What do readers think of Strong Passions by Barbara Weisberg? Write your own review.

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 …more 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. (less)

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.

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.

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.