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staplerscissors's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing research on an amazing journalist. Captivating and thrilling and exciting. Colvin's life is an inspiration on how to live.
furey's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, gritty read about the life, adventures, and death of war correspondent, Marie Colvin. She is presented warts and all by friend, and fellow journalist, Lindsey Hilsum. Marie was a passionate journalist seeking to tell the truth, to bear witness, to war and the impact of war on people. Often championing the underdog. She often found herself in dangerous situations to get to the story, and she was on the front line when she was killed in Syria.
macbeckyton's review against another edition
4.0
I have a lot of thoughts on this! Fascinating. Pacey. Reads like a thriller and does well to not bog itself down on the politics... but there were times it felt un-emotive, superficial, maybe a bit rose-tinted? It will stay with me for a long time, though, and Colvin was clearly A FORCE.
fantine729's review against another edition
5.0
“Devastating biography”, indeed, but, wow, what a read.
melisacabelloc's review against another edition
5.0
*lets get exited* *already crying* *always angry*
hookandtumble's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
celebrationofbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I love war correspondents’ memoirs and biographies – It’s What I Do was one of my favorite reads of last year. And, just, oh my goodness. In Extremis dethroned Lynsey from the top of my personal ranking. Granted, I’ve only read two to completion so far (I’m reading Martha Gellhorn’s, the role model for both Lynsey and Marie, right now), but goodness gracious, it will be a long time before I find another book like this. And it caused one of the longest book hangovers I’ve ever had. And, through In Extremis, I had the opportunity to check off a book seller life goal and be the first review for a title on Goodreads and Lindsey Hilsum responded to my review!
My husband, Ben, and I have been together for almost a decade and he could not recall a single instance in that time when I stayed up past midnight to read. I absolutely love to read, but am borderline narcoleptic so I’m not a big night time reader. But for days on end, I stayed up far later than I should have, unable to put down Lindsey Hilsum’s marvelous biography of her friend and fellow journalist, Marie Colvin.
Lindsey Hilsum is, in the humble opinion of someone who has not personally met her, the best person to write Marie Colvin’s biography. A friend, but not an intimate acquaintance, she approaches her subject with the kind and caring hands of someone who felt a deep loss when she died, but removed enough to offer a fairly objective perspective on the life decisions she made that led her to that final, fateful trip to Homs, Syria in 2012. Marie kept extensive journals her entire life and they serve as the basis for the bulk of In Extremis, making it as close to an autobiography as it could possibly be. Sprinkled in are excerpts from Marie’s reporting for London’s Sunday Times, and they offer an even deeper glimpse into what inspired and drove her to seek out war zones and report on the stories of the people who live there.
A few years ago, Ben & I visited the Newseum in Washington D. C. which triggered my current obsession with journalism. I’d always loved writing and have been a news junkie from a very young age (the day does not start until I’ve checked the BBC, CNN and my custom Google newsfeed), but I never appreciated just how important journalists are worldwide until that trip. They are responsible for keeping the world apprised of the goings on in far reaches of the world and at home. And nothing, well, almost nothing, in regards to my country’s current political climate, makes me angrier than the unofficial war on journalism and the president’s constant claims of fake news. As I rally against it, and uninformed fellow Americans, I remind myself of the fact that Marie Colvin had to stand up to people who challenged the authenticity of her reporting and she did so with kindness, grace, and style.
Even though Marie’s personal life may have been a bit of a mess, okay, quite a big mess, she played a crucial role in ensuring that the western world knew exactly what was going on in the war zones of the world, particularly the Middle East. It is easy enough for those of us sitting in our living rooms in the Northeast of the US to ignore the challenges facing not only that area of the world, but also in Europe as they struggle to accommodate record numbers of refugees, and to dehumanize those who are struggling because their struggles don’t affect us directly. But Marie wouldn’t let us. She did everything in her power to bring that suffering, the plights of the people who were displaced from their homes, and the challenges they faced daily, into our collective consciousness.
When reading, and therefore constantly Google-ing Marie Colvin, I came across the production of A Private War, Matthew Heineman’s cinematic depiction of Marie’s life. While the movie is based on the Vanity Fair article published immediately after Marie’s death and not on Lindsey’s biography, the two, given their near simultaneous release dates, will become inexorably tied to each other in future. I was very nervous when I found out that Rosamund Pike is playing Marie – I adored her in Pride & Prejudice, but is she the best choice to play my new hero? After reading articles about production and how much the process of portraying Marie affected her personally, and the fact that a documentary filmmaker is at the helm, I’m far less concerned and a great deal more excited.
Lindsey’s writing is tremendous, Marie’s life equal parts inspiring and cautionary tale, and I truly hope that her story reaches as many people as possible and helps us all recognize that we are all human. We all share this world, and the sufferings of a few are the sufferings of us all.
redwavereads's review against another edition
4.0
What a life. And you could feel the friendship of the author to Marie. Big recommendation!
lindsayb's review against another edition
2.0
This got tiresome after a while. Technically DNFed it at almost halfway through when I realized that I just did not care about all of Colvin's love affairs.
furey's review
5.0
Brilliant, gritty read about the life, adventures, and death of war correspondent, Marie Colvin. She is presented warts and all by friend, and fellow journalist, Lindsey Hilsum. Marie was a passionate journalist seeking to tell the truth, to bear witness, to war and the impact of war on people. Often championing the underdog. She often found herself in dangerous situations to get to the story, and she was on the front line when she was killed in Syria.