Customer Reviews

Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce

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

 

 

This is simply a wonderfully entertaining, well-researched, and delightful read. The author has done a tremendous job fleshing out the multifaceted career and personality of the complex Clare Boothe Luce, showing us what an exceptionally driven individual she is. One cannot help conclude that a childhood really does have enormous influence upon the adult, and Luce's drama-filled and chaotic background will resonate with all those who have had similar dysfunctional upbringings. The book draws almost by accident the remarkable similarity between mother and daughter: in a nutshell, Clare could not have become who she was without her mother, Ann, in her own right an extraordinary woman. I would recommend this book to all readers, but especially female readers, for its beautifully delineated outline of what one woman is capable of achieving.

Clare Booth Luce makes a goals list of what she wished to accomplish before age 35 including owning a yacht and fine roadster then appended the list to include "a few worthwhile things" including becoming conversant in four languages, writing plays and "earning $10,000 on my own!!". While the list partially trivializes Clare Booth Luce's assent upon society and politics - so does the author-Morris. Her rip-roaring saga is a little over-breathless - even Morris can't subdue the incredible versatility of a woman who overcame illegitimate circumstances, got what she set out to do - mostly, and wrote for Broadway before running for office. Nice work if you can get it! Clare is nobody's bimbo astutely observing everything fine chefs, authors, to politics many times better than her escorts. She notes that Hitler's brownshirts were quite similar to the KuKluxKlan which was outspoken for her time. If you enjoyed George Sand, the Algonquin Table and Dorothy Parker - this may be for you!

I loved this book and to me this was an almost perfectly written biography with a big BUT.

The perfect part is that it is a great balance between juicy and entertaining, capturing the personality of CBL and yet well researched and well written. Having read hundreds of biographies, I find that is not always an easy balance to achieve.

The 'BUT' part is the ending. It just ends at what feels like mid-sentence, it's over, no hint, no summing up, no nothing.

It's perfectly fine to write about a portion of a person's life, although usually this is with someone with so many biographies out there such as FDR or Lincoln that it is warranted, but I think then that it should be clearly stated so that the reader is aware. In addition, I think in CBL case, it was a strange choice considering it is not like there are a billion other biographies of her out there.

I guess we were to understand from the 'ascent' in the title that this biography was only going to cover the first half of her life but that was so subtle, I didn't catch it. Perhaps it was the publisher's error not the writer's. I was surprised though to see that the author is married to Edmund Morris infamous for 'Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan' - strangely I happened to read both these books around the same time and strangely they are the only books in recent memory where I felt somewhat betrayed by the author. Ironic that they are married.

Interesting and well-documented account of the life of Clare Boothe Luce up to her election to Congress in the 1940s after the Second World War. I would like the author to complete the life of Clare Boothe Luce, but could not find a sequel.

Occasionally I sensed that the author was striving to emphasize or manufacture negative or salacious traits of Luce's background and behavior.

I liked this book a lot for the great sweep of famous people and events. It was very easy interesting reading and my husband and I both read it on vacation. Reminded me a lot of Life of the Party, the book about Pamela Harriman. When is the next volume due? We're eager to buy it!

This book is a shame; Mrs. Luce deserves and, elsewhere, has received far more serious treatment. The work does, however, say a great deal about the exceptionally small Ms. Morris.