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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
medium-paced
2.5-
My first thought upon finishing this book was, “OMG, I am finally finished!” While Marjorie Merriweather Post was a very interesting woman and led a very exciting life this book was neither interesting nor exciting.
I love historical fiction, but I have a hard time with historical fiction that centers around a real person because I’m always trying to figure out what is real and what is fiction. About 25% into this book I realized I needed to read this as if it was a memoir, even though it is clearly not.
Marjorie Post was the daughter of C. W. Post who created Grape-Nuts and Postum (a hot coffee replacement). Under Marjorie’s eye from afar, since as a woman she wasn’t allowed to sit on the board of her own company, she took Post’s Grape-Nuts to an entirely different level by expanding it to more than just cereal and food. She led a most extraordinary life, from hobnobbing with Presidents to other philanthropists and everyone in between.
Despite her fascinating life, I found this book to be a gigantic bore. It is told nearly all narrative and the only plot is Post’s life. Because of this, I felt it would have been better if it was marketed as a nonfiction biography or a fictitious memoir, which is how it reads.
My rating is strictly on the writing of this book. Marjorie Post’s life was absolutely amazing and unfortunately Allison Pataki fell extremely short of giving Ms. Post the fascinating book she deserved.
My first thought upon finishing this book was, “OMG, I am finally finished!” While Marjorie Merriweather Post was a very interesting woman and led a very exciting life this book was neither interesting nor exciting.
I love historical fiction, but I have a hard time with historical fiction that centers around a real person because I’m always trying to figure out what is real and what is fiction. About 25% into this book I realized I needed to read this as if it was a memoir, even though it is clearly not.
Marjorie Post was the daughter of C. W. Post who created Grape-Nuts and Postum (a hot coffee replacement). Under Marjorie’s eye from afar, since as a woman she wasn’t allowed to sit on the board of her own company, she took Post’s Grape-Nuts to an entirely different level by expanding it to more than just cereal and food. She led a most extraordinary life, from hobnobbing with Presidents to other philanthropists and everyone in between.
Despite her fascinating life, I found this book to be a gigantic bore. It is told nearly all narrative and the only plot is Post’s life. Because of this, I felt it would have been better if it was marketed as a nonfiction biography or a fictitious memoir, which is how it reads.
My rating is strictly on the writing of this book. Marjorie Post’s life was absolutely amazing and unfortunately Allison Pataki fell extremely short of giving Ms. Post the fascinating book she deserved.
2.75 ⭐️
Seemed like the same story over and over again. Although I would love to see this as a movie. Going to do a Wikipedia deep dive.
Seemed like the same story over and over again. Although I would love to see this as a movie. Going to do a Wikipedia deep dive.
You may have heard of Marjorie Merriweather Post. The woman who built Mar-a-Largo. The daughter of C.W. Post, the cereal king and heiress to his vast fortune. The mother of actress Dina Merrill. But there’s so much more to this remarkable woman. And thankfully author Allison Pataki has researched her well-lived life and has written The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post.
Born in 1887, Marjorie was the only daughter to a man who made his fortune in Battle Creek, Michigan. She was smart and pretty. And grew to be one of the richest women in the country. Along the way, she married four times, had three daughters and lived quite a life. She became a philanthropist as well as the consummate hostess to presidents, dignitaries and celebrities. And at the same time, she helped run the Postum Cereal Company (later changed to General Foods Corporation) mostly from behind the scenes as it was impossible for a woman to hold any visible corporate position during her era. With all her wealth, status and influence, the one area she could not seem to succeed in was finding the right man to love.
I’ve since gone down the rabbit hole reading lots more about Ms. Post and viewing photos of her amazing homes and her vast artwork collection. Her mansion at Hillwood in Washington, DC, now a museum, holds a collection of about ninety pieces of Fabergé, including two imperial Easter eggs. The story of how she was able to acquire all these Russian treasures is described in the book.
Told in the first person, from the perspective of Ms. Post, Pataki has created a rich work of historical fiction that does justice to this grand woman. Many thanks to Ballantine Books, Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this highly entertaining book in advance of its February 15, 2022 publication.
Rated 4.5 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
Born in 1887, Marjorie was the only daughter to a man who made his fortune in Battle Creek, Michigan. She was smart and pretty. And grew to be one of the richest women in the country. Along the way, she married four times, had three daughters and lived quite a life. She became a philanthropist as well as the consummate hostess to presidents, dignitaries and celebrities. And at the same time, she helped run the Postum Cereal Company (later changed to General Foods Corporation) mostly from behind the scenes as it was impossible for a woman to hold any visible corporate position during her era. With all her wealth, status and influence, the one area she could not seem to succeed in was finding the right man to love.
I’ve since gone down the rabbit hole reading lots more about Ms. Post and viewing photos of her amazing homes and her vast artwork collection. Her mansion at Hillwood in Washington, DC, now a museum, holds a collection of about ninety pieces of Fabergé, including two imperial Easter eggs. The story of how she was able to acquire all these Russian treasures is described in the book.
Told in the first person, from the perspective of Ms. Post, Pataki has created a rich work of historical fiction that does justice to this grand woman. Many thanks to Ballantine Books, Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this highly entertaining book in advance of its February 15, 2022 publication.
Rated 4.5 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
such a fascinating life. I loved learning about Marjorie Post. I didn’t know anything about her life before reading this book and now I want to know more. It’s a little trippy to read a fiction book about real people, it left me wondering what was true and what wasn’t. I highly recommend it though
This book was not for me. While I enjoyed learning about Marjorie Post, I felt like the book was too focused on the men in her life, and there were a lot of them. It seemed like she married any man who complimented her and I found the parade of men who swept her off her feet and then disappointed to be tedious. One of the other primary themes revolving on how rich she was and how extravagantly she spent her money also became tiresome.
Libby audio. This was a bit tedious with the gender roles, but I think that was the early 1900s era. The company has to go to a male heir, only a male could sit on the board… and perhaps if she waited to marry and got to know those awful men, she wouldn’t have had to divorce 4 times. I think the American history was interesting and learning of all her charitable works. Growing up in Northern Virginia, I am well versed in the Meriwether Post Pavilion and I wonder if it is related to her. Grape Nuts cereal! Bleck!
Book club pick and I really enjoyed it. What an incredibly fascinating life she led!!
1.5 stars. Marjorie Post had the good fortune to be born in the late 1880s, witnessing incredible historical events over her following 85 years. During this time she was widely known as the richest woman in the US. While she undoubtedly did good things at times, the majority of the book she came off as arrogant, out of touch, and entitled. She was not a likable character.