In this extraordinary, true story about an independent woman, a world-famous aviator, and the powerful man who loved them both, Sally Putnam Chapman, the granddaughter of Dorothy Binney Putnam and George Putnam, recounts a treasure trove of memories, spanning the years 1907 to 1961, culled from her grandmother's diaries. of photos.
Whistled Like a Bird
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Chapman has always been fascinated by her family history, particularly her paternal grandparents' complicated relationships with Amelia Earhart, so she was deeply moved when her grandmother, Dorothy Binney Putnam, gave her 10 diaries chronicling the years 1907 through 1961. During those exciting and emotionally exhausting decades, Dorothy--an accomplished musician, a society figure, an outdoorswoman and traveler, and an "incurable romantic" --graduated from Wellesley, married George Putnam of the distinguished publishing dynasty, had children, befriended Earhart at the dawn of her fame, and then watched the aviatrix not only attain near-goddess status but also steal her husband. Dorothy's side of this once-notorious love triangle has never been well understood, and Chapman's amazement over what she discovered in her grandmother's succinct but revealing diary entries adds great poignancy to a love story that would be compelling even if it were written as blandly as a shopping list. Putnam was a total workaholic, and long before Earhart entered the picture, Dorothy's frustration over the vapidity of her high-society duties and the bloodlessness of her marriage had led to an ardent affair with a younger man and thoughts of divorce. Chapman's sensitive and proud portrait of her passionate grandmother offers fresh takes on Earhart, Putnam, and the eternal mystery of love. Donna Seaman
From Kirkus Reviews
The biography of a bright, talented, adventurous, athletic, financially solvent woman who married a bright, talented, adventurous, etc., man, but whose life never seemed to live up to those promises. What's untold about this story is that Dorothy Binney Putnam was having an affair with a man 20 years younger some time before her publisher husband, George, met, published, and married Amelia Earhart. That takes Dorothy off the hook as an abandoned woman, but fails to answer the question: Does it matter to anyone except her relatives? Chapman is the granddaughter of Dorothy Putnam and the heir to Dorothy's diaries. Excerpts from the diaries set the stage for chapters in her life, from the early 1900s, when Dorothy was a teenager, to 1982, when she died, after surviving four husbands. (Her young lover, George Weymouth, was not one of the husbands.) Dorothy Putnam's home base both as daughter (to the inventor of Crayola crayons) and wife to Putnam was Sound Beach, Conn., where she built a memorable home, served as remarkable hostess, entertaining her husband's authors, and nurtured her children. She sailed with explorer William Beebe but was never able to exploit her adventurous spirit or her other talents--singer and pianist, plus she could whistle like a bird- -to achieve on her own. When she finally left Putnam to Earhart, she remarried within a month after her divorce was final and settled in Florida. This husband beat her, the next fled west to Hawaii, and the last--and ``best''--died after only four years of marriage. The diary entries that are the basis for this book are brief, almost brusque, and do not display what was apparently Dorothy's considerable charm. What's here finally is no more than a granddaughter's tribute to a woman who was the ex-wife of the man who married Amelia Earhart. (32 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I Lost Interest ...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart (Hardcover)
I've read many books about the great aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. This one tells of Amelia's role in an already failed marriage, much like our country has given us the personal failures of our own President. Although the connection to Amelia is the lure of the book, the story is based more on the author's free-will interpretations of her grandmother's diaries -- what she must have thought, reacted, felt. The entries, in Dorothy's voice, seem distorted with many episodes, imagined. Should everyone's diary be at the mercy of their relative's own interpretations after their death? If the grandmother had written from memory, exactly how it was, would the story change? Dorothy's diary held the details of a troubled life (for a woman of privilege), still (without her input) and the author's self-promoting connection as a the distant "step-great-granddaughter" is hardly the stuff of interesting literature. I would recommend readers acquire actual biographical books to satisfy real curiosity about the lives of deceased heroes.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Much Ado Over One Woman's Family Connections.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart (Hardcover)
This book begins with a touched-up photo on the cover, meant to superimpose the characters upon each other. How much of the assumptions about how Dorothy Putnam felt or how she really reacted in her status as a publisher's wife can a reader believe? Surely, there is a story in Amelia Earhart's life for all time, but this book seems to be a sort of self-promotion for the author's distant family connections -- the (yet-unborn) great granddaughter of the (already deceased) Amelia Earhart. If the book were written based on Dorothy Putnam's own version of the story or Amelia's version, it might be more believable. Still, it is always interesting material to delve into anyone's personal diary -- famous or not....
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Reading,
By A Customer
This review is from: Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart (Hardcover)
The time and research it must have taken to write this book is commendable. We have a read so much about Amelia but to hear about Dorothy and the incredible life that she lead was truley facinating. I would highly reccomend reading this book.
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