Charlie M. (bookaddicted) -
Helpful Score: 4
Covering the decade from 1920 - 1930, Meade concentrates on Zelda Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker and Edna Ferber, exploring their lives at the height of their careers (although some would question Fitzgerald's inclusion, she was instrumental in assisting her husband with his books and wrote stories on her own often credited to both). My complaint about the book is that the style makes you feel like you are attending a lecture given in a monotone voice. There is little cadence to her writing. My biggest issue, however, is that Meade wrote a biography of Dorothy Parker (What Fresh Hell is This) and the sections in this book dealing with Parker are basically lifted verbatim from that biography. It is laziness on the author's part and if you have read both it sticks out dramatically.
Amber R. (ambydawn) reviewed Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin : Writers Running Wild in the Twenties on + 23 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book and learning about women who led such atypical lives when "proper" women still married and settled down early. I do agree that men were generally portrayed poorly... not sure though if that is mainly due to the author or the men themselves. Also, it was a tad depressing at the end. Obviously Fitzgerald's story is a bit gloomy, but the overall tone used toward the end of the decade was a real downer.
