marie6 's review for:

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

4.0

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I would caution comic book fans that they might find it dry and not enough about Wonder Woman/the comics as it is much more a history/biography of the people involved and the feminist movement of the time, etc. Not quite what I was expecting, but I likely would have read it sooner had I known what it would be...

I kind of greatly enjoyed what a trainwreck Marston was, especially given how much the women in his life forgave him and how humored he was by some of his coworkers. He was presumably quite impressively armed with charm (and ability to spin?) in order to make up for his inabilities, employment struggles, stubbornness, proclivity towards exploiting others, and an over inflated ego/tendency to narcissism. He was just such an unlikely character to nestle into the circles he did... I love that! He felt more real and multi-dimensional than flawed biography subjects tend to be portrayed.

Not sure how this made it on my library wish list but I am glad it did. It was a bizarre ride, but worth it.