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A review by jem_ko
In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum
4.0
This story is a testament to the essence of humanity and a nod to the joie de vivre some rare people can bring to any room and any moment. This book is full of hope and inspiration because Marie Colvin is an inspiration.
Now, Hilsum on the other hand, wrote a wonderful in-depth description of every story she could - laying out the many many details she surely researched endlessly - to give us as readers the most deep connection we could with Colvin. It was truly a hefty task and I think the issue is that she tried to let us know truly everything. Pages full of context, pages full of poems written about that one story, pages full of diary notes written around the time, pages full of just descriptions of the surroundings- they all add and simultaneously detract from the enjoyment of this book as it takes a woman’s fairly fast paced life and slows it down to provide us with the full backstory. Apart from two chapters (the one on Chechenya and the final chapter on Baba Amr) I never felt as though I was on the ground with Marie because I was busy being bombarded by Hilsum with context and other information that, for the sake of pacing or intrigue could have been left out.
I would recommend reading this book because of Colvin and I commend Hilsum for doing as well as she could to encapsulate such a full life in just about 400 pages but just be aware of the style in which Hilsum writes before you dive in.
Now, Hilsum on the other hand, wrote a wonderful in-depth description of every story she could - laying out the many many details she surely researched endlessly - to give us as readers the most deep connection we could with Colvin. It was truly a hefty task and I think the issue is that she tried to let us know truly everything. Pages full of context, pages full of poems written about that one story, pages full of diary notes written around the time, pages full of just descriptions of the surroundings- they all add and simultaneously detract from the enjoyment of this book as it takes a woman’s fairly fast paced life and slows it down to provide us with the full backstory. Apart from two chapters (the one on Chechenya and the final chapter on Baba Amr) I never felt as though I was on the ground with Marie because I was busy being bombarded by Hilsum with context and other information that, for the sake of pacing or intrigue could have been left out.
I would recommend reading this book because of Colvin and I commend Hilsum for doing as well as she could to encapsulate such a full life in just about 400 pages but just be aware of the style in which Hilsum writes before you dive in.