Poe & Fanny

Rating:
Summary: Lacking
Review: A rather turgid, disjointed read. You know the sort. Where the POV is strained and details are sketched in where they may. There's a lot of historical information here, lots of names are dropped, but the characters never quite come alive.

Much is made of the setting, little of what lay deeply within the hearts of these passionate, driven characters. I'd hoped for more than a tedious, detailed, never-ending wardrobe account of poetess Mrs. Fanny Osgood (all pin tucks and beribboned bonnets and full skirts) and somewhat more besides the fact that Poe was a gaunt, dark-eyed genius with a taste for liquor and threadbare suits, with a white-clad consumptive young wife hidden in the shadows.

May does not pick the brains of his characters ~ especially Poe, that wildly creative, outside-the-envelope literary figure who enthralls to this day. May puts together his story by simply placing description and action and conversation onto the page, and leaves one to guess at motives and emotions.

Too bad, because what might have been a fascinating gallop through a complex friendship blossomed into a true, shared passion becomes instead a pedestrian, properly fashionable stroll through the gaslit, cobbled streets of old New York ~ fur muffs, bonnets, top hats, walking sticks, pintucks, waistcoats and all.

Rating:
Summary: Why We Read Historical Fiction
Review: Baltimore's original Raven fans could not be more compellingly imagined. This romantic and richly detailed story of Poe's struggles with alcohol, ambition, creativity, loyalty, and multiple loves not only introduces readers to the wrongly forgotten poet Frances Osgood, but also brilliantly illuminates 19th-century American culture, especially the competitive world of New York City publishing. The writing is fresh. The scandal is new. The book is terrific.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing!
Review: I was so taken by the world of this book-- the hustling and rivalry of the various magazine editors of the time, the heated, gossipy atmosphere of the literary salons-- all fascinating. And Poe himself emerges as an intriguing character. Despite the fact that he's one of the pillars of American literature, Poe & Fanny shows his all-too human sides as well as his constant struggles for both financial solidity and literary reputation. And I was torn as a reader between Poe's love for his sickly young wife and his soulmate-like passion for Fanny! The pages flew by as I was drawn into the author's delicate resolution of the story.

Rating:
Summary: Page turner
Review: John May's first novel left me with great hope that he will write more. Poe & Fanny was a wonderful education in the state of the literary world, and life in general, in the 1840's as well as a fascinating look at Poe himself. Most people grow up reading The House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Raven in school with only enough information about him to know he had a way with the macabre and married his first cousin. This book revealed the very vulnerable, tender, human side of this incredibly talented man who, like a lot of artists, had all the talent and the heart to succeed but couldn't get it together. The daily drama of his life combined with the passion he felt for Fanny --and John May's wit and talent - made this a book I could not put down.

Rating:
Summary: Great potential - disappointing read
Review: The subject matter of this book - Edgar Allan Poe, his child bride and the passionate Fanny Osgood provide great potential for an exciting and fascinating read; however, it just never comes together. There is none of the mystery, darkness, or passion that one would expect in a fictional look of Poe and his wife and supposed lover. The author takes a very detached view of Poe and those around him; I was never really able to "connect" with any of the characters especially the many and confusing editors, magazine publishers, other writers, and business partners of Poe. The book is a good "overview" of the world of publishing in New York during the middle 1800's and Poe's place or lack of place in it. Another strange note: Poe's poem "The Raven" is a focus of the book and seems to be Poe's only real claim to fame during his life time; it is referred to many times. In the back of the book a section entitled "The Poems" contains many of the poems written by Poe, Fanny Osgood, and others in the story. "The Raven", however, is missing. It seems that would have definitely been included. That lack seems to sum up the overall feeling I got from this book -- the peripheral is there, but the core is missing.