Customer Reviews

Henry and Clare

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Good and compelling book about two fascinating people. Strange that they are not remembered as well as others who accomplished less.

I first became interesting in Clare Booth Luce after reading 'Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Booth Luce' by Sylvia Morris which was fascinating book but ultimately unsatisfactory as the author ends the book in mid-sentence, or so it feels, in the middle of Clare's life with no hint as to what happens with the rest of it. I can only imagine she planned to write the second half but never did.

However this book finishes the story of Clare's life, plus provides equal information on Henry Luce and their marriage. What an amazing couple, how sad and strange it is that despite their success and achieving so many dreams, they are ultimately lonely and unsatisfied with life.

There is one strange error, the author writes on page 126 that Franklin Roosevelt was 'crippled by polio since childhood' and since even I know he was an adult in his late 30s when he got it, this made me worried about other errors although I didn't notice any but I am no expert.

Two other strange connections, if one likes this sort of thing, one mentioned in the book, that Clare's first husband (George Tuttle Brokaw) went on to marry Frances Ford Seymour and had a daughter, after their divorce, she (FFS) then married Henry Fonda and was mother to Jane and Peter before her suicide. Therefore Clare's daughter Ann was the half sister to Frances De Villers Brokaw who is the half sister to Jane and Peter. Complicated, I know. And not mentioned is that Henry Luce's son Henry Luce III was for about 10+ years the step-father to the actor William Hurt and knew Henry Luce Sr. He recently mentioned that on NPR with Terry Gross.