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loufillari's review against another edition
4.0
This book was v good. I'm not sure if it started slow or if I was just not in the mood to read an historical fiction that begins in the late 1800s but man oh man did I detest this when I started it. It was a trek getting through those first one hundred and such pages.
But then this book takes off. There's these guys and one gets married and one doesn't and their lives consist of different events. Wild. And the one guy's wife is awesome. Best character in the book awesome.
The historical figures presented in third novel are Roger Casement, who fought for an independent Ireland, and Herbert Ward, who did nifty stuff too, I suppose. In the end he just turned out to be a coward. So said Sarita, and my girl Sarita could do no wrong.
When I finished this book, I read more about these three main characters and that's when my strong three star rating hopped on up to a weak four stars.
Viva la revolucion! Imperialism blows! Also don't trust Great War era Germans!
But then this book takes off. There's these guys and one gets married and one doesn't and their lives consist of different events. Wild. And the one guy's wife is awesome. Best character in the book awesome.
The historical figures presented in third novel are Roger Casement, who fought for an independent Ireland, and Herbert Ward, who did nifty stuff too, I suppose. In the end he just turned out to be a coward. So said Sarita, and my girl Sarita could do no wrong.
When I finished this book, I read more about these three main characters and that's when my strong three star rating hopped on up to a weak four stars.
Viva la revolucion! Imperialism blows! Also don't trust Great War era Germans!
jenniemayfield's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 I found Sarita's story far more interesting than either of the men but I tend to like female protagonists. I kind of slogged through this but I did enjoy it.
catdad77a45's review
4.0
Even though it took me an inordinate amount of time to read this (usually an indication I am NOT enjoying a book), I did find this both very well written and involving. My main quibble is that I was expecting a historical fictional biography focusing on Roger Casement, and this is more of a dual biography of both Casement and his lifelong friend, the sculptor Herbert Ward, or even a triple biography as much of the book concerns, and is from the point of view of, Ward's equally fascinating wife, Sarita Sanford. The other thing keeping this from 5 stars is that it tends to jump over large periods of time and one often wonders how one got to the present from the last chapter (or the chapter before that, since the book largely alternates chapters between Casement and the Wards). Also, often, characters are barely introduced, so when they re-appear, to me it wasn't always clear exactly who they are. The ending, too, seems a bit rushed, with Casement's trial, and the veracity of his diaries (arguably the most intriguing part of his story) glossed over in a few lines. Nevertheless, a satisfying book, and made me want to read other more factual biographies.
melissadeemcdaniel's review
4.0
What happens when the explorers return?
Sabrina Murray explores the intimate lives of the men and women who left Europe to explore the world at the turn of the century. She brings them back to England, to their wives and families and then sends them back out again, always somehow uncomfortable, at home everywhere and nowhere, loving and hating the families that anchor them.
Murray probes the moral ambiguities of colonial exploitation and of English mores, while watching the world edge closer and finally into war.
Sabrina Murray explores the intimate lives of the men and women who left Europe to explore the world at the turn of the century. She brings them back to England, to their wives and families and then sends them back out again, always somehow uncomfortable, at home everywhere and nowhere, loving and hating the families that anchor them.
Murray probes the moral ambiguities of colonial exploitation and of English mores, while watching the world edge closer and finally into war.
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