleasant to come across and I thought that needed to be mentioned.
~~~~~

I really enjoyed this book, such a fun story that had me loving the book. I didn't want to putbit down and would 100% recommend to everyone.

I didn’t come to this novel with any expectations about the period or character, but I instantly fell in love. Yes, it’s cosy and charming, but there is real life in the pages too. I raced through it and felt my heart expand as I did.

A hilarious and clever story! What a joy to read and immerse myself into the time period and characters.

A lovely edition for fans of Ludwig Bemelmans. I absolutely adored the cover and the design of the book is beautiful!

Another Joy.,
A charming and delightful piece exposing, often with much hilarity and good natured fun, a vanished world. A world of parties, of luxury and of extravagance and those that inhabited it. The imagery created is heightened greatly by the author’s magical imagination but is always done in a best meaning and wholly affectionate manner. Another joy.

I am delighted that this will be republished for a new audience. I have been a fan of Bemelmans since I read Hotel Splendide a good few years ago now. I enjoy his memoirs far more than his work for children. He is witty and has a great ear for dialogue and the eccentricities of people which I love. He moved in some rather exalted circles and I love his gentle lampooning of the upper classes, while all the time you can feel his affinity and love for the people he is ribbing. This is delightful. It tells in lightly fictionalised terms of the time he spent in Hollywood and Paris in the Fifties with acclaimed aristocratic interior designer, Elise Mendl. It's an absolute joy.