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review 2015-09-03 00:00
Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan

Ugh, I give up.  The cover is so pretty, but the plot is painfully slow.  No less than a few dozen times have I put down this book to do something else.  Tried reading outside, and oooh squirrel!  Tried reading parts in a Scottish accent, and still was bored.  Tried again outside in a different spot and oooh little bunnies!  The littlest things distract me from this book, so I think it's time to stop.  Fanny is an unlikable character and I think the book might be too ambitious, plus the names were confusing...lots of Bobs.  It's either that or I just don't dig historical fiction from the 1800s.  Maybe her writing is just not my style.  It doesn't help that I know nothing about Robert Louis Stevenson or Fanny Osbourne.  The book is also an absolute lummox to carry around.  Maybe it gets better, but there are so many other books that are not a chore to finish, so it's one starred for now.

ETA - Silly me forgot to mention that this copy came from the good folks at Random House in exchange for a review. 

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review 2014-09-16 00:00
Under the Wide and Starry Sky
Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan This book was good, but not great. It's the story of Robert Louis Stevenson's wife and their life as a couple. Her primary concern for much of their life together was his health, and moving to where his health could improve. She also didn't get along with his friends all that well, so that was a source of conflict. But of course, she enjoyed his writing, and it is also the story of the creation of Stevenson's two most famous works: [b:Treasure Island|295|Treasure Island|Robert Louis Stevenson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388607993s/295.jpg|3077988] and [b:The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|51496|The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|Robert Louis Stevenson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1318116526s/51496.jpg|3164921].

For historical value, I appreciated it and I'm glad I read it. But it seemed to me that Fanny was a bit much for the author to handle, given what we know about her. She seemed a little, say, eccentric, in historical documents, and at times in the novel, Fanny seemed to surprise herself as much as those around her. The explanations the author offered didn't ring true for me. So in the end, I didn't feel like the version of Fanny in this book was all that believeable. I suppose that's the challenge in taking on complicated historical subjects.

Also, since what we knew for sure had to be incorporated, there's a lot of emphasis on the moving around (well-documented), but not much on what happened in each place, so I didn't get a feel for what was really going on in the Stevensons' relationship, how their identities and lives were developing. This is also part of the challenge if historical fiction -- how much to make up and how much to stick to the script. But the script, for me, wasn't all that interesting, so it made for a so-so reading experience.

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review 2014-08-26 00:00
Loving Frank
Loving Frank - Nancy Horan I liked the writing of this book a lot, but I thought the main character was extremely immature and annoying. I could not sympathize with her at all.
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review 2014-05-27 21:20
Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan

I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for this review.

It's always a challenge to write historical fiction, especially when you're centered on 1 person or 1 family. This is historical fiction based on the life of Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, through their courtship, marriage, and his eventual death. Stevenson wrote such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was from Scotland, she was from America, and several years older than he was. He was in poor health, suffering from a variety of lung ailments. (Note: these aren't spoiler alerts; this information is all available on Wikipedia.) The book follows them as they travel from France, where they met, to Scotland, California, Hawaii, Sydney, and Samoa, where Stevenson lived the rest of his life. Reading the book, you can feel how Stevenson's illness affected him. You also feel sympathy for Fanny, who wound up being his nurse for most of his life, and later suffered bouts of mental illness. The book dramatizes the writing of Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. It discusses the origins of Long John Silver (no, he didn't start out owning a restaurant chain), as well as phrases such as "Shiver me timbers!" It also shows how Stevenson wrote Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and some of the underlying meanings that people even at the time it was written were reading into it. The title comes from a poem that Stevenson wrote to his wife. I almost wonder what would have happened if Stevenson had been in better health, would he have written more. Even though it is not a factual biography, the author uses quite a bit of source material to make it sound as authentic as possible. Obviously, sections where she discusses what the characters are thinking, as well as some of the conversations, are fictionalized for dramatic effect. One thing I noticed was that some chapters had the year on top, to indicate when time moved ahead, especially by a few years. I would have liked to see that on all the chapters. I only received an ARC, so I'm not sure if this was in the final copy, but I would have liked to see pictures in the book, to know what some of the people looked like. All in all, though, a good book. Also, this would be a good introduction to Robert Louis Stevenson, and those who think pirate adventures begin and end with Captain Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Carribean movies. I'll have to start reading Treasure Island again.

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review 2014-03-10 12:54
Under The Wide and Starry Sky
Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan

The words “Under the wide and starry sky” are part of the inscription on the tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson. This book tells the story of the love of Stevenson's life and the tumultuous path of his relationship with Frances (Fanny) Matilda Van de Grift Osbourne Stevenson. The book charts the course of their relationship from when they meet until Stevenson's death in 1894. Although not as compelling as Nancy Horan's first book, this book is still a beautifully told story.

 

Read my complete review at: http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2014/03/under-wide-and-starry-sky.html

Source: www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2014/03/under-wide-and-starry-sky.html
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