Reviews

Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis

sachahart_logan's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

Amazing woman!!

alex_golub's review

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emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

namaenani's review

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informative slow-paced

1.5

I picked this up to learn more about a badass lady who worked as a spy for the allies during WWII. It's a shame that, despite the title and synopsis, this book is actually more of a general overview of the war in Europe, and the men that Josephine Baker worked with. Baker got maybe 15% (and that's a generous estimate) of the narrative in a book that was supposed to be about her. It's a shame too, because the parts that she was in were awesome.

mcquaden's review

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I had a hard time with the narrator, like they were fine but at the volume I had to put it at to listen to for some reason was messing with my speaker and it was giving me a headache. May pick up in physical form 

pbraue13's review

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3.0

A bit meandering in parts, but albeit an interesting story of one fabulous woman. The book could have used a bit more editing in parts, but still would love to see a movie or miniseries about this lady!

laurenvdb's review

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

yourlocalscrivener's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

4.0

An excellent, if deeply academic and slightly bloated look at espionage in WWII. Please note that if you only picked up the book for Josephine Baker, at times you will be disappointed. The author seeks to contextualize all of her exploits and follow her compatriots, so it is not as focused on Josephine Baker as the title suggests. 

eveningreverie's review

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If you call all the men by their last names, but call none of the women by theirs, and consistently describe them in the most patronizing and misogynistic terms possible while focusing far too little on the purported subject of your entire book, I’m not sure what you’re expecting readers to do other than DNF. 

This is not a story or biography of Josephine Baker. Save yourself the trouble and look elsewhere for that. 

thebechdelbitch's review against another edition

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I can't believe the author managed to make Josephine fricking Baker, renowed entertainer, queer icon and spy,  a really boring story. She is GAY my dude, let's talk about that. Going to try to find a better biography.

jmopheim's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced