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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A LITERARY SELF-PORTRAIT OF A TROUBLED WOMAN...,
By Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Letters from Jenny (Paperback)
This is book that attempts to analyze the personality of a woman, Jenny Gove Masterson, from a series of letters written by her. These letters, often passionate, often vitriolic, delineate a very dysfunctional mother/son relationship. They are written in a manner reflective of the era in which she lived and are a birds-eye view into another time. The reader is able to see her life unfold, much like a Greek tragedy, through her intimate, well-written, highly descriptive letters. Her letters are a fascinating window into the mind of another person. They paint a compelling, literary self-portrait of a complex and troubled woman. Jenny Gove Masterson was born in Ireland in 1868 but moved to Canada with her family when she was a very young girl. Always interested in scholarly pursuits, she was forced to leave school at eighteen, when her father died, in order to work to help support her brothers and sisters. Finally, when she was twenty-seven, her brothers and sisters on their own, she married Henry Masterson, a divorced American. To marry a divorced man was unheard of in her family and considered to be a disgrace. Her marriage caused Jenny to become estranged from her strict, Protestant family, and she moved to America. About two years into the marriage, her husband died, just a month before their son, Ross, was born. She would then embark on a life of total self-sacrifice and devotion to her son. Nothing was too good for her Ross, and she ensured that his was an interesting and culturally rich childhood, with education held at a premium. She spared no expense, working at any jobs that would afford her son all the opportunities she sought for him. She lived a life of self-imposed martyrdom where her son was concerned. Possessive and very single-minded, she spun a cloying cocoon of maternal obsession around her son, who appeared to have been her only companion during his formative years. When he reached manhood, however, Ross began drifting apart from his mother's apron strings. He would form relationships with the opposite sex, only to have his mother belittle the object of his affection. This caused him to keep his marriage a secret, when he first married. When his mother discovered it, she was enraged beyond measure. Even when Ross and his wife eventually divorced, this was to be the pattern whenever Ross embarked on a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. No woman was ever good enough for her son. This state of affairs would cause an estrangement between mother and son that was to torture Jenny Gove Masterson all her life. Despite her estrangement from her son, Jenny Gove Masterson would form a relationship of sorts with her son's former college roommate and his wife, and, between the ages of fifty-eight and seventy, she would write them a series of letters, totaling three hundred and one at the time of her death. In addition to the letters, the book includes a very personal, thoughtful commentary on the life of Jenny Gove Masterson and her letters by one of the recipients of her missives. The editor of the book, Gordon W. Allport, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard at the time that this book was first released, attempts an interpretation of Jenny Gove Masterson herself, based upon the content of her letters. He does so by applying the various accepted theories of psychology and schools of thought to her letters and what is known of her background in order to try to decipher and explain Jenny Gove Masterson's somewhat forceful, difficult, and enigmatic personality. This novel approach to analysis is an intriguing one and sure to pique the interest of those with an affinity for psychology, as it provides much food for thought with respect to its unusual case study. This is a compelling book that will keep the reader turning its pages until the very last.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting read,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Letters from Jenny (Paperback)
The copy I received was very old, but in terrific condition! This book is actually a very interesting read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A LITERARY SELF-PORTRAIT OF A TROUBLED WOMAN...,
By Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Letters from Jenny (Hardcover)
This is book that attempts to analyze the personality of a woman, Jenny Gove Masterson, from a series of letters written by her. These letters, often passionate, often vitriolic, delineate a very dysfunctional mother/son relationship. They are written in a manner reflective of the era in which she lived and are a birds-eye view into another time. The reader is able to see her life unfold, much like a Greek tragedy, through her intimate, well-written, highly descriptive letters. Her letters are a fascinating window into the mind of another person. They paint a compelling, literary self-portrait of a complex and troubled woman.
Jenny Gove Masterson was born in Ireland in 1868 but moved to Canada with her family when she was a very young girl. Always interested in scholarly pursuits, she was forced to leave school at eighteen, when her father died, in order to work to help support her brothers and sisters. Finally, when she was twenty-seven, her brothers and sisters on their own, she married Henry Masterson, a divorced American. To marry a divorced man was unheard of in her family and considered to be a disgrace. Her marriage caused Jenny to become estranged from her strict, Protestant family, and she moved to America. About two years into the marriage, her husband died, just a month before their son, Ross, was born. She would then embark on a life of total self-sacrifice and devotion to her son. Nothing was too good for her Ross, and she ensured that his was an interesting and culturally rich childhood, with education held at a premium. She spared no expense, working at any jobs that would afford her son all the opportunities she sought for him. She lived a life of self-imposed martyrdom where her son was concerned. Possessive and very single-minded, she spun a cloying cocoon of maternal obsession around her son, who appeared to have been her only companion during his formative years. When he reached manhood, however, Ross began drifting apart from his mother's apron strings. He would form relationships with the opposite sex, only to have his mother belittle the object of his affection. This caused him to keep his marriage a secret, when he first married. When his mother discovered it, she was enraged beyond measure. Even when Ross and his wife eventually divorced, this was to be the pattern whenever Ross embarked on a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. No woman was ever good enough for her son. This state of affairs would cause an estrangement between mother and son that was to torture Jenny Gove Masterson all her life. Despite her estrangement from her son, Jenny Gove Masterson would form a relationship of sorts with her son's former college roommate and his wife, and, between the ages of fifty-eight and seventy, she would write them a series of letters, totaling three hundred and one at the time of her death. In addition to the letters, the book includes a very personal, thoughtful commentary on the life of Jenny Gove Masterson and her letters by one of the recipients of her missives. The editor of the book, Gordon W. Allport, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard at the time that this book was first released, attempts an interpretation of Jenny Gove Masterson herself, based upon the content of her letters. He does so by applying the various accepted theories of psychology and schools of thought to her letters and what is known of her background in order to try to decipher and explain Jenny Gove Masterson's somewhat forceful, difficult, and enigmatic personality. This novel approach to analysis is an intriguing one and sure to pique the interest of those with an affinity for psychology, as it provides much food for thought with respect to its unusual case study. This is a compelling book that will keep the reader turning its pages until the very last.
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