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A review by yvespiders
Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser
informative
slow-paced
3.0
This is one of the better biographies I've read, as it is well researched and it highlights Sontag's accomplishments without shying away from her flaws. Though this tome is quite lengthy, I found the writing to be accessible and the book was able to sustain my attention.
But there seems to be a very "judgy" and almost sensationalized tone from biographer Benjamin Moser, particularly when the book exposes Sontag's personal, intimate life. What really irked me was Moser's pseudoscientific attempts to psychoanalyze Sontag. Psychology is outside of Moser's professional boundaries and expertise, so his constant "Freudian" connections between Sontag's problems and her issues with her toxic mother were insufferable and cringey.
But there seems to be a very "judgy" and almost sensationalized tone from biographer Benjamin Moser, particularly when the book exposes Sontag's personal, intimate life. What really irked me was Moser's pseudoscientific attempts to psychoanalyze Sontag. Psychology is outside of Moser's professional boundaries and expertise, so his constant "Freudian" connections between Sontag's problems and her issues with her toxic mother were insufferable and cringey.