Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria

Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first full biography of Joy Davidman brings her out from C. S. Lewis's shadow, where she has long been hidden, to reveal a powerful writer and thinker.

Joy Davidman is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewis's memoir, A Grief Observed. Now, through extraordinary new documents as well as years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.

A poet and radical, Davidman was a frequent contributor to the communist vehicle New Masses and an active member of New York literary circles in the 1930s and 40s. Born Jewish in the Bronx, she was an atheist, then a practitioner of Dianetics; she converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace. A mother, a novelist, a vibrant and difficult and intelligent woman, she set off for England in 1952, determined to captivate the man whose work had changed her life.

Davidman became the intellectual and spiritual partner Lewis never expected but cherished. She helped him refine his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and to write his novel Till We Have Faces. Their relationship-begun when Joy wrote to Lewis as a religious guide-grew from a dialogue about faith, writing, and poetry into a deep friendship and a timeless love story.

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There are some reviews that are easy to write, that almost writes itself. I can finish a book sit down and write without problems. Then there are books, like this one that I kind of know what to write, but still, the process from my head to actually writing it down takes a bit longer time. And, I'm sorry it's a bit lengthy.

I first learned of Joy Davidman when I for quite many years ago watched Shadowlands. Before that, I had no idea that C.S. Lewis had been married. It was a wonderful film, but still, it's a film, even though there are truths in the story it has been changed to suit the public. For instance, Joy had two children, two boys and in the movie, she had one. But that they started out as pen pals, that she traveled over to England to see him, that they, in the end, married each other and that she died of cancer is true just as it is in the movie. But the books makes everything sounds so perfect.

But this book gives a much deeper insight into the woman Joy, to her childhood, her growing up, her writing, her time with the communist party and her conversion to Christianity which led her to C.S. Lewis writings and writing together with her husband a letter to C.S. Lewis. She would, in the end, continue to write to C.S. Lewis, but without Bill.

It sounds like a wonderful love story, but in reality, it was a bit more calculated than that. Joy marriage was falling apart, and she practically arranged for her husband to fall in love with her beautiful cousin that came to stay with them. How so? By then she was writing to C.S. Lewis and she was eager to travel and meet him and she left her husband, children, and cousin together and traveled to England to meet C.S. Lewis. She had fallen in love with him through his letters and she was actually going there to make him fall in love with her. It didn’t go as plan, she did meet him, she spent months in England, but it would take some years before they would truly be a couple. During the time, she and her husband divorced because he had fallen in love with her cousin and she bad mouths him quite bad in letter and to friends. Although, she was hardly a saint herself. she left her sons for months while she was in England and she wrote home to ask for money she then spends on buying clothes and stuff for herself.

But was their love story untrue? No she did love Jack (C.S. Lewis) and he loved her and they got some wonderful years together.

It was not an easy book to read, the first half of the book was a bit tough, it’s very well researched (40% of the book was footnoted), but it was sometimes  a bit dry and I must admit that her poems that were in the book, well they didn’t really fascinate me. I often just glanced over them. They just didn't appeal to me. But it was interesting to read about the time period, the rise of the communist party before the McCarty era. I had no idea that Joy was fascinated for a while in life with Dianetics a practice that a man called L. Ron Hubbard had thought of. She got over it, thankfully. She lived in a very interesting time and her life story is quite remarkable.

I think the best part of the book was the last half when she started to write to Jack, and when she got to met and later marry him. Many of his friends were worried for him, like Tolkien. They thought that she was taking advantage of him. Jack had in his youth promised Paddy Moore, a friend, that he would look after his mother if something happened to him and when the friend died in WW1 did he honor the promise and looked after her and many thought that stopped him from ever finding a woman to marry because she looked after him as a mother (he lost his mother as a child) and he looked after her as a son. And around the time Joy came to meet him Mrs. Janie King Moore had died and that made his friends concerned for him since they wanted him to be free.

But I think she did him good. She made him happy.

I recommend this book if you want to know more about Joy or Jack or if you are just looking for an interesting biography to read.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

An Atomic Love Story: The Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer's Life by Shirley Streshinsky

An Atomic Love Story: The Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer's Life by Shirley Streshinsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Set against a dramatic backdrop of war, spies, and nuclear bombs, An Atomic Love Story unveils a vivid new view of a tumultuous era and one of its most important figures. In the early decades of the 20th century, three highly ambitious women found their way to the West Coast, where each was destined to collide with the young Oppenheimer, the enigmatic physicist whose work in creating the atomic bomb would forever impact modern history. His first and most intense love was for Jean Tatlock, though he married the tempestuous Kitty Harrison—both were members of the Communist Party—and was rumored to have had a scandalous affair with the brilliant Ruth Sherman Tolman, ten years his senior and the wife of another celebrated physicist. Although each were connected through their relationship to Oppenheimer, their experiences reflect important changes in the lives of American women in the 20th century: the conflict between career and marriage; the need for a woman to define herself independently; experimentation with sexuality; and the growth of career opportunities.

Beautifully written and superbly researched through a rich collection of firsthand accounts, this intimate portrait shares the tragedies, betrayals, and romances of an alluring man and three bold women, revealing how they pushed to the very forefront of social and cultural changes in a fascinating, volatile era.

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This book was not that easy to read, I had a bit of problem getting into it, especially since I had some trouble in the beginning separating the women stories from each other because the book shifted its focus from them all the time, instead of reading about one woman throughout her upbringing we got some info about her, jump to next, and so one and if you don’t have much knowledge about them before you read this book as I didn’t, then it can feel a bit too much info, to many new people all the time. This brings me to problem number 2, all the people! Relatives, friends, and scientists (and of course scientist friends) show up through the book and I felt it was a nightmare keeping track on everyone.

But I still found the book interesting, a bit heavy to read sometimes, but Robert Oppenheimer was such an interesting person to read about and it was a great approach this book to read about three women who all had an impact on his life. I especially found Jean Tatlock fascinating and it was devastating to read about her death.

I recommend this book for people that would like to know more about Robert Oppenheimer!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

On the Edge by Richard Hammond

On the Edge by Richard Hammond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Richard Hammond is one of our most in-demand and best-loved television presenters. In September 2006, he suffered a serious brain injury following a high-speed car crash. ON THE EDGE is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his recovery, full of drama and incident.

An adrenalin junkie long before his association with Top Gear, Richard tells the story of his life, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol.

After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television and eventually to Top Gear. His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie and the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous, make compulsive reading. It was whilst filming for Top Gear that Richard was involved in a high speed crash, driving a jet-powered dragster. His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras.

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On the Edge This is an excellent book, I listen to it a couple of years ago as an audiobook, but bought it now because 1.) It was so good I want to read it again and 2.) It will look smashing on my bookshelf 3.) I have a bit of a Top Gear obsession (and I’m not even a car fan.

But anyway, if you are after a great autobiographical book, then this is one I wholeheartedly recommend! I do btw recommend the audio book because both Richard and his wife Mindy is narrating the book, with Mindy taking over the story when Richard is inured. It's a very gripping story and you could really feel Mindy's anxiety when she learned about the accident and not knowing if he would survive. 

The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family by Amber Hunt

The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family by Amber Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Kennedy Wives is a biographical book about the five Kennedy women that were married to Joe, Jack, Bobby and Edward Kennedy. Every woman gets her own chapter and in the chapters, their lives are described from their childhood to how they met their husband and how their lives turned out.

For me, this book didn't really contain much of new information when with it come to Ethel, Jackie or Joan since I have read Taraborrelli's Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot. I have also read part of Rose Kennedys autobiography (that I own and must finish some day) so I knew much about her also. Vicki Kennedy, however, was a woman I hadn't read so much about and her relationship with Ted Kennedy actually made me soften up a bit to him. Ted Kennedy has never really been a Kennedy that I cared so much about. For me, it has always been Bobby and Jack. Well, mostly Bobby.

This book put the wives in focus, sure they are mostly known for their roles as wives, but I think it is nice to read about them, about what made them tick, and their influence on their husbands and the tragedies they suffered in their lives. 

I think Amber Hurst and David Batcher has done a really good work, this book is informative and it never gets boring reading it. I admit that I didn't think the chapters about Joan and Vicki would interest me so much, but they were just as interesting to read as the other wives chapters.

A great book for people that are interested in the Kennedys or for those who want to know more about Rose, Ethel, Jackie, Joan and Vicki Kennedy!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

#BookReview The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency by James Tobin

The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency by James Tobin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With a searching new analysis of primary sources, NBCC award winner James Tobin reveals how FDR’s fight against polio transformed him from a callow aristocrat into the energetic, determined statesman who would rally the nation in the Great Depression and lead it through World War II.

Here, from James Tobin, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography, is the story of the greatest comeback in American political history, a saga long buried in half-truth, distortion and myth— Franklin Roosevelt’s ten-year climb from paralysis to the White House.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt was 39 years old when he was stricken with infantile paralysis (polio). Just one day he couldn’t stand up anymore and the hope for a fast recovery faded fast when he just got worse and the doctor had no clue to what had stricken him and in the end misdiagnosed him.

Precious time was wasted before another doctor recognized what ailed him and by then it was too late for Roosevelt to ever walk again properly. He would have to rely on other people to support himself to stand, or a cane, leg braces or a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Still, he became, in the end, the president of the United States.

I find Franklin D. Roosevelt's life fascinating and this book was a very interesting and well-written account of his life just before he was stricken with infantile paralysis, his period of illness and his struggle to walk again and reclaim his life and career again. I found the best part of the book was 2/3 of the book that focused on Roosevelt and how infantile paralysis struck him and how his life was forever changed because of it. The ending of the book was not bad; it was just a bit too much about politics for me. Besides learning more about Roosevelt was it interesting to learn more about infantile paralysis what a devastating illness it was.