Helpful Score: 2
I agree with the reviewer who commented on the sadness felt upon finding that Sarton was not the way she presented herself to be in her memoirs. I too have been an admirer of May Sarton for years. This book is a very real eye-opener. I was grieved to know that she had a violent streak and was extremely self centered. The biographer, Margot Peters, also reveals how Sarton used people and discarded them when they no longer filled her needs. But the truth is that great artists and writers are a breed apart. They frequently are intense about their craft and feel that nothing is as important as their work. I'm not saying that Sarton was one of the greatest, but over the many years of fine tuning her works, she became celebrated and highly respected. I still love to read her books centering on New England and her wonderful home there in Nelson, NH. This biography is what everyone wants when they are searching out details and truths about the person they are interested in. I read it with eagerness and feel that I can now more fully understand some of Sarton's writings.
Helpful Score: 1
May Sarton is one of my heroes so I was disturbed to find out that she was not a kind, good person at all. Still, Peters wrote a fine biography and one that kept me engaged, despite my disappointment.
This is (the back cover claims) "the first, completely authorized biography of novelist, poet, and feminist May Sarton." A big paperback, 399 pages long, plus Notes and an Index. This was a book given to me by someone who did not read it, and, not liking Sarton's work very much, except for her story of a cat, entitled "The Fur Person," I merely skimmed here and there in the biography. My main impression is of how many (women) lovers Sarton had, and how they all (especially Sarton, with her selfishness and terrible rages), made each other miserable.
I ended, after reading this book, by disliking Sarton altogether and getting rid of all her books that I had, except for "The Fur Person."
I ended, after reading this book, by disliking Sarton altogether and getting rid of all her books that I had, except for "The Fur Person."
