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Title: Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia by James Fox ISBN: 0-7432-0042-X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good biography, shallow and self-centered subjects
Comment: I began the book prepared to be dazzled by the fabled charm, wit and beauty of the legendary Langhorne sisters. I finished the book without finding an overabundance of any of these qualities. I can't say that I admired any of the sisters; my feelings ranged from indifference toward Irene, the original Gibson Girl, who was slightly dim, but decorative, to mild dislike for irresponsible and self-indulgent Nora, to real feelings of dislike for imperious Nancy, who married into the immense wealth of the Astor family.
I found Nancy to be particularly unpleasant -- selfish, domineering, self-important, tactless, rude and bigoted (quite anti-semitic, as were the other members of her family). Her often-expressed need to "do good", which presumably motivated her stint in Parliament, seemed more self-serving than altruistic to me -- an outlet for her ambition and a way to relieve her boredom with life at Cliveden, where there were servants to attend to her every wish.
In addition to being unable to appreciate their so-called "wit" and "charm", I did not find in the author's photographs much evidence of their storied beauty (with the exception of their mother, who was clearly exceptionally attractive). Either the photographs do not do them justice (which would be my guess)or standards of beauty have changed over the last 75 years. I actually found each of them to be rather ordinary-looking women.
In conclusion, this book seem to me to be about the supposedly glamorous lives of four (or five if you count Lizzie, the "dark horse" sister) inherently average women who find themselves raised through marriage to the highest social circles in Britain and America. Once there, priveleged and pampered, they did not seem to occupy themselves with much more than the pursuit of entertainment, the latest clothes and, in general, their own self-interest.
Rating: 3
Summary: Fascinating Women, but...
Comment: Too often, biographers attempt to do such a conscientious job describing their subjects that the books about those subjects end up being dull. And it should go without saying that those subjects, in real life, were anything but dull. Had they been less than interesting, no one would be tempted to write their stories and there would be no buyers for the finished biographies. Something like that has happened with FIVE SISTERS, the story of the famous Langhorne sisters of Virginia.
Author James Fox, who already has proved his skills as a writer in his other works, is well-assisted in this book due to the fact that he, himself, is the grandson of one of these Five Sisters. As such, he had access to family papers and correspondence unavailable in the public records.
The sisters were born into a prominent Southern family impoverished by the Civil War. The most famous sister, Nancy Astor, married the heir of William Waldorf Astor and became the first American woman elected to the English parliament. In a word, she was a character. Another sister, the most beautiful of the group, married artist Charles Dana Gibson. Very literally, as his model, she became the personification of the Edwardian concept of feminine beauty, the "Gibson Girl."
As described by James Fox, the women appear to be fairly typical in their sisterly concerns and rivalries. Nancy Astor sounds odd (to be kind) as well as nasty. And the book, FIVE SISTERS, somehow manages to be less than engaging. Nonetheless, Fox makes a serious contribution to detailing the social history of the lifestyle of the aristocracy in England at the turn of the 20th Century.
Rating: 1
Summary: boring tale about flakey mean people
Comment: I had to quit reading this book approximately half way through because I had no interest whatsoever in continuing to read about these snobby, conceited and dull women. Don't waste your time.
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Title: The Viceroy's Daughters: The Lives of the Curzon Sisters by Anne De Courcy ISBN: 0066210615 Publisher: William Morrow & Company Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell ISBN: 0393324141 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740-1832 by Stella Tillyard ISBN: 0374524475 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels by Nancy Mitford ISBN: 0375718990 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Georgetown Ladies' Social Club: Power, Passion, and Politics in the Nation's Capital by C. David Heymann ISBN: 0743428560 Publisher: Atria Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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