princesszinza's review against another edition
3.0
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
I had no idea who the Mitford sisters were. By coincidence I read a book about Kathleen Kennedy immediately before starting this book and Deborah Mitford was featured.
Just like the Kathleen Kennedy book, I had a hard time starting out with this one. I feel that this book was written for someone who already knew of the Mitfords. The story moves quickly among all the family members. At first I had difficulty figuring out which sister was which. As it moved along into the pre-World War II period, I began to get more interested and had sorted out which sister was which. It was Unity Mitford's story that really pulled me in and kept me reading.
Although I was told again and again how captivating and clever the Mitfords were, I never found out why. Unity, Diana and Jessica were extremists who had created havoc with their political beliefs. Nancy was the family tattle-tale who embarrassed the whole family with her autobiographical novels. Pamela and Deborah are portrayed as the most normal of the sisters.
I had no idea who the Mitford sisters were. By coincidence I read a book about Kathleen Kennedy immediately before starting this book and Deborah Mitford was featured.
Just like the Kathleen Kennedy book, I had a hard time starting out with this one. I feel that this book was written for someone who already knew of the Mitfords. The story moves quickly among all the family members. At first I had difficulty figuring out which sister was which. As it moved along into the pre-World War II period, I began to get more interested and had sorted out which sister was which. It was Unity Mitford's story that really pulled me in and kept me reading.
Although I was told again and again how captivating and clever the Mitfords were, I never found out why. Unity, Diana and Jessica were extremists who had created havoc with their political beliefs. Nancy was the family tattle-tale who embarrassed the whole family with her autobiographical novels. Pamela and Deborah are portrayed as the most normal of the sisters.
mannim's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
maplessence's review against another edition
3.0
3.5★
I read a lot of British Golden Age mysteries. They are full of stock characters & one of the most prevalent was The Wide-Eyed Ingenue who is overly dramatic, says (gasp) Such Things, but is forgiven because she is young & beautiful. Reading this biography you realise the six Mitford sisters were the templates.
Thompson seems similarly indulgent, particularly of Diana who she met & appears to hero worship. I wouldn't go as far to say I worship the eldest sister Nancy
but I am enormous admirer of her biographies & the one novel of hers I've read [bc:The Blessing|31559915|The Blessing|Nancy Mitford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471658529s/31559915.jpg|148207] and it was very much a shock to find my idol had feet of clay. In fact feet???? The clay would go right up to her neck!
Most shocking was Nancy's betrayal of Diana. My first revulsion is now replaced by an understanding of how terrible a fascist world would have been, but to have urged a second time for Diana not to be released from prison when she was an unwell (but not broken) woman I find hard to understand - in particular when she knew how appalling the conditions were & that Diana & her second husband the infamous Oswald Mosley were kept in.
But Nancy gets less time from the author than Diana & Unity do - possibly because Thompson has already written a biography of Nancy [bc:Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford|1626801|Life in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford|Laura Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821541s/1626801.jpg|1620858] Thompson suggests Unity was mentally ill which would certainly explain her hysterical adoption of the Nazi cause. I find this photo chilling;
Picture taken in Munich. Unity is wearing a uniform of Mosley's Black Shirts.
The other three sisters (Jessica, Pamela & Deborah) get relatively little page time. Pamela (who I think was an interesting character) gets less page time than the only Mitford boy Tom. Until reading this book I didn't know there was a brother!
Left to right: Unity, Tom, Deborah, Diana, Jessica,Nancy, Pamela
Like both Pamela & Deborah his views were right wing - just not as hard core as Diana & Unity. If I read a further biography I would like one of all seven siblings.
& I may look for a biography of Jessica - fascinating that her views were so diametrically opposed to her siblings & parents. At the time being a Communist would have been seen as worse that a Fascist. Now???
Edit; because forgot to mention that this book had one of the worst prologues I have read in quite some time!
I read a lot of British Golden Age mysteries. They are full of stock characters & one of the most prevalent was The Wide-Eyed Ingenue who is overly dramatic, says (gasp) Such Things, but is forgiven because she is young & beautiful. Reading this biography you realise the six Mitford sisters were the templates.
Thompson seems similarly indulgent, particularly of Diana who she met & appears to hero worship. I wouldn't go as far to say I worship the eldest sister Nancy
but I am enormous admirer of her biographies & the one novel of hers I've read [bc:The Blessing|31559915|The Blessing|Nancy Mitford|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471658529s/31559915.jpg|148207] and it was very much a shock to find my idol had feet of clay. In fact feet???? The clay would go right up to her neck!
Most shocking was Nancy's betrayal of Diana. My first revulsion is now replaced by an understanding of how terrible a fascist world would have been, but to have urged a second time for Diana not to be released from prison when she was an unwell (but not broken) woman I find hard to understand - in particular when she knew how appalling the conditions were & that Diana & her second husband the infamous Oswald Mosley were kept in.
But Nancy gets less time from the author than Diana & Unity do - possibly because Thompson has already written a biography of Nancy [bc:Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford|1626801|Life in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford|Laura Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821541s/1626801.jpg|1620858] Thompson suggests Unity was mentally ill which would certainly explain her hysterical adoption of the Nazi cause. I find this photo chilling;
Picture taken in Munich. Unity is wearing a uniform of Mosley's Black Shirts.
The other three sisters (Jessica, Pamela & Deborah) get relatively little page time. Pamela (who I think was an interesting character) gets less page time than the only Mitford boy Tom. Until reading this book I didn't know there was a brother!
Left to right: Unity, Tom, Deborah, Diana, Jessica,Nancy, Pamela
Like both Pamela & Deborah his views were right wing - just not as hard core as Diana & Unity. If I read a further biography I would like one of all seven siblings.
& I may look for a biography of Jessica - fascinating that her views were so diametrically opposed to her siblings & parents. At the time being a Communist would have been seen as worse that a Fascist. Now???
Edit; because forgot to mention that this book had one of the worst prologues I have read in quite some time!
jasmine_books342's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
ohnoflora's review against another edition
3.0
The audio version was narrated very well but I don't think I learned anything I hadn't already known. The "even handedness" irritated me as it seemed to mean giving Diana the benefit of the doubt and treating Nancy and Jessica with scepticism. The author seemed very preoccupied with the sisters' looks, particularly Diana - great emphasis was placed on her beauty, as if this was evidence of beautiful character too.
nancidrum's review against another edition
2.0
I'm being generous with my stars for this book. I knew nothing about the Mitford sisters before reading this biography. I actually had never even heard of them. After reading the intro, I almost threw in the towel, but this was for my RL book group and I always read the books, no matter how I feel about them.
This book skipped all around and for the most part I dreaded picking it up each time. Finally, a little more than half-way through things finally settled down some and it became more pleasurable instead of hard work. We will be in England soon for a trip and we'll be in the area where the family lived, so that motivated me some to keep reading, as I love reading about places I'm going to visit.
The book did not equally discuss all the sisters and I would have liked to have known more about a few of them, but please no more pages that seem to go on and on without saying that much, or maybe they said too much! In the end, I'm ok that the book focused mostly on Nancy and Diana, as I was just relieved it was over.
This book skipped all around and for the most part I dreaded picking it up each time. Finally, a little more than half-way through things finally settled down some and it became more pleasurable instead of hard work. We will be in England soon for a trip and we'll be in the area where the family lived, so that motivated me some to keep reading, as I love reading about places I'm going to visit.
The book did not equally discuss all the sisters and I would have liked to have known more about a few of them, but please no more pages that seem to go on and on without saying that much, or maybe they said too much! In the end, I'm ok that the book focused mostly on Nancy and Diana, as I was just relieved it was over.
lgiegerich's review against another edition
4.0
This whole family was fascinatingly bananas. So many interactions with Hitler by so many of them!!! Bananas.