RaveThe Wall Street JournalLest anyone grow indignant about the idea of Avedon as the subject of a tawdry tell-all, Ms. Stevens is quick to assure readers that this is a sanctioned exposé. Before his death, on numerous occasions, she recalls, Avedon had obliged her to write a memoir about him: ‘Be kind,’ he reportedly told her, ‘only, don’t be kind—I don’t want a tribute, I want a portrait, and the best portrait is always the truth. Make me into an Avedon.’ In other words, glamorous but unsparing … Although the bitchier and more salacious anecdotes in Something Personal will likely earn the book a good deal of attention, the cast of characters is most interesting when discussing Avedon’s central struggle: Should he direct his talents to selling the lie or revealing the truth?