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A review by marjorieapple
A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter
3.0
Jimmy Carter reads this book himself and while I generally love it when author's read their own words breathing nuance and authenticity into their phrasing, President Carter makes his plain writing style cold and impersonal. Additionally, his relaxed southern accent and his age do not aid his articulation. At times we found it a struggle to understand him (admittedly we do most of our "reading" in the car.)
Carter's re-election race against Reagan in 1980 was our very first election. As newly engaged young voters, we both were registered to vote in our high-schools, an initiative that was spearheaded from Carter's administration to engage more voters nationally (something I learned in this book.) I always viewed Carter as a solid Democrat with a kind heart but rather ineffectual and unfocused. I had no sense of context of his early years before national politics nor the context of his life in a small rural farm town in Georgia. I also didn't peg his personality correctly at all. His religiosity also escaped me as viewed from a New England state in the 1980s. So I did learn quite a lot about President Carter from reading this book.
If you are politically-curious or intrigued by Carter or the presidents who followed, its worth a read from that perspective.
Despite his short sentences and un-flowery prose, he's no Hemingway. We found the entire book void of the emotional revelations that usually make a biographies so engaging to read. It reads like a briefing paper, facts only. Nothing indicates how he felt at the time or how or why others reacted. It might be a good book to read if you've just come off an emotional roller-coaster and need a fact-based book to give you a deeper understanding of our country and this past President.
When he writes about The Carter Center, a little glimmer of passion shines through. Still unemotional, but IMO it and his formative years on the farm in Plains, were the two most engaging sections in the entire 90 year span.
Curious what you think before and after reading it. It might be a good book club book for this reason. For me, it definitely changed my opinion of President Carter but in different ways.
Carter's re-election race against Reagan in 1980 was our very first election. As newly engaged young voters, we both were registered to vote in our high-schools, an initiative that was spearheaded from Carter's administration to engage more voters nationally (something I learned in this book.) I always viewed Carter as a solid Democrat with a kind heart but rather ineffectual and unfocused. I had no sense of context of his early years before national politics nor the context of his life in a small rural farm town in Georgia. I also didn't peg his personality correctly at all. His religiosity also escaped me as viewed from a New England state in the 1980s. So I did learn quite a lot about President Carter from reading this book.
If you are politically-curious or intrigued by Carter or the presidents who followed, its worth a read from that perspective.
Despite his short sentences and un-flowery prose, he's no Hemingway. We found the entire book void of the emotional revelations that usually make a biographies so engaging to read. It reads like a briefing paper, facts only. Nothing indicates how he felt at the time or how or why others reacted. It might be a good book to read if you've just come off an emotional roller-coaster and need a fact-based book to give you a deeper understanding of our country and this past President.
When he writes about The Carter Center, a little glimmer of passion shines through. Still unemotional, but IMO it and his formative years on the farm in Plains, were the two most engaging sections in the entire 90 year span.
Curious what you think before and after reading it. It might be a good book club book for this reason. For me, it definitely changed my opinion of President Carter but in different ways.