Reviews for Thackeray's Letters to an American Family

The average rating for Thackeray's Letters to an American Family based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-16 00:00:00 Fitatsd Linas It's rather hard to imagine a less appealing character than this story's narrator. He is delusional, paranoid, selfish, manipulative, creepy, pompous, abusive. How much of this H. is real Hazlitt, a writer of great talent and perception, is a curious question. Whether narrator's mania comes through so forcefully thanks to the work of critical reconstruction, or is it just simple honesty, this is a rather astonishing report of love life at its lowest, with no saving grace or absolution. Happy is a reader who would find no traces of him/herself in the H.'s rantings and suspicions, but alas, this is not something I could say about myself.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-17 00:00:00 David Ficocelli Well, that was icky Quite mortifying to read this, having always admired Hazlitt's writing. It seems hardly possible to believe any more there can be any insight or good judgement in his essays, when he could write this, ostensibly to uncover the treachery of the woman he "loved" (stalked, hounded, slobbered over, terrified). He published their letters, transcribed their conversations verbatim, all to convict her; and on every single page he, Hazlitt himself, is almost unbearable to watch.