Reviews

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

reggikko's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

feralpenguin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

kellyroberson's review against another edition

4.0

A thoroughly enjoyable read about two pioneering feminists that I knew far too little about.

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

It took me a really long time to finish this book (apparently 9 months, wow!). I started out with the idea of reading a little bit every month, but then I kept getting distracted by other books and lost momentum. I think that this erratic reading pattern might have affected my overall enjoyment negatively; it really started to feel like an impossible and never-ending task to get through this.

I still think that the book is good; it is very informative and also readable, once you manage to get into the rhythm of it. The language is not overtly complicated or inaccessibly academic.

The book is structured in a sort of dual narrative, following Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley in alternating chapters. While I can understand this authorial choice, sometimes it was still a bit hard to recall what had been going on previously, given this constant switch.

I quite liked that the author did not focus only on their personal lives, but also explored and analysed their body of work, of which I knew very little aside from the "big names" (Frankenstein and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Medical content, Violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Torture, Gore, Child abuse, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

Minor: Colonisation, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Acephobia/Arophobia, Drug use, Blood, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Alcoholism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Animal death

algaemarina's review against another edition

informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.25

ggrhodes03's review against another edition

5.0

A great retelling of the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, a mother and daughter who did extraordinary things. Despite Wollstonecraft dying when Shelley was days old she had a greater influence on her daughter's life than may would believe.

raloveridge's review

5.0

I LOVED this. I was not so knowledgeable about the lives of these women or the times in which they lived, and this book was a revelation. Unbelievably gripping and deeply affecting, I cried like 4 times. It's the first long-ass book I've read in ages. I can't wait to teach this in October.

vcosta's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

dixiet's review against another edition

5.0

This may be the best biography I have ever read. The author did an incredible job alternating the life stories of these two amazing women. The story was gripping from the very beginning, the writing excellent. As long as the book was, I could hardly put it down, staying up one night until 4am because I couldn't make myself stop reading. Very highly recommended.

clarrro's review against another edition

4.0

Fascinating to learn of these two women's lives, how modern their feminist thinking. If I had a quibble, it would be that the switching back and forth of narratives was often disorienting.

And it was funny that almost every woman in the book was named Mary. (Mary, or Mary-Jane, or Jane or Fanny) lol Talk about confusion.

And like another reviewer said, it was apparent that the author wanted her readers to admire her subjects.