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fossen's review
5.0
I absolutely loved this. Wilder is a fascinating subject, and Niven obviously has a great affection for him.
in2reading's review
4.0
I wanted to read this because Our Town is my favorite play of all time. I really loved the first half of this dense but readable book. The story of Wilder's early life and his family was compelling and it included a micro-managing father, time spent in China as a boy, and a mother and siblings of great talent. It was a loving if somewhat dysfunctional family and the author's access to many thousands of pages of Wilder's letters, journals and work helped her tell Wilder's story with accuracy and gave weight to her thoughts about what can't be known. As the book went on, there was less narrative and more commentary and dissection of Wilder's works and I found it less interesting. For readers who are very interested in what shaped Wilder's views of life.
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