nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/586452.html[return][return]I've given up. I was perturbed to realise that I had got half-way through the book and she was still only 20 years old; only when I looked at the author's website just now did I realise that this is in fact just the first of two volumes. There is almost no hint anywhere on the dustjacket that the book takes us only through the first thirty years of her life (her theatrical career and the early years of her disastrous marriage), leaving the other fifty yet to come. I feel cheated and angry.[return][return]I wouldn't mind if it was a good book; but it isn't. It is a simple summary of Fanny Kemble's own memoirs, with a vague attempt to throw in some historical context here and there, and the author's own rambling speculations as to the motives of Kemble and her relatives. The editing is uneven; the text repetitive; and the footnotes absolutely absurd on occasion.[return][return]On the few occasions that Jenkins allows us to hear Kemble's voice, the vastly better quality of her subject's writing style (and her welcome self-deprecation and humour, a startling contrast to Jenkins' treatment of her) really shines through.
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