Stephen R. (srhen) -
I usually don't review books that I don't like, but this one deserves a comment. I've read a lot of biographies but none of them have given me less of a sense of being there than Rotolo's book. She states in the introduction that she is a private person and I can respect that, I wasn't really looking for "Bob's bedroom secrets". But, even in the public side of her life the writing is does not give any real sense of being there. When describing her upbringing she says you know what it was like to grow up in the 50's as the child of communist. The truth is I don't, I grew up in the 60's as the child of conservatives. Her description of the village in the 60's is little more that an ordered list of the bars. She went to Italy and lived in a medieval wall and all I got was a PBS special on the Medici s. (What does it feel like to touch 400 year old stones?)
