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Kindred Souls: The Friendship Of Eleanor Roosevelt And David Gurewitsch

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I certainly do not claim to be an expert on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. However, I have read my fair share of books on her life and that of FDR. As a result, I thought I was aware of ER's circle of friends and the people who shared a close relationship with her. When I discovered KINDRED SOULDS - THE FRIENDSHIP OF ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AND DAVID GUREWITSCH on audiocassete at my local library it came as a welcome surprise. David Gurewitsch was a name that was new to me.

Edna P. Gurewitsch's 2002 book is a memorable history of the relationship between the author's husband, Dr. David Gurewitsch and ER. Based mainly on letters between ER and Dr. Gurewitsch and journals along with Edna's memories, the book presents a charming portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt as a pragmatic, driven, thoughtful, quirky, emotional and sometimes difficult friend. The relationship that developed first beween ER and David, who was ER's physician, and later with the addition of Edna when they married, makes for an interesting insight into the dynamics of this unique set of human relationship. Did ER really love David, a man many years her junior, and resent the intrusion of Edna? Did she finally come to accept this "other woman" in a strange threesome in order to maintain her relationship with David? These are questions that no one can answer and one that the prospective reader can ponder for themselves.

The Roosevelt children do not fair wll throughout the book, which covers the last years of Mrs. Roosevelt's life. They come across as seemingly lacking concern for their mother, going to her when they were in financial straights, especially Elliot and living lives where they believed that the society owes them a great deal because of their place in history as Roosevelts. It becomes almost trite to talk about the result of a dysfunctional family, but it's the only thing that seems to fit after listening to Edna describe ER's relationship with her children. Surprisingly, the references to FDR are few and far between. Edna speaks from the prospective of those who argue that ER took on a new persona as her own person after her husband's death and moved on with her life.

As I said, I don't claim to be an expert on ER, however, I know that she was extremely close to Joseph Lash. Then there is the rumored relationship with her one time driver, state trooper,Earl Miller, both of whom were younger than ER. There was ER's life long friendship (allegedly lesbian) with Lorena Hitchock and her interesting relationship with other women. And these are just the ones that I remember.

As a prolific letter writer ER left a great legacy in her writing. The thousands of letters addressed to "my dearest friend" with comments of "how much I love and miss you" were left behind for historians now to consider. Are we now judging her late Victorian style by 21st century standards? Were these loving comments a result of ER's loneliness and her desire to be loved in return? Only a psychologist can figure that one out.

ER clearly had a close relationsip with Edna and David. Such is evidenced by the fact that she chose to live the last years of her life with them. She traveled with them, spent weekends and evenings with them, and basically made them her family, based on Edna's account. Although Edna talks about ER's many circle of friends, how they also interacted in her life or spent time with her, I came away feeling that there was a part of ER's life that was left out in this particular picture. According to Edna, ER's life was totally encompassed in that of her and her husband to the exclusion of others.

For those who know a good deal about Eleanor Roosevelt, this is an interesting read. As I stated, I listened to it on audiocassette. The reader did a good job of varying her voice but I feel that there were several mispronunciations of proper names. The work included interesting political insights of mid 20th century politicians, especially Adlai Stevenson and JFK. But fitting the Gurewitsch's into the greater picture of ER's life is, I believe, still open for debate. In hindsight history is always reveaaed in the light most favorable to the writer, especially one who claims to have the close personal friends of a famous person. However, I would love to hear other views of the relationship between David Gurewitsch, Edna Gurewitsch and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. I'm suspect that there is another side.

This is an astonishingly generous book that gives a different look at the real life of a larger-than-life woman. Mrs. Gurewitsch was (apparantly) completely unthreatened by the strong, deep, and intimate (in the non-sexual sense of the word)relationship between her husband and the redoubtable Mrs. Roosevelt. She limns the outlines of the relationship gently, with great compassion for Mrs. Roosevelt and frank admiration for her many accomplishments. Still, this is not hagiography- Mrs. Gurewitsch tells her story with simplicity and affection, but is still clear eyed about her subjects human foibles.

Through her portrait, and through the extracts of letters to David, it becomes clear that the infamous Lorena Hickok letters must be read in the context of an era (and a woman), in which language was rather more effusive.

Like so many things about Eleanor Roosevelt, the book is a bit bittersweet, but she clearly had made her peace with life, and in the end Mrs. Gurewitsch has repaid Mrs. Roosevelt's trust and friendship. The book is not a comprehensive biography, but you may inspired enough by what you read that you go read one!

In 1945, David Gurewitsch became Eleanor Roosevelt's personal physician. Within two years, they became close friends, traveling companions and confidants. Edna Gurewitsch chronicles the relationship between her husband and Mrs. Roosevelt in Kindred Souls: The Devoted Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. David Gurewitsch.

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most intelligent, gifted, powerful, energetic yet humble women of the 20th Century. But despite all these attributes, she suffered from a definite lack of confidence in her abilities. This lack of self-esteem had several roots including her miserable childhood, her insensitive husband, her domineering mother-in-law and the shabby treatment she suffered by her five self-centered, spoiled and undisciplined children. To compensate for this serious lacking, Mrs. Roosevelt surrounded herself with an orbit of friends who served as her surrogate family. Mrs. Roosevelt demanded much from her friends, but rewarded them with love, loyalty, devotion and generosity. Her list included Esther Lape, Marion Dickerman, Nancy Cook, Lorena Hickock, Joe Lash, and others. Dr. Gurewitsch was her closest friend for the last 15 years of her life. Right before her death, she wrote to him "above all others, you are the one to whom my heart is tied." Once David married the author, they became a threesome. They even shared a house together until Mrs. Roosevelt's death in 1962.

Edna Gurewitsch's book can best be described as a lovefest. Her fawning descriptions of her "perfect" husband become very nauseating very quickly. If there are any warts exposed in Kindred Souls, they belong to Mrs. Roosevelt. She could be demanding and emotionally needy at times, and often revealed a jealousy toward those she felt were usurping her attention. There were often intrigues between her children and her friends, and even among her friends, as each group vied for Mrs. Roosevelt's love in return. Her children were the worst, as they often found themselves on the outside looking in.

For a Roosevelt fan, there is not much new information to be had, except for the background of Dr. Gurewitsch (which may be interesting, but is not the reason I purchased this book). For most readers, I'd recommend skipping Kindred Souls and reading instead one of Joseph Lash's Roosevelt biographies, or better yet, Blanche Wiesen Cook's two-part biography on Mrs. Roosevelt (which I understand will eventually be six books in all).

I "read" this book as a book on tape. If you love Eleanor Roosevelt as most people do, you'll feel you "know" her almost as a friend after reading this book. One story in the book that stands out in my mind is this: Eleanor liked to always be 'on time' when she had an appointment or was going to a play, concert, or outing. Dr. Guerevitch and his wife were going with her to a concert onetime. They were "behind schedule" and arrived at the theater a few minutes late. As they entered the theater the audience started to applaud. Mrs. Roosevelt was "miffed" saying with some angry emotion to the Doctor and his wife, 'See, we're late...the audience is already applauding for the conductor!' Eleanor didn't realize that the audience was applauding for HER... not the conductor! This indicates to me that she was a rather "humble" person who wasn't self-centered. Whatever your political persuasion, you'd have to admit that she was a noble person who tried to "do good" in her life. Email:boland7214@aol.

Good book.

I enjoyed this book. After reading so much "trash" about Mrs. Roosevelt and her friendships, this book is revealing without delving into smutty, unproveable theories. It provided a lot of personal information about Eleanor Roosevelt's last years, public and private, as well as valuable insights about her complex personality. On occasion, the author's somewhat proprietary feelings toward her connection with Mrs. Roosevelt were in evidence, but on the whole, it is a memoir that no one with an interest in Eleanor Roosevelt should miss.

This is a tender-hearted story of the last years of Eleanor Roosevelt. Even though she was aging, Mrs Roosevelt's schedule was always full and she had an active day. Nevertheless she is portrayed as a sensitive and at times lonely and needful of companionship. In her last years she found this with her physician David Gurewitsch - both of them very like-minded personalities. They were both teetotallers and ate more for sustenance then pleasure (even though they both enjoyed Paris!). Also both were worldly and enjoyed travelling.

As Edna Gurewitsch points out this relationship did strain Mrs. Roosevelt's rather large, extended and somewhat dysfunctional family. They were jealous of the privileged relationship of their mother's friendship with David. Eventually Mrs. Roosevelt even moved into the same house with David, Edna and their new-born child. The jealousy of the Roosevelt children would manifest itself in various ways. Eleanor Roosevelt herself was not immune to cantankerous fits. She could withhold her affection and freeze people out - at least momentarily. But she was always a person true to herself and used her position to learn and help others. She was the U.S. representative to the U.N. until the Eisenhower administration. After she represented the U.S. for various international organizations and travelled throughout the world. Some of these journeys are described in this book.

Perhaps the friendships of Mrs. Roosevelt could have been described in more detail. I would have been interested to know more of Joseph Lash; he wrote an outstanding book on the Roosevelt's' - "Eleanor and Franklin". Mr. Lash occupied a similar position to David Gurewitsch in the late 1930's and 1940's.