katrinaburch's review
informative
medium-paced
3.25
I'm not really sure how to feel about this book. In one respect, the writing is fantastic and even though it's non-fiction, it reads really well. But on the other hand there are things that aren't great about it.
Did the reader really need to know how a beaver was skinned in order to understand how the Astors made their money? I would hazard a very educated guess to say "no" they did not. I normally don't get squeamish but that detail was absolutely disgusting and unnecessary.
There were also the unnecessary chapters of Blackwell's Island, the bar in the Hotel Astor, and Mary Astor. While interesting, they were pointless and added nothing to the overall story of the Astors and considering where they were in the book, the "Downfall"
Like I said, the writing is fantastic and it reads really well but I felt the second half of the book was just really weak and didn't address anything substantial.
And comparing this book to <i>The Vanderbilts</i>, this one was overall weak. Unlike that book, there was much more written about the Astors (as seen in this book's bibliography), so this book felt kind of pointless... I felt it didn't bring anything new to the party so to speak.
Overall, it's a well written (and well researched) book but I felt it just lacked something
Did the reader really need to know how a beaver was skinned in order to understand how the Astors made their money? I would hazard a very educated guess to say "no" they did not. I normally don't get squeamish but that detail was absolutely disgusting and unnecessary.
There were also the unnecessary chapters of Blackwell's Island, the bar in the Hotel Astor, and Mary Astor. While interesting, they were pointless and added nothing to the overall story of the Astors and considering where they were in the book, the "Downfall"
Like I said, the writing is fantastic and it reads really well but I felt the second half of the book was just really weak and didn't address anything substantial.
And comparing this book to <i>The Vanderbilts</i>, this one was overall weak. Unlike that book, there was much more written about the Astors (as seen in this book's bibliography), so this book felt kind of pointless... I felt it didn't bring anything new to the party so to speak.
Overall, it's a well written (and well researched) book but I felt it just lacked something
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty
laileanah's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Meh
This isn't an extensive or even very good history on The Astor family.
This should be called a very short history of The Astors.
So many colorful and fun stories are left out.
The Astors were fairly awful people and that's somewhat blunted in this narrative.
Not bad but almost every other book I've read on the Astors is superior.
This isn't an extensive or even very good history on The Astor family.
This should be called a very short history of The Astors.
So many colorful and fun stories are left out.
The Astors were fairly awful people and that's somewhat blunted in this narrative.
Not bad but almost every other book I've read on the Astors is superior.