A review by sophronisba
Alice James: A Biography by Jean Strouse
4.0
I wavered between three and four stars but I rounded up because I really did enjoy the experience of reading this book. Alice was a fascinating person and that shines through. You turn the last page wondering (as I'm sure the author intended) what Alice's life might have been like if she'd been a James brother instead of a James sister; or maybe if she'd just been born fifty years later.
But as a work of biography, this book has some frustrating flaws. For one, Strouse is distracted more often than she should be by Henry and William (particularly Henry). I understand why that would be--they're significant writers and thinkers--but still, this is a book about Alice, and I wanted to hear about her, not what her brothers thought about her. Secondly, I desperately wanted to know more about Alice's relationship with Katharine Loring. We really only get glimpses of it, and it was perhaps the central relationship in Alice's life. It's possible that Strouse simply couldn't find enough sources to describe it more fully, but it still felt like a big missing piece in this portrait of Alice.
But as a work of biography, this book has some frustrating flaws. For one, Strouse is distracted more often than she should be by Henry and William (particularly Henry). I understand why that would be--they're significant writers and thinkers--but still, this is a book about Alice, and I wanted to hear about her, not what her brothers thought about her. Secondly, I desperately wanted to know more about Alice's relationship with Katharine Loring. We really only get glimpses of it, and it was perhaps the central relationship in Alice's life. It's possible that Strouse simply couldn't find enough sources to describe it more fully, but it still felt like a big missing piece in this portrait of Alice.