the cover art might be the best thing about the book ...

I decided to write review notes as I read this book. I made this decision because so far (I'm up to her mother's and her aunt's antics at Bryn Mawr) I am just loving it. Ms Leaming's biographical skills are right up my alley. It's reading like a Michener or a Rutherfurd novel; not in the slightest bit boring.
And now that I've finished it, I can say that it got better through Kate's early life, it got a bit boring at the Spencer Tracey era and then tapered off too quickly and a little glibly for me. I think perhaps the Tracey part annoyed me more than bored me - he was an asshole and didn't for one minute deserve the adulation and love he received from her. The part of the story that happened after he died was crammed into so little space that it almost felt like Ms. Leaming didn't think that Kate was worth it after she finally became her own woman. Perhaps she was planning another book - or perhaps someone else has already written that book - either way, a woman of such spirit and talent deserves more. I shall probably now go out and look for the rest of her life. It's because of the sudden stop that I don't give it a full five. ( )

Beautifully told life of Katharine Hepburn, excellent read. ( )