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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Loved it! Belle Boyd is my least favorite, seemingly more an attention whore than anything useful, although she did have her moments. It doesn't read like a historical piece, and Ms. Abbott brings the characters to life beautifully.
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is an outstanding narrative of four daring women who risked everything for their cause. Karen Abbott does an excellent job of weaving the narratives together making this biography read like a novel.
I usually dread reading non fiction book club books. This has to be the best one I have read. It flows easily between the four different stories, it was not weighed down by facts but was very well researched. The book started many great discussion with my hubby who is a history buff.
“It is so delightful to be of enough consequence to be arrested.”
Karen Abbott writes about two Northern and two Southern women: Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds (Frank Thompson), Rose Greenhow, and Belle Boyd. Appearances by many other characters you'd expect in a book about the Civil War: Lincoln, Davis, Lee, Grant, and spanning the globe. Endlessly fascinating for a number of different reasons, and a surprise Toledo, Ohio shoutout in the epilogue made me grin!
I picked this book up as a suggestion for Women's History Month, and because I'm always trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Learning more about the Civil War from the perspective of these interesting women certainly kept me engrossed the whole time.
Karen Abbott writes about two Northern and two Southern women: Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds (Frank Thompson), Rose Greenhow, and Belle Boyd. Appearances by many other characters you'd expect in a book about the Civil War: Lincoln, Davis, Lee, Grant, and spanning the globe. Endlessly fascinating for a number of different reasons, and a surprise Toledo, Ohio shoutout in the epilogue made me grin!
I picked this book up as a suggestion for Women's History Month, and because I'm always trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Learning more about the Civil War from the perspective of these interesting women certainly kept me engrossed the whole time.
Even though this isn't the type of book I usually read, I found it really interesting learning about these four women and the important rolls they played during the Civil War. I really liked the balance between the stories of the north and south. It held my attention, but started to drag in the middle a bit and it was sometimes difficult to keep track of each individual woman's story. 3.5 stars.
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Such interesting stories here. Some of these ladies held a larger place in my heart than others, but all seem to have exhibited bravery and tenacity beyond expectation.
I agree with many other reviews, that these stories are clearly glamorized often for the sake of players themselves to sell themselves and their stories after the fact. It's also clear and even mentioned by one woman herself that the "realities" of these stories could have been and likely were, skewed for political and likely financial gain.
For this reason I take all these "true" stories with a grain of salt and read them more for the entertainment value than for any other purpose.
I thank the author for her efforts to compile these stories. They are worth being remembered.
I wasn't a fan of skipping between the players. I know this is hugely popular right now and also probably made sense in a chronological way, however it was an endless source of confusion, especially when the chapter names themselves didn't really give you any idea who you were reading about. If this was going to be the approach, I needed a much clearer break and beginning to re-set my story line. This confusion was only made worse when I listened to this book. I think this popular writing style took away from these stories and only served to confuse and frustrate the reader.
I agree with many other reviews, that these stories are clearly glamorized often for the sake of players themselves to sell themselves and their stories after the fact. It's also clear and even mentioned by one woman herself that the "realities" of these stories could have been and likely were, skewed for political and likely financial gain.
For this reason I take all these "true" stories with a grain of salt and read them more for the entertainment value than for any other purpose.
I thank the author for her efforts to compile these stories. They are worth being remembered.
I wasn't a fan of skipping between the players. I know this is hugely popular right now and also probably made sense in a chronological way, however it was an endless source of confusion, especially when the chapter names themselves didn't really give you any idea who you were reading about. If this was going to be the approach, I needed a much clearer break and beginning to re-set my story line. This confusion was only made worse when I listened to this book. I think this popular writing style took away from these stories and only served to confuse and frustrate the reader.
Though obviously embellished, I adored this collection of extraordinary historical stories.
adventurous
medium-paced
This was hard to follow as it jumped from four different characters. I liked the premise behind it but I didn't like the overall book.
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced