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Title: Dragonholder by Todd J. McCaffrey ISBN: 0-345-42217-1 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 23 November, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: only for fans of McCaffrey
Comment: Admittedly, this book is for fans of author Anne McCaffrey. Fans had been clamoring for her to tell her life's story, but she's been too busy writing her novels. Her second son, Todd, wrote this book to give the fans a little bit of what they want. That's the problem. It is a little bit. This is a very slim volume (coming in at not much more than 100 pages) and is not very well organized. We are not really treated to the entirety of McCaffrey's life and this is not a chronological book. Todd McCaffrey jumps around quite a bit and never stays on any one subject for too long. We get glimpses of the science fiction legend. We see a little bit of her early life and the problems she had growing up. We see her as a struggle writer, and a struggling singer/actor. We see how these experiences shaped her later novels (the singer problems translated directly into Crystal Singer), but we never really get a sense of who Anne McCaffrey is. Granted, I'm not expecting the depth of research that we would get from Robert Caro or David McCullough, but this is a very skimpy biography and is somewhat of a let down. Decent enough for fans of McCaffrey, but I can't imagine this would be of interest to anybody else.
Rating: 4
Summary: Charming Fragments of a Life
Comment: The only criticism possible for this biography of Anne McCaffrey by her son, Todd, is that it is too short. The book is a must-read for any Anne McCaffrey fan, but will leave any such fan saying "More! More!" It tells in brief her family background and the story of her life in a series of family anecdotes and his own favorite memories of growing up with his mother. What is in the book is lovely and charming and interesting and often quite touching, but it is disjointed and reads more like a sketch than a real biography. What you are left with is a sense of what an interesting person she is and how much you'd like to hear more, to have a really well-rounded portrait. That lack is why I gave it only four stars instead of five. Still, you are left with a new awareness of how incredibly brave Anne McCaffrey was and is. She wrote her wonderful dragon stories under the worst possible conditions -- an unhappy, difficult marriage, raising three children, one quite ill for some years, frequent moves, the death of her father, serious money worries. Through it all, she kept writing and was clearly an excellent mother. That alone makes her an inspiration. Read the book knowing its limitations and enjoying learning some charming fragments of a life.
Rating: 5
Summary: Sometimes teasing, always affectionate, fans will love it
Comment: It's not hard to understand why Todd McCaffrey might be fond and proud of his mother. Anne McCaffrey remains one of the finest science fiction authors in the genre today, over thirty years after she began writing. It's also not hard to see that he is indeed very fond and very proud of her when you turn the pages of this biography. Told from his own point of view as someone who was there for quite a lot of it, this story of Anne's life vivdly illustrates her family tree, her childhood, her activity in the worlds of theater and music, her less-than-satisfying marriage to Todd's father, and how she got started writing her marvelous books. Complete with family photos and written with ill-concealed amusement and love, this is the kind of book any mother would want her child to write about her.
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Title: Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey ISBN: 0345461983 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 25 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey ISBN: 0345456351 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: On Dragonwings by Anne McCaffrey ISBN: 0345465652 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: A Diversity of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey, Paintings by John Howe ISBN: 006105531X Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Kilternan Legacy by Anne McCaffrey ISBN: 1587157934 Publisher: Wildside Pr Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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