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sophiahelix's review against another edition
3.0
Like The Wasteland, this pretty much requires you to have had a first-rate education around the turn of the twentieth century to fully enjoy and comprehend it, but there's some witty writing and it's interesting from a meta-commentary perspective, since Strachey is tweaking the noses of some of the idols of the late Victorian era.
biddywink's review
4.0
I only read the biography of Florence Nightingale in this volume covering four personages of the Victorian Age. I was just speaking with my in-laws, both nurses for many, many years, about Nightingale a couple of weeks ago and realized I did not know much about her. A shame, especially since she is the only famous person with whom I share a birthday.
So when I finished my long and dragging May book club pick, I grabbed this slim volume off my shelf and set to reading about the preeminent nurse before bedtime.
I was surprised with how real Florence Nightingale was. I have always had this image of a saintly woman healing the sick in London. Not so. This woman had a dominating personality and worked her butt off in a Turkish hospital during the Crimean War to impose basic sanitation in order to save the lives of the many wounded soldiers in her care.
Her life after the Crimean War was no less industrious, despite the chronic illness she contracted during her service in Turkey. She pushed and prodded, enacting reforms in the hospitals of the British Army and its medical service, even back home and with royal support no less. Her determination had its lasting benefits especially for the field of nursing, but also incurred the sacrifice of her trusted friends, including the life of Sidney Herbert.
Lytton Strachey, whose biography of Queen Victoria I read for a book report in eighth grade, is quite the conversational biographer here. He writes an entertaining account, but I took a good deal of what he said with a grain of salt.
Still, this was an informative, eye-opening read for me about one of the world's most famous nurses.
So when I finished my long and dragging May book club pick, I grabbed this slim volume off my shelf and set to reading about the preeminent nurse before bedtime.
I was surprised with how real Florence Nightingale was. I have always had this image of a saintly woman healing the sick in London. Not so. This woman had a dominating personality and worked her butt off in a Turkish hospital during the Crimean War to impose basic sanitation in order to save the lives of the many wounded soldiers in her care.
Her life after the Crimean War was no less industrious, despite the chronic illness she contracted during her service in Turkey. She pushed and prodded, enacting reforms in the hospitals of the British Army and its medical service, even back home and with royal support no less. Her determination had its lasting benefits especially for the field of nursing, but also incurred the sacrifice of her trusted friends, including the life of Sidney Herbert.
Lytton Strachey, whose biography of Queen Victoria I read for a book report in eighth grade, is quite the conversational biographer here. He writes an entertaining account, but I took a good deal of what he said with a grain of salt.
Still, this was an informative, eye-opening read for me about one of the world's most famous nurses.
captainlexington's review against another edition
4.0
The idea of painting a portrait of Victorian Times by describing some of its, if not most important, most representative figures is a compelling one. It touches on all the major themes of the day: imperialism and colonialism; religion; the Industrial Revolution; and progressive social change. Strachey's prose is likewise representative of the best Victorian writing: complex but readable sentences; words only and always as large and obscure as they need to be; and full of dry wit and subtle sarcasm. The access Strachey had to primary sources in the way of private letters and journals imbues the biography with a tone at once critical of and sympathetic to its subjects. None of these people is perfect; indeed, it is Strachey's main idea, particularly with Florence Nightingale, to bring them all down a notch in the collective consciousness. He may have been successful, as Ms. Nightingale is the only we still hear about today. Perhaps in that regard Strachey was too eager to write his history of Victorian Times; what aspects of the Victorian Era was history to remember? If he has chosen his figures poorly, however, the themes they elucidate are right on the money.
captainlexington's review against another edition
4.0
The idea of painting a portrait of Victorian Times by describing some of its, if not most important, most representative figures is a compelling one. It touches on all the major themes of the day: imperialism and colonialism; religion; the Industrial Revolution; and progressive social change. Strachey's prose is likewise representative of the best Victorian writing: complex but readable sentences; words only and always as large and obscure as they need to be; and full of dry wit and subtle sarcasm. The access Strachey had to primary sources in the way of private letters and journals imbues the biography with a tone at once critical of and sympathetic to its subjects. None of these people is perfect; indeed, it is Strachey's main idea, particularly with Florence Nightingale, to bring them all down a notch in the collective consciousness. He may have been successful, as Ms. Nightingale is the only we still hear about today. Perhaps in that regard Strachey was too eager to write his history of Victorian Times; what aspects of the Victorian Era was history to remember? If he has chosen his figures poorly, however, the themes they elucidate are right on the money.
sophiahelix's review against another edition
3.0
Like The Wasteland, this pretty much requires you to have had a first-rate education around the turn of the twentieth century to fully enjoy and comprehend it, but there's some witty writing and it's interesting from a meta-commentary perspective, since Strachey is tweaking the noses of some of the idols of the late Victorian era.
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