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There are currently 20 member reviews
for Strong Passions
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Portia A. (Monroe Township, NJ)
It finally hit me…
The story of a scandalous divorce in the 1860's was interesting, but my awakening came when I realized that now, in 2023 there are efforts to drag us back to the days when men won and women had no rights. Read the book if you can, it is good to be aware.
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Sarah M. (Lancaster, PA)
19th Century Divorce Trial
I liked this book and was fascinated by this true story of privilege and society in the mid-1800's. This book is a detailed accounting of a divorce and child custody case between two high society New Yorkers from well-to-do families. At that time, the laws governing divorce and child custody disregarded women's rights entirely, and once a women got married, she basically had no independence at all. The behavior of the participants in this story illustrates that basic human nature does not change, but cultures do evolve over time. The drama played out in the context of the broader values and culture among privileged citizens and New Yorkers in the mid-1800's and incorporates major events happening at that time such as the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, and the abolishing of slavery. I got a little bogged down with the details of the trial, but the book certainly held my interest throughout and has inspired me to learn more about the origin of the women's rights movement in the U.S.
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Leslie R. (Arlington, VA)
ho-hum
Anecdote: When I was an elementary school principal, I was "investigating" a case of catsup squirting in the cafeteria. After some discussion, I asked my main witness, "what happened then?" to which she replied, "I don't know; I kind of lost interest." And that was exactly what happened to me about midway through this book. Usually I am fascinated by courtroom drama and the vagaries of the law; and I appreciate that the author researched the details so thoroughly, but I found nothing to hold my attention. The basic story involved a wealthy upper class New York gentleman in a court battle to divorce his allegedly unfaithful wife and gain sole custody of his two daughters. The two main characters are developed mainly through the testimony of other people, and neither of them felt "real" to me. There were many interesting facts about life in that social stratum in New York in the 1850's, but there were no characteristics of a plot.
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ChristieC
Nothing more boring than a victorian divorce
Painstakingly researched and highly detailed in its narrative of a broken marriage, its trial and the societal standards of the 1860s in New York, this book was just not my cup of tea. The familial tracking of characters and generations and whose-who became monotonous. For the legal scholarly, this trial may be of interest, even entertaining. Somehow the passion escaped me.
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Marybeth T. (Bellingham, WA)
Meh
This was just meh for me. I loved the time period and the subject but the execution was dry and text books. I appreciate all the research that the author put into the book but I just didn't find it compelling.
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Julia E. (Atlanta, GA)
Labored telling of a Juicy Scandal
This very thoroughly researched book covers in thick (and often irrelevant) detail a scandalous divorce which enthralled New York Society during the 1860s. Given the topic and deep research, this could have been a delicious page-turner for all who love Downton Abbey. Alas, the author's ponderous style drowns the pleasure, and the overload of extraneous detail weakens the story-telling. There is a fine book in here somewhere, but the author and her W.W. Norton editor have yet to bring it forth.
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