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Clover Adams: A Gilded And Heartbreaking Life (2012)

by Natalie Dykstra(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0618873856 (ISBN13: 9780618873852)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: Interesting biography of a multitalented woman that experienced a wonderful life despite losing her mother as a child, a childless but mostly happy man, and the limitations placed upon women during the 1800s limited her happiness. She traveled the world, entertained extensively in Boston and Washington DC, was respected by all, loved by her devoted husband and by her large family, became a noted photographer later in her life, etc, etc, etc. Why then did she commit suicide? Depression engulfed her as it does to many artists; some statistics show as many as 1/3 of famous painters and writers are depressive personalities and often commit suicide. As Dykstra says, "Creativity can be compensatory, redemptive, a release, a reach toward freedom and hope. But this is n... moreot always the case. Artistic expression is not always consolation for emotional pain. Things can sometimes go the other way. Creativity also undoes, overwhelms, gives power to hidden undertows. What's brought forward in expression is exposed and becomes irrefutable. Perhaps this is what happened to Clover."
review 2: This bio is a valiant attempt to get inside the heart and mind of Clover Adams, wife of the illustrious Henry Adams. I'm not sure the author succeeds in this fully, but the detailed review of her privileged life in Washington, Boston's North Shore, and Europe amongst a great cast of characters including Henry James! is fascinating at times. Poor Clover. If she only had a therapist to get her over the menopausal hump. less

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