Who
Was Joseph Pulitzer? by Terrence Crimmins 276 pages
Despite its less-than-creative
title, I jumped at the opportunity to read Terrence Crimmins’ historical novel,
Who Was Joseph Pulitzer? I even saved
it to read on a trip I was taking because I was prepared to be immersed in
Pulitzer’s story.
Joseph Pulitzer has strong ties to
St. Louis, where I reside. He came to St. Louis and became a cub reporter for
the St. Louis Dispatch, later bought the defunct paper and merged it with the
St. Louis Evening Post. He reamed the paper to the St. Louis Post and Dispatch.
I’m not sure when it became the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but after the Pulitzer
merger, it became the most influential papers in St. Louis.
I am extremely disappointed in
Crimmins’ tale. It’s as if he has never read historical fiction. It’s really
just a bunch of facts strung together that makes for boring reading. The
dialogue doesn’t fit the time period in which Crimmins’ is writing. Then there
is the author intrusion. Crimmins’s pulls readers out of the story by making
comments that have no room in the story.
For these reasons Who Was Joseph
Pulitzer? gets
1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
Not all books are for all readers, and thanks very much to Ms. Earhart for taking the trouble to post a review. I cannot help but suggest to readers that they take a look at other Amazon reviews, which show that a vast majority of readers like the book, as it has a 4.4 rating there. Reviewers there tackle many of the issues Ms. Earhart mentions in her review, in a very different way. https://www.amazon.com/Who-Was-Joseph-Pulitzer-novel/dp/0991378318/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=terrence+crimmins&qid=1559697283&s=gateway&sr=8-1
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