The latest book I've had to read for my book group is 'The Young Romantics: ' by Daisy Hay. As usual, I had to read it in a desperate hurry because I was also reading David Brooks' 'The Social Animal' which had to be returned to the library by Monday as it was reserved by someone else. So, I basically had to read it in two days - that's not a challenge for a novel but for non-fiction? I'm pretty impressed with myself for reading it (and not skim reading - impossible, I would have been so confused within three pages) in the allotted time. Granted, I had to read the very last page sitting in my chair at the actual meeting but I did finish it before the meeting actually began. Not bad going when you factor in a fast crawling baby who sleeps sporadically during the day AND a visiting mother-in-law. Thankfully, my m-in-l was very understanding and happy to read her own book in the blistering heat, nodding off for occasional cat naps. 

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was well written, although sometimes overly dense, but the way she interwove the lives of the Shelleys, Byron, Hunt and assorted family members and friends was engaging and page turning. Their lives were fascinating - travelling all over Europe, the tragedies, the suicides, the affairs and illegitimate children. I didn't have an awful lot of good feeling towards any of the characters apart from Mary Shelley and I'm not sure if my sympathy for her stems from a bit of a girl crush on her since studying and loving 'Frankenstein' for English A' level.

The women of that time were treated pretty awfully - children were considered the property of their fathers and it was difficult (but not impossible) to be a woman of independent means. But they seemed to treat each other badly too, having affairs with their sisters' husbands or blackening reputations to gain social status amongst other things

But the men. The men were appallingly behaved. They were completely self absorbed and in love with their self-perceived genius. So impressed with their 'radical' thinking and non-conventional ways of living that they didn't once seem to consider the effect on their female counterparts. Shelley's obsession with his sister-in-law seems to, in part, have been the cause of two of his own children's deaths. Hunt's ego and frivolous ways caused no end of turmoil to his brother and Shelley, almost destroying the friendship between Byron and Shelley. Byron, to spite Claire Clairmont and against her express wishes, sent their four year old daughter to a convent which, as Claire prophesied, caused an illness so damaging, she died aged five. Too many incidents to mention here but I can highly recommend this - it isn't a light read by any means, but neither is it relentlessly heavy with research and the insight into this group of creative heavyweights is intriguing and accessible. 

I liked 'The Social Animal' but I think David Brooks assumed that his readership would have some kind of psychology or sociology background. It was interesting but didn't quite live up to it's promise of telling a story of how to be successful through the lives of two people. It felt like an awful lot of theorising backed up with studies and research and referencing of 'famous' experiments.To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. 

After the last writing group meeting, I haven't actually done editing at all. So, for all my bluster about liking a challenge, I guess the feedback hit me a bit harder than I thought. Still, with the books read that I had to read, there are no excuses other than to watch everything on the Sky+ box before it gets switched off on Saturday...