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insidemylibrarymind 's review for:
Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo
by Hayden Herrera
More reviews up on my blog Inside My Library Mind
Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I have quite conflicted feelings about this one. On the one hand, this is incredibly detailed and it chronicles Frida's life from her birth to her death in a really detailed way, so it feels quite well researched. I am a huge fan of Kahlo's art but more importantly, I think she was a really interesting and remarkable woman, so I liked reading about her life in general, and there were parts of this that I really enjoyed.
However, this book made me not like Frida. And not in a way that I atribute it to Frida Kahlo herself, but to the author completely. I just did not like the way the author decided to portray Frida, and I felt like it was a really biased portrayal. I also think the author hyperfocuses on Frida's relationship with Diego. And I don't mind that persay because I do think that was an important part of her, both as a person and as an artist. But the author continually sidelines her own subject to highlight Diego Rivera and I could not stand it. There were parts of this that felt like the author made Frida a side-character in Rivera's life, which was incredibly frustrating to read in a biography of Frida Kahlo. Moreover, this book glosses over Frida's political and revolutionary nature, and I really hated that, because that's one of the things I love about Frida. I even felt like the author interpreted Frida's art in a biased way to suit her own narrative.
I liked the beginning and the end the best, and then just disliked the middle. I was also quite bored with the middle at times and I just felt like Frida was reduced to her relationship with Diego in a way that gave her no agency in my opinion. And while that might be factual I needed this to then highlight that and engage with it in a manner that made sense.
I also just don't think that this is a compelling piece of non fiction. Like I would not recommend this to anyone who does not want a very detailed, dispassioned account of Kahlo's life and is not a huge fan of her work already.
I have seen people recommend [b:Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo|510972|Devouring Frida The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo|Margaret A. Lindauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348006713l/510972._SY75_.jpg|498973], as a text that should be read as an alternative precisely because of the things I mentioned bothered me, so I might try that in the future.
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Actual rating: 2.5 stars
I have quite conflicted feelings about this one. On the one hand, this is incredibly detailed and it chronicles Frida's life from her birth to her death in a really detailed way, so it feels quite well researched. I am a huge fan of Kahlo's art but more importantly, I think she was a really interesting and remarkable woman, so I liked reading about her life in general, and there were parts of this that I really enjoyed.
However, this book made me not like Frida. And not in a way that I atribute it to Frida Kahlo herself, but to the author completely. I just did not like the way the author decided to portray Frida, and I felt like it was a really biased portrayal. I also think the author hyperfocuses on Frida's relationship with Diego. And I don't mind that persay because I do think that was an important part of her, both as a person and as an artist. But the author continually sidelines her own subject to highlight Diego Rivera and I could not stand it. There were parts of this that felt like the author made Frida a side-character in Rivera's life, which was incredibly frustrating to read in a biography of Frida Kahlo. Moreover, this book glosses over Frida's political and revolutionary nature, and I really hated that, because that's one of the things I love about Frida. I even felt like the author interpreted Frida's art in a biased way to suit her own narrative.
I liked the beginning and the end the best, and then just disliked the middle. I was also quite bored with the middle at times and I just felt like Frida was reduced to her relationship with Diego in a way that gave her no agency in my opinion. And while that might be factual I needed this to then highlight that and engage with it in a manner that made sense.
I also just don't think that this is a compelling piece of non fiction. Like I would not recommend this to anyone who does not want a very detailed, dispassioned account of Kahlo's life and is not a huge fan of her work already.
I have seen people recommend [b:Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo|510972|Devouring Frida The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo|Margaret A. Lindauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348006713l/510972._SY75_.jpg|498973], as a text that should be read as an alternative precisely because of the things I mentioned bothered me, so I might try that in the future.
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