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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
A whole lot of descriptions about lavish houses, vacations, and names of important people of the time. I found it drab. There had been a little bit about the abusive mother but it was drowned out by all the descriptions of buildings and fabrics that I care nothing about. It wasn’t even done well to paint a picture. Not my cup of tea.
I was an observational memoir. Consuelo did not share much of her thoughts and feelings about the personal events of her own life. She talked a lot about famous people and the dinners, parties etc… where she met them. It became rather repetitive. She did not write about herself as much as why I would have liked. Perhaps that’s why she titled it The Glitter and the Gold.
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
slow-paced
Having previously read the historical fiction book, The American Duchess by Karen Harper, I can say that she seems to have heavily leaned on this for her research. Honestly her book is much better than this one because she cuts all the name dropping that Consuelo includes in her memoirs.
informative
slow-paced
Consuelo Vanderbilt never meant this to be a personal memoir, but a picture of a time and place. The result is a nearly endless recital of who showed up at which dinner party - name after name after name.
There are a few interesting nuggets when she describes her early life, and the last chapter - when she's on the run from the Nazis in occupied France - is very interesting, but the rest of it is an interminable slog.
There are a few interesting nuggets when she describes her early life, and the last chapter - when she's on the run from the Nazis in occupied France - is very interesting, but the rest of it is an interminable slog.
Interesting memoir by Conseulo Vanderbilt, who was basically sold into marriage to the 9th Duke of Marlborough (the first cousin of Winston Churchill). What I found most interesting was her ability to forgive her mother for this despicable act. She was not so ready to forgive the Duke, who treated her terribly, and whom she divorced in one of the great scandals of the Edwardian era. Luckily, she found her true love and settled into old age with her second husband, Frenchman Jacques Balsan. In interesting "ps" on the story was that Jacque's catholic family would have nothing to do with this glorious woman until she got an annulment....and then everything was fine. Typical religious hocus pocus.
"It would be tedious and invidious to enumerate them all, but there was a galaxy of lovely women whose beauty was enhanced by a patriction distinction." Listen, I may enjoy history but I'm not getting graded for reading this, and no one is making me power through a whole book with lines like this in it. I made it 30% in before deciding I no longer wished to feel like I was slowly dying, and abandoned the book completely. Interesting in the sense that it's a primary source, I guess, but there was nothing this woman said in the first 30% that I thought was interesting at all.
It took me a long time to get that far in because I started with the audiobook. I found myself unable to follow the narration, and it took a long time for the library ebook to become available.
It took me a long time to get that far in because I started with the audiobook. I found myself unable to follow the narration, and it took a long time for the library ebook to become available.
informative
reflective
slow-paced