Title: If a Poem Could Live and Breathe
Author: Mary Calvi
Publication: 14 February 2023
Format: Kindle eARC from NetGalley & St Martin's Press
Amazon Description
A fact-based romantic speculative novel about Teddy Roosevelt’s first love, by Mary Calvi, author of Dear George, Dear Mary.
Studded with the real love letters between a young Theodore Roosevelt and Boston beauty Alice Lee―many of them never before published―If a Poem Could Live and Breathe makes vivid what many historians believe to be the pivotal years that made the future president into the man of action that defined his political life, and cemented his legacy.
Cambridge, 1878. The era of the Gilded Age. Alice Lee sets out to break from the norms of her mother’s generation. Women are fighting for educational opportunities and exploring a new sense of intellectual and personal freedom. Native New Yorker, Harvard student Teddy Roosevelt, is on his own journey of discovery, and when they meet, unrelenting currents of love change the trajectory of his life forever.
If a Poem Could Live and Breathe is an indelible portrait of the authenticity of first love, the heartache of loss, and how overcoming the worst of life’s obstacles can push one to greatness never imagined.
Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff
This could have been amazing. A lot of people are already in the "it is amazing" camp. Parts of it are, even for me ... but there are enough parts that make me shake my head that it's just not an overall amazing for me.It time jumps.
It changes from first person to third person.
It went on and on and on when it seemed wholly unnecessary.
I have a feeling that had Calvi chosen one time or the other and had stuck to a singular point of view I wouldn't have minded the on and on and on quite so much. My head was already aching from the other two qualms, though, so I ended up skimming quite a bit. Some parts jumped out at me and made me go "ooooooh that's lovely" (like the Teaser Tuesday blip), but it wasn't enough to be amazing.
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"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews.
"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.
2 comments:
I'm sorry this was a disappointment for you. The excerpts and synopsis sounded intriguing and had great potential. I do like books that are novels based on real life characters and events.
You might love it, Yvonne! So many of the other reviewers have. I'm just not one of them.
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