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10 reviews for:
Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece
Joan Schenkar
3.53 AVERAGE
10 reviews for:
Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece
Joan Schenkar
3.53 AVERAGE
I found this book by mistake thinking it was about the famous Wilde. Although the writing is not great, it's easy to look past its deficiencies and be sympathetic and protective about the troubled Dolly Wilde. Not only is she an amazing "character" (fact and speculation blend seamlessly) that you want to get to know everything about, the people in her life were equally as interesting. Definitely worth reading.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I'd like to travel back in time to 1920s Paris, so I could attend gatherings at Natalie Barney's salon. Dolly Wilde would have charmed everyone with her wit, and I would have written down what she said.
There's a lot of tragedy and sadness in this biography. She had so much potential--I wished Dolly Wilde had written fiction and/or plays like her uncle.
The podcast History is Gay has a wonderful episode about Dolly Wilde--ditto Oscar.
There's a lot of tragedy and sadness in this biography. She had so much potential--I wished Dolly Wilde had written fiction and/or plays like her uncle.
The podcast History is Gay has a wonderful episode about Dolly Wilde--ditto Oscar.
Schenkar gets a bit repetitive at times, which works well if you're a reader who, like me takes awhile to absorb key details. Otherwise, this biography definitely could've been 200 pages shorter.
The fact that I read a hardcover for this speaks volumes -- and I really did enjoy the biography of Dolly Wilde (and with it the many glimpses into the Natalie Barney salon and other social circles). What bothered me with the book itself was that many chapters seemed to be written as stand-alones, which often led to a rather circular and occasionally superfluous recounting of certain events or quotes. The transitions could've been smoother and the whole thing made more of a uniform whole rather than the sum of its parts, but I appreciate that it was a stylistic choice.
dolly’s life is super interesting (and i urge anybody to read up about her) but this book was overly long & bizarrely structured so it wasn’t great technically, but wonderful for an insight into 1920s queer culture
A random used bookstore find comes through with the good gossip.
Dear Joan Schenkar,
believe it or not, people who read biographies do anticipate a certain amount of imagining how things were. You don't need to tell us about it at length over and over again. The life of Dolly Wilde seems like it is full and fascinating -- lesbians, famous relatives, bewitching beauty and an unexplained death. How you've managed to make that boring is beyond me, but you sure did. Better luck next time.
believe it or not, people who read biographies do anticipate a certain amount of imagining how things were. You don't need to tell us about it at length over and over again. The life of Dolly Wilde seems like it is full and fascinating -- lesbians, famous relatives, bewitching beauty and an unexplained death. How you've managed to make that boring is beyond me, but you sure did. Better luck next time.
- Dorothy "Dolly" Wilde (Oscar Wilde's niece) was intelligent, witty, and enchanting, dying exactly as she had lived: vividly, rather violently, and at a very good address. She attracted people of wealth, taste, and talent as she burned up her opportunities in flamboyant lesbian affairs and numerous addictions.
- "She seemed to be re-living the life of her infamous uncle.
- interesting biography of an interesting individual, unfortunately poorly written
- "She seemed to be re-living the life of her infamous uncle.
- interesting biography of an interesting individual, unfortunately poorly written
Like most people, you have probably never heard of Dolly Wilde, born three months after Oscar's demise. Although she never met her uncle, she seems to have been much like him. Seems like she was an interesting figure to know, involved in Natalie Clifford Barney's historical salon, among other things. She was also a money-grubber and a drug addict, and died rather violently. What really happened to her? An intriguing read, nonetheless. If you like biographies about unusual people, you won't be disappointed.