An era when the media did not probe into personal lives of Presidents
This book was well researched. By adding to the bones of historical facts, Ellen Feldman fleshed out the story to convert it into a novel. It helps to understand the whole background of these fascinating principals. Perhaps it was because I had just revisited FDR's Hyde Park Home and library this past spring,that this book had such deep resonance. In this era when the media knows everything and tells everything about the president, this relationship would never have come to fruition. Across the backdrop of the World Wars, Lucy gives a love story which is never smarmy. She does not whine,or complain, but frankly states, how her relationship with Franklin endured over the years,against a turbulent time in our history. Owing to her support, she gave Franklin strength which he never could tap into through his marriage to Eleanor. As no one could ever know what transpired during her visits with Franklin in the White House and at Warm Springs.........Ms. Feldman's background as an historian lends credibility to what really may have been. I didn't want to finish the book, as I knew how it would end.
Sparked My Interest, but Lacking as Well...
Although the subject matter and the time period in US history is fascinating, I found the book dissapointing. It seemed like a lot of fluff and not enough facts, but perhaps I am comparing this with a true work of non-fiction. And it isn't fair to compare a work of fiction based on fact the same as a true biography. I have read alot about FDR, yet in this book I was never sure if the events really happened as the author portrayed, or if they happened at all. A lot of breadth is given a writer of historical fiction, but I still yearned for the real facts. "Hey, where are the footnoted sources???", that sort of a thing. If historical accuracy and true facts and details are not important, than this might be a good read for you. It was light and easy. I could not help but wonder each chapter, "Did they really meet for a drive in the country??? Was Lucy really that innocent???" Since the book is told in the voice of Lucy, I couldn't help but wonder what was going through Eleanor's mind at the same time.
Romance Novel
The following clip sums this book up:
"He'd spent the day juggling half a dozen problems here and abroad, but that small oval cutout in my shirtwaist kept distracting him. That cutout, he said, was his window on the world."
There were some nice moments in this book, but too much heaving bodice for me. If you like historical romance, you'll probably really enjoy this book. It is a cut above in that respect.
If you want depth, it will annoy you. Historical facts are not seamlessly woven into the narrative, and stand out as if cut and pasted. Feldman tries, has brief success, but ultimately fails to bring the peices of FDR, Eleanor, and Lucy to a full bodied life.
P-U -- Everyone is one-dimentional! Save your money!
Franklin -- always upbeat! Never a down moment in the entire novel; in fact, in his entire career! Is this believable? And he told story after story "out of school." Delighted in it; in fact. A different time, I know, but... Good Lord! Is it true that FDR was such a ... gossip? Such an unlikeable person? Who could EVER trust this man as a friend? If he told such stories about others, wouldn't he tell them about you? The book is unbelievable. Everyone is one-dimentional. FDR -- stand-up-comic about everything confidential in his administration; Eleanor, saint personified... as, of course is Lucy. Geeze! Some truth, some revelations about the REAL people, would be interesting! Save your bucks. You'll learn nothing here.
Historical fiction at its best
I have always been intrigued with the story of the romanance between FDR and Lucy Mercer. When I ran across this book at a local book store I bought it immediately and moved it ahead of other things that I planned to read. The story is romantic and touching. It gives a different view of Frankling and Eleanor and it shows how history could have so easily have been changed. For those interested in FDR and Eleanor its an interesting read. For those who are romantics at heart, its a warm and beautiful story about love and its lasting endurance.
(15 reviews)
