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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
50 pages-just couldn't get into the story.
Anne Lindbergh is so much more than Charles’ wife. The strength, grace, and growth witnessed throughout this book was inspiring. It was historical fiction at its best. Now I want to read the book she wrote…her memoir. I am captivated.
Decent historical fiction about Anne Morrow Lindbergh, pioneering wife of Charles Lindbergh, the first pilot to do a solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. What I am taking away from this novel is that Charles Lindbergh was an anti-semitic, real asshole, that Anne Morrow did great things in her own right, and that losing your child breaks you.
It's written from the 1st person perspective, which made me want to smack her repeatedly for being his passive wife, but I guess that was them breaks at the time (and sometimes today still). I wouldn't rush to pick up another novel by this author, but it was interesting.
It's written from the 1st person perspective, which made me want to smack her repeatedly for being his passive wife, but I guess that was them breaks at the time (and sometimes today still). I wouldn't rush to pick up another novel by this author, but it was interesting.
Well written, interesting to learn the history, sad story of their marriage. Is it inevitable that the type of people who do such daring things are hard to know, hard to care for others, struggle in relationships? I realized I have read Anne’s book, Gift from the Sea, talked about in this book. I want to go back and reread it.
Another book I'm having trouble reviewing.
I really enjoyed the first part of the book (when Anne and Charles first meet and get married).
I was interested in the next part (when they have their first child and the kidnapping happens), and I felt for them, (what mother wouldn't?), but at this point, I was starting to dislike both Charles and Anne. For example, Charles wanted to teach their one year old (one year old, mind you), to learn that he can only depend on himself, so he put the baby in his play pen in the backyard, and left him there for over an hour. The baby of course cried and cried until finally falling asleep in exhaustion. Only then did Charles let, (key word here, LET) Anne go out and get him. **I should probably mention that I am not a proponent for the cry-it-out method, hence my reaction: First off, that Charles thought this was okay, and did it, was cruel. That Anne stood by and let him do it was ridiculous. She lost my admiration in that moment. Before that part, I was in admiration of her and all that she was able to accomplish in such a short time (learning to fly, to navigate by the stars, to get her radio license...), it was gone that fast. She didn't have the strength of will or courage to confront her husband to protect her child from his cruelty. And she continued to let him be cruel and tyrannical throughout the rest of their marriage and to the rest of their children. Oh wait, that is, until the kids were grown and out of the house. Only then did she decide to grow a backbone and start standing up to him.
Both Charles and Anne continued throughout the rest of the book to do idiotic and ridiculous things. Charles was anti-Semitic and pushed his beliefs onto Anne (not that she put up a huge, or any, fight about it), in doing so, they alienated some close trusted friends, and changed the world view of them. Charles was constantly leaving Anne and the kids, for work he said, and even though Anne resented it, she stayed where he had put her, always waiting for him to return. Affairs, betrayal... (that isn't really a spoiler, it gives hint to it in the first chapter, and then again, and then again, until you finally get the details in the last few chapters, but by then I didn't care).
I kept with the book, because I was truly hoping somehow amends would be made, or some resolution would happen to make up for how awful they both acted. I got tired of them both. I was happy the book ended, not happy with the ending, just happy it was over.
I enjoyed the writing, and how the story flowed. I just really hated the characters. When I was still in the early part of this book, I had recommended it to someone else, but now I have to go to them and take back my recommendation. I'm disappointed with this book and that it did not turn out to be as great as all the other reviews made it out to be.
Some other reviewers have said that this was not an accurate portrayal of the Lindbergh's. I sincerely hope so. But then maybe that's why I don't like this book. Maybe I was hoping to see them as the idolized American heroes they are normally portrayed as and not as real people with faults and weaknesses.
I really enjoyed the first part of the book (when Anne and Charles first meet and get married).
I was interested in the next part (when they have their first child and the kidnapping happens), and I felt for them, (what mother wouldn't?), but at this point, I was starting to dislike both Charles and Anne. For example, Charles wanted to teach their one year old (one year old, mind you), to learn that he can only depend on himself, so he put the baby in his play pen in the backyard, and left him there for over an hour. The baby of course cried and cried until finally falling asleep in exhaustion. Only then did Charles let, (key word here, LET) Anne go out and get him. **I should probably mention that I am not a proponent for the cry-it-out method, hence my reaction: First off, that Charles thought this was okay, and did it, was cruel. That Anne stood by and let him do it was ridiculous. She lost my admiration in that moment. Before that part, I was in admiration of her and all that she was able to accomplish in such a short time (learning to fly, to navigate by the stars, to get her radio license...), it was gone that fast. She didn't have the strength of will or courage to confront her husband to protect her child from his cruelty. And she continued to let him be cruel and tyrannical throughout the rest of their marriage and to the rest of their children. Oh wait, that is, until the kids were grown and out of the house. Only then did she decide to grow a backbone and start standing up to him.
Both Charles and Anne continued throughout the rest of the book to do idiotic and ridiculous things. Charles was anti-Semitic and pushed his beliefs onto Anne (not that she put up a huge, or any, fight about it), in doing so, they alienated some close trusted friends, and changed the world view of them. Charles was constantly leaving Anne and the kids, for work he said, and even though Anne resented it, she stayed where he had put her, always waiting for him to return. Affairs, betrayal... (that isn't really a spoiler, it gives hint to it in the first chapter, and then again, and then again, until you finally get the details in the last few chapters, but by then I didn't care).
I kept with the book, because I was truly hoping somehow amends would be made, or some resolution would happen to make up for how awful they both acted. I got tired of them both. I was happy the book ended, not happy with the ending, just happy it was over.
I enjoyed the writing, and how the story flowed. I just really hated the characters. When I was still in the early part of this book, I had recommended it to someone else, but now I have to go to them and take back my recommendation. I'm disappointed with this book and that it did not turn out to be as great as all the other reviews made it out to be.
Some other reviewers have said that this was not an accurate portrayal of the Lindbergh's. I sincerely hope so. But then maybe that's why I don't like this book. Maybe I was hoping to see them as the idolized American heroes they are normally portrayed as and not as real people with faults and weaknesses.
It got a bit slow in places. I learned that Charles Lindburgh was an abusive, manipulative, but brilliant man. His wife put up with so much, trying to please him constantly.
I didn't realize when I first picked up the book that I'd already read something by this author. I listened to [b:The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb|9689093|The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb|Melanie Benjamin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320416504s/9689093.jpg|14577174], which got pretty tedious after awhile. And when I first started reading (actually reading) this book, the Mrs. Tom Thumb narrator's voice was in my head, annoyingly. I could tell for certain they were by the same writer. Fortunately, Mrs. Tom Thumb's voice left my head and I could read this story without the shadow of the other. And since I was in control of the pace of this novel, I could skim when parts got too tedious (too descriptive or meloncholy, for example).
Both novels act as a telling of a famous man's wife's story, someone who is known to history primarily through her husband. Not a bad way to read a history novel, really. But these are both relatively light reads, a bit of back and forth text where most of the story is told when the narrator is in her later years, looking back, giving hints of the tragedies and knowledge that would come as time progressed. Of course with Anne Lindbergh, the reader is likely familiar with some of the bigger tragic events, so those "foreshadows" are not giving much away.
It's historical fiction, light female reading. Not a bad book for a summer's day, though I never really connected with Anne or her husband. Just another observer, peering into their life through an author's imagination.
Both novels act as a telling of a famous man's wife's story, someone who is known to history primarily through her husband. Not a bad way to read a history novel, really. But these are both relatively light reads, a bit of back and forth text where most of the story is told when the narrator is in her later years, looking back, giving hints of the tragedies and knowledge that would come as time progressed. Of course with Anne Lindbergh, the reader is likely familiar with some of the bigger tragic events, so those "foreshadows" are not giving much away.
It's historical fiction, light female reading. Not a bad book for a summer's day, though I never really connected with Anne or her husband. Just another observer, peering into their life through an author's imagination.
Reminiscent of Paula McClain’s “The Paris Wife” or Nancy Horan’s “Loving Frank,” Melanie Benjamin tells a fictionalized account of the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the wife of Charles Lindbergh. Anne recounts the story of her marriage to an American hero while escorting the dying Lindbergh to their home in Hawaii. The couple met when the dashing aviator was invited to join the Morrow family at their home in Mexico where Anne’s father was serving as a U.S. Ambassador. Anne’s mother pushed Anne’s beautiful sister on Lindbergh, but Lindbergh extended a furtive invitation to Anne to go flying. Perhaps impressed with her fearlessness, Lindbergh proposed to Anne (with neither mentioning love) and the timid intellectual Anne, thrust into the public spotlight, quickly learned that she was “unable to say a word or write down a thought that she didn’t want the entire world to know.” The hounding by the press and public reached a climax when the couple’s first born and Lindbergh’s namesake was kidnaped. The family was besieged by people selling souvenirs at the end of their driveway, mediums offering to hold seances, and women offering their own offspring to the legend and his wife. Benjamin deftly reveals how the marriage was irreparably fractured when Lindbergh insisted on directing the police investigation (and who was to argue with an American hero) and then, when the remains of the child were discovered, berated Anne for giving in to her sorrow. The couple escaped the onslaught of the press and public by settling in Germany where Anne reluctantly endorsed her husband’s isolationist policies and unspoken anti-Semitism. At the beginning of the war, the couple returned to the United States where Lindbergh’s views tarnished his reputation and his efforts to assist the war effort were initially shunned. Anne was quietly responsible for salvaging her husband’s reputation, even ghost-writing a autobiography for which Lindbergh received a Pulitzer Prize. Benjamin puts a face on the woman who many of us only knew as the bereaved mother of a slain child. She deftly shows the reader the fearless aviatrix who overcame heartbreak and hardships in a complicated marriage, to find independence and love.
A beautiful honest story about Anne Lindbergh, whom I did not know much about before reading this book. while this story does make you dislike Charles, I appreciate the transparency of Anne's narrative. Well written, enjoyable interesting read
I love historical fiction and I found this book to be well researched, written and informative. It was fascinating reading about Anne's many accomplishments, and I held my breath during the baby kidnapping scenes and the aftermath. Devastatingly portrayed! Reading this book also inspired me to do some more reading about the Lindbergh's and their place in history. I'm in awe of Anne's compassion, bravery and resilience. One of the book's characters said it well, when comparing Charles and Anne: "The colonel never new fear, he never understood consequences. Anne did, but she went along with him, anyway. That was bravery." Very enjoyable read.