unabridgedchick's reviews
1399 reviews

I haven't read any other Rhys bio, so I can't compare this to others, but I found this one readable and empathetic. Seymour doesn't minimize Rhys' terrible moods and rages and I'm impressed with the number of people who tolerated Rhys despite her behavior. 

I love gossipy biographies; and this is not that kind of bio. Seymour handles the possibly salacious elements of Rhys' life with nonjudgment and plain description, and rarely inserts herself into the narrative (although when she does, it's welcome, such as her time in Domenica, searching for the places Rhys loved).

Any other enthusiasm for Rhys has been tempered by Seymour's light acknowledgment of Rhys' anti-Semitism -- in this moment, it feels irresponsible to handwave away bigotry, however 'casual' it might be. 

Totally baffled by the love for this one; it felt SO incomplete and like there were fifteen layers of glass between me and the narrator. Somehow we're in her thoughts but completely disconnected, too. Had to push myself to finish this and I just don't know what the point of it was.

I wanted a haunted house story, and with this, I got a <i>great</i> haunted house story. Shades of <I>The Haunting of Hill House</i> and <i>Rebecca</i> -- two favorites of mine -- with a fascinating setting of late 19th century Mexico. Lovely, atmospheric description with place as character in the very real, very malevolent hacienda. 

Grabbed this for Reader Harder 2022 - bio of an author you admire -- but my affection for Highsmith's books are obliterated in light of her absolute awfulness. Bradford doesn't disguise or avoid her terrible anti-Semitism, racism, and otherwise appalling behaviors, but he often suggests that they're manifestations of a persona she's choosing rather than deeply held beliefs -- as if that negates the impacts of her behavior and all that. 

Bradford's bio tries to shoehorn Highsmith's life into her books which is a biographical technique I hate so I'm not taken with this book. [book:The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith|6424007] is a veritable bookstop of a biography so I appreciated a far more slender one, but found Bradford didn't take time to dive into the who of things in favor of pulling out plot elements from Highsmith's novels and overlaying them on her life. But the overlap never clicked and it didn't convince me of anything other than Highsmith is a horrible human and channeled it into her art. 

I wondered for a long time why Highsmith never got her sapphic resurrection but she's pretty irredeemable. Anyway, this book quashed any love for her books that I had -- she's up there with Lovecraft for her vocal, vile beliefs.