Amy's Reviews > Eleanor: A Life

Eleanor's evolution from poor little rich girl to iconic humanist is inspirational and fascinating. However, this book needs some serious editing. On page after page, Michaelis seems unable to decide how to refer to anyone in the story. A single paragraph will refer to FDR's mother as Sara, SDR, Sallie, and Mama. Single sentences refer to Eleanor by her first name and then by her initials ER. This is confusing and irritating in a lengthy biography. He also hopscotches around from event to event, so one chapter ends with FDR's victory in the NYS gubernatorial race. The next chapter begins with his first presidential win. He doesn't identify places adequately, assuming, it seems, that everyone knows what and where Groton is or that Locust Valley is near Oyster Bay on Long Island, to mention just a couple of examples. On the other hand, there were many unfortunate parallels in terms of racism and rebellion between her time and ours, that I am glad to have been made aware of.