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Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

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majasmine02's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

This book is clearly incredibly well researched and pieces together a complete puzzle of the lives of these two great women with in depth interpretation of both their histories and their writings. There is so much effort put into assessing why each woman wrote what they wrote, shedding light on some truly insightful assessments of the literature. That being said, I never felt like either of the women came to life in front of me. I never heard their voices or saw their faces- I was merely being told a lot of very interesting but very overwhelming information. The narrative lacked clarity in a way that sometimes had me lost and, very regrettably, bored. I also felt like far too much time was spent looking at how the men in their lives reacted to them and how they perceived the men in their lives instead of how the women acted. Particularly in Mary Shelleys narrative, we miss out huge chunks of time in between when she is interacting with notable men. I understand that their histories have largely been conveyed to us through the interpretations of men but there were so many new and brilliant interpretations of the women's own literature that I think a similar approach could have been taken to the history. This is not to say that the book completely lacked emotional engagement. There were some truly impactful and insightful moments that did have me fully engaged. I just think that a few small improvements could have made this biography excellent.

lareinadehades's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

apersonallibrary's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

shuffmcpuff's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

ladyofthelake's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

maximum_moxie's review against another edition

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4.0

An enjoyable read; despite the large number of other books on the Romantics, this one stands out. It has a few faults: the intertwined mother-daughtyer narrative leads to some confusion, and parts of the book are overly detailed. But it offers a new perspective on the lives of both women, one which is sorely needed for the masculine-centric Romantic era.