Reviews

How We Might Live: At Home with Jane and William Morris by Suzanne Fagence Cooper

papalla's review

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informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

rec804's review

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5.0

A truly superb biography. I picked this up on a whim when planning a trip to Kelmscott, and the result is that I fell hard for William and Jane Morris — their lives, their work, their homes, their philosophies about art and society, their politics… I am walking away from this book feeling challenged and inspired on the topic of How We Might Live. I don’t think I’ll ever think about commerce and industrialization in the same way!

katyboo52's review

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4.0

Having just been to see the Rossettis exhibition at the Tate I was really excited to read this. The exhibition worked hard to include Christina Rossetti and give her her due. It also looked at the women who were wives, muses and often fellow artists. Seeing Rossetti's infatuation with Jane writ large in the paintings he made of her, I was curious to find out more about her in relation to Morris and in her own right. This book tries its best to restore Jane to personhood rather than housewife, muse or sex object and it only partially succeeds in my eyes. That is largely to do with the fact that Jane was a fairly mysterious woman of low birth, who lived a highly unconventional life and did what she could to keep her private life as private as possible. There isn't a lot of evidence to tell us much about Jane except through the eyes of those who knew her and who had their own agendas. It attempts to empower both Jane and William within their life together and their complicated marriage and focuses on the things that worked, rather than the prurient interest of everyone else in what went wrong. I enjoyed most of it. The bits where the author has had to fill in the gaps, less so.

alavandula's review

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

I had hoped it would be more about Jane than William.
The genius women that propped up the “genius” men are more interesting to me.
Still well written and informative 

badassmarshmallow's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

foryoubluee's review

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informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

this book is so well researched, im so glad it exists. if i could absorb all the information directly to my brain i would. as i can’t, i’m sure i’ll be referring back to my copy often! i feel like suzanne painted such a clear image of their lives and i really felt like i could’ve been at the red house or kelmscott manor while reading it. equally informative, life changing and joyful. 

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ohhek's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75