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spinstah's review against another edition
3.0
This was interesting, but something was missing for me. It felt like it was mostly about Eleanor, and less about her relationship with Hick.
llhensel's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a hard one to star....there was so so much history of the Roosevelt presidency separate from E and Hick's relationship. This sometimes felt burdensome because I didn't realize I was going to be reading a detailed account of history like this turned out to be. Sometimes I felt the author was off track with lots of details that didn't clearly support the bigger theme of this relationship. That said...I learned a lot and see E as much more complicated than I ever understood before. I want to read more of Lorena Hickok's writing too...and so didn't know anything of her before. So all in all a helpful book even though the historical kitchen sink was thrown in.
pr727's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable mostly for the history it touched on at a fairly high level.
beccamcostello's review against another edition
3.0
I had a hard time getting into this, despite being really interested by the overall story. I feel like details were lacking. But, I'm glad I read it. Although it's not what I came here for, it was definitely an interesting perspective on world events at the time. I could read several more books about Hick!
caidyn's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Such an informative read. I heard about those relationship, but this book definitely looks in depth. Whether or not it was sexual, we'll likely never know. But it definitely was romantic.
marvelousmaggie's review against another edition
4.0
This was very well-written and well-paced. I knew very little about Eleanor Roosevelt (and FDR and this period of history in general because I grew up in a small town in Texas and all of my history teachers were football coaches) and really enjoyed learning about her as a person and a figure and a friend to Hick and many others. In my opinion, the author does a good job of laying out facts and detailing what was obviously an important relationship without embellishing or making either woman out to be a perfect person. It is fascinating to see the impact and influence Eleanor had though.
archytas's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Quinn tells a surprisingly engaging story of the enduring relationship between writer/journalist/activist Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt. I came in knowing little, so there were surprises galore from how I thought this story would go. Eleanor's comfort with lesbianism for starters, given her closest friends were a female couple, and that homophobia seemed barely a blip in their lives. What was, my second surprise, was clearly Hick's being somewhat of a more strident FDR fan than ER was, and the way this tension between FDR as a leader being good for the country, and how much ER hated being First Lady played out. Then there is the class differences, and how the snobbery plays out, and the somehow tragic reality that Hick's career was more torpedoed than supported by the relationship. Fourthly, that FDR and ER led essentially separate lives, with mutual respect and domestic arrangements that worked, but nothing resembling an intimate partnership. My last surprise, of course, was that Hickok wrote one of my favourite books, the Story of Helen Keller, which blew. my. mind. as a child. And nobody mentioned the author was the lesbian lover of a First Lady!
Quinn avoids canonising the couple - she gives us each ones' point of view, but also doesn't skimp over their less likeable qualities, their mistakes and the ways in which they let each other down. It is a real portrait of a relationship under extraordinary pressure, and women attempting to live happy, authentic lives when every choice is a pitfall.
There are some fabulous anecdotes scattered through, never entirely gratuitously, (who would be surprised to learn that Churchill sounded like the houseguest from hell?) but the focus is on a broader narrative - that of two women navigating personal happiness in the midst of duty, progressive politics and a terrible war. The push and pull of their politics, their responsibilities and their passions made for a great story, and one that lingers.
Quinn avoids canonising the couple - she gives us each ones' point of view, but also doesn't skimp over their less likeable qualities, their mistakes and the ways in which they let each other down. It is a real portrait of a relationship under extraordinary pressure, and women attempting to live happy, authentic lives when every choice is a pitfall.
There are some fabulous anecdotes scattered through, never entirely gratuitously, (who would be surprised to learn that Churchill sounded like the houseguest from hell?) but the focus is on a broader narrative - that of two women navigating personal happiness in the midst of duty, progressive politics and a terrible war. The push and pull of their politics, their responsibilities and their passions made for a great story, and one that lingers.