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Rating: 
Summary: Read for reference, not for fun
Review: If you prefer to read a biography like you would read a work of literature, this is not the book for you. This book is not enjoyable; it reads like a dissertation. Every few sentences are cited from some other source, mostly using direct quotes, leading me to believe that the author never learned the art of rewriting something in her own words. I respect the fact that she did a lot of research, but I don't want to be reminded of it in every paragraph. When the author actually bothers to use her own words, the prose doesn't flow and relies too much on heavy descriptive phrases. Too much time is spent giving lengthy biographies of other incidental characters like the Hemingways, the Menckens, and Dos Passos. The constant reference numbers are very distracting, as is the perpetual adoration for Zelda herself. The author makes reference to Zelda's "madness" via quotes from the Fitzgeralds' contemporaries, and then immediately discredits the source as jealous or influenced by time or some other excuse. The book would be a slightly better read if the reader was allowed to make judgments for him/herself. I might recommend this book to someone who was doing research on Zelda Fitzgerald (or other '20s-'30s personalities) for a paper, but I would not recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading.
Rating: 
Summary: This latest bio ranks as one of the best
Review: If you take the time and read every other biography out there about Zelda Fitzgerald, you will notice something strange. While every one covers the same person and materials, not every biography is exactly the same. Nancy Milford's "Zelda" reads like a Fitzgerald novel- beautiful, careless and tragic. Kendall Taylor's "Sometimes Madness is Wisdom" focuses more on Zelda as an individual with multiple flaws and multiple talents, and also destroys the mythical love story that everyone thought was "Scott and Zelda". Sally Cline's "Her Voice in Paradise" expands on Kendall Taylor's basic concept but makes it all her own with such detailed research and weaving all of the broken stories together into one beautiful mosaic. I would list this as THE best biography written about Zelda...well, actually this ties for first place with Kendall Taylor's bio, which is equally brilliant but on a totally different level. Read both and you get two separate layers of Zelda's short and complicated life. Any pity or admiration that you felt for Scott before reading either of these will most certainly vanish, for these books do not paint him as the romantic character that his legend portrays. In these he is an equally flawed human being much like Zelda, but a man whose lifelong coverup of his insecurities included alcohol abuse and adultery. So in conclusion, if you are a voracious reader with a thirst for knowledge and devouring every detail into your mind, I would recommend that you buy this book immediately.
Rating:
Summary: This is no light coverage: six years in the making
Review: Sally Cline's Zelda Fitzgerald portrays the life of mythical 20s idol who married novelist F. Scott. This is no light coverage: six years in the making, it is the first on her life to appear in over thirty years and provides a complex analysis of the Fitzgeralds' lives and achievements.
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