Late and only one book. A VERY long book at that. I was drawn to The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki because I loved her other books, The Accidental Empress about Sisi of Austria and The Traitor's Wife about Benedict Arnold's wife. This one completely missed the mark - not sure if it was Pataki's writing or the subject. I never fell in love with Marjorie - she just flitted from one privileged circumstance to another, albeit she seems to have been very charitable. Both Marjorie and Pataki think she’s a pretty big deal. Her early life was painstakingly detailed and the last 30 plus years were whizzed through. Here are the highlights —Marjorie Merriweather Post was the designer and original inhabitant of Mar-a-Lago, the now infamous home of Donald Trump. She was the only child of C.W. Post, inventor of Grape Nuts and other Post cereals. Her first husband was Ed Close (grandfather of actress Glenn Close through his second marriage) and her second husband was E.F. Hutton. With Hutton, Post became General Foods and acquired a number of brands, including Birds Eye Frozen Foods (at Marjorie's insistence), Maxwell House and Jello-O. Her third husband was Democrat diplomat Joseph Davies, and they acquired significant Russian art pieces while Joe was ambassador to the Soviet Union. She married and divorced a fourth time and had three daughters (actress Dina Merrill was the youngest). Sprinkle in a few references to the yacht Sea Cloud, one husband calling her "mumsy" and A LOT of famous names casually mentioned, and I've saved you 14 hours and 30 minutes. You're welcome. One thing I did appreciate was how business minded she was and that it was a shame she spent most of her life as the woman behind a man vs the CEO and president she should have been.
TBR List
- Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore
- Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
- All Adults Here by Emma Straub
- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
- The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
- The Joy of X by Steven Strogatz
