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caracabe's review
Habegger’s stubborn insistence that Emily Dickinson was straight isn’t the only reason to doubt the soundness of his scholarship in this book. A tedious read that fails to bring the poet to life.
maryoliverdisciple's review against another edition
2.0
I was tired of this sitting in my room so I made my mind up to read through it this past weekend. So. I did not read super carefully. It certainly seemed well-researched, but I wanted it to be more compelling and endearing. The author sometimes took a bleak view of the intensity of Emily--particularly when it came to Sue. He made it seem like their relationship was largely one-sided. I am a staunch Emily and Sue supporter (forevermore!) so obviously I was never going to love this.
bookgirl4ever's review
3.0
Biography of Emily Dickinson that provides detailed background information on her parents, their upbringings, personalities, and how this characteristics affected the late poetess. While interesting, I didn't finish this book because it is more information than I need for Weber Reads.
abe389's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Recommended to me at the emily dickinson museum as the best overall biography of her - excellent mostly as described, but weirdly presumptive at times even as it is hostile to other biographer’s presumptions; and also I think way too rigid when it comes to gender. VERY narrowly about her life - ends the moment she dies, I wish there had been more tackling of the history of her legacy & the telling of her, without which the book kind of feels incomplete. Still great overall!
ericabo_louise's review
3.0
I thought I had read this one before all the way through; I had not. Come for the hilarity of Habegger's dry "not Emily who cares" opinions of almost every other human in her circle, stay for his "this is why other people are wrong about when this poem was written" commentary.
tegwards's review
4.0
This book undoubtably has flaws and some of the interpretations of historical evidence are oddly inflexible for an author all too ready to call out the perceived inaccuracies of others writing about Dickinson. However, because this was my first Dickinson bio I was enthralled and generally found the contextual depth interesting. It isn't particularly easy to read and it is very long. You have to really to want to know about Dickinson and be prepared for highfalutin interpretations of her poems (are there even any other kind?). But for all that it does certainly give scope to the complexities and contradictions inherent in Dickinson. While she may remain elusive, this bio does much to flesh it out. There is an inadvertent (and probably unintentional) embracing of elusiveness in this excess of information that is strangely reverential in a way the ambiguous poet may have appreciated
pturnbull's review against another edition
5.0
Emily Dickinson has become impossible for me to avoid, being, as she is, the source from which all modern American flows. This is the first biography I have read about the famous poet. As other reviewers stated, it is detailed, thorough, academic in style. For a first pass at the topic, I might have chosen something more accessible, but never mind. Perhaps Dickinson's singularity simply thwarted my hope of understanding her. As it is, I learned quite a bit: her patriarchal father and withdrawn mother, her sister-in-law's influence on her literary education, her resistance to Christianity (an astonishing achievement in that prominent family), the passion she felt later in life, her ability to control her relationships. Now that I think it over, this was an excellent introduction to Dickinson's life. Highly recommended.