Marcus Scriven

I bought and read this book based on an interview with the author on Late Night Live. Its a very well written, and well researched story of the decline of the FitzGeralds, Herveys, and Montagus. And its often very funny. But I was left feeling a bit dirty and squalid myself. Because essentially this is literary tittle tattle. So all of these families had eccentric members who frittered away their inheritances on alcohol, drugs, exhibitionism and general incompetence and stupidity. Its an entertaining story but what business is it of mine? Its their money, why not fritter it away if they want to? I might feel differently if I was a member of the family, but I am not, so what business is it of mine? I felt like a voyeur at a Daily Mail sponsored aristocratic knees up. Ultimately the 4 aristocrats featured were all in need of professional help. They didn't get it, or rejected it and the ensuing chaos is really more of a personal tragedy than entertainment. This is an entertaining book but you may end up, like me, feeling more depressed than titillated… (more)

Taken from my review of this book on Amazon:
I found this book too crashingly boring to want to waste my time even to finish it. I forced myself to plow through the first 'Book' on Edward Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, then chucked the whole thing. Feel free to discount this review that is based on only a partial reading on that account. The writing style was not to my taste. The narrative, if you could call it that, seemed diffuse and disorganized. The author did not seem to have a clue how to organize the material so as to provide pace or drama. Perhaps the first person the author featured was ill chosen for drawing in the reader. Perhaps the others depicted in the book are more interesting. I'll never know. I was reading the Kindle version, which lacked the illustrations. Including them might have made some difference to holding my interest, though I doubt they would have redeemed the book enough for me to want to continue reading.… (more)