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happylilkt's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 Very good writing and the audiobook performance is excellent.
The classics book club I'm a part of uses a framework for planning the year's reads. Every fall we do a play, every March, Shakespeare. We do a children's classic in May, and every summer we do a big fat book. And, in recent years, we started including a literary biography to read each January. Last year we decided to read some Mary Wollstonecraft in preparation for this dual biography of Mary W. and her (now) more famous daughter Mary Shelley.
It's really Mary Wollstonecraft who shines in this biography, or at least, she was the one I couldn't get enough of. She was renowned for her independent thinking—Aaron Burr was so inspired by her essays on women's rights that he decided to give his daughter Theodosia a classical education superior to what most boys received in those days. (And, apparently he visited Mary Wollstonecraft's widower William Godwin and dandled little Mary Shelley on his knee, figuratively speaking).
Anyway, if you are interested in this one, I recommend reading excerpts from Vindication of the Rights of Women or some other essay by Mary Wollstonecraft first. But it's definitely not necessary. I listened to the audiobook by Susan Lyons and it was superb. The only confusion is that mother and daughter are both called Mary and the author chose to alternate their stories... a little confusing on audiobook, but eventually you find your way.
As I listened / read this one I thought about how many women's issues there are and ever have been. I thought about how these women tried to find true companionship, financial and spiritual independence and emotional and physical safety in a time when women were very limited legally and socially—marriage could be a trap and a prison, but they had very little status and safety without it.
I'm grateful for the wonderful brain and honest spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft and the influence she had on men and women that led to greater rights for women today.
Highly recommend!
The classics book club I'm a part of uses a framework for planning the year's reads. Every fall we do a play, every March, Shakespeare. We do a children's classic in May, and every summer we do a big fat book. And, in recent years, we started including a literary biography to read each January. Last year we decided to read some Mary Wollstonecraft in preparation for this dual biography of Mary W. and her (now) more famous daughter Mary Shelley.
It's really Mary Wollstonecraft who shines in this biography, or at least, she was the one I couldn't get enough of. She was renowned for her independent thinking—Aaron Burr was so inspired by her essays on women's rights that he decided to give his daughter Theodosia a classical education superior to what most boys received in those days. (And, apparently he visited Mary Wollstonecraft's widower William Godwin and dandled little Mary Shelley on his knee, figuratively speaking).
Anyway, if you are interested in this one, I recommend reading excerpts from Vindication of the Rights of Women or some other essay by Mary Wollstonecraft first. But it's definitely not necessary. I listened to the audiobook by Susan Lyons and it was superb. The only confusion is that mother and daughter are both called Mary and the author chose to alternate their stories... a little confusing on audiobook, but eventually you find your way.
As I listened / read this one I thought about how many women's issues there are and ever have been. I thought about how these women tried to find true companionship, financial and spiritual independence and emotional and physical safety in a time when women were very limited legally and socially—marriage could be a trap and a prison, but they had very little status and safety without it.
I'm grateful for the wonderful brain and honest spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft and the influence she had on men and women that led to greater rights for women today.
Highly recommend!
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.
shuffmcpuff's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
maximum_moxie's review against another edition
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.
maggiematela's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
sneurah's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
erintowner's review against another edition
4.0
I think this book was a bit too long but I learned a lot.