No Ordinary Time

Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote No Ordinary Time; Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front In World War II.  It's long.  Franklin doesn't die until page 610 and we still got 40 pages left to read.  This is not a book I would choose to read unless my book club chose it.  Some parts were super dry and other chapters were fascinating.  By the time it was due back to the library, Franklin hadn't died.  I couldn't return it until I got to his death. Once I got to his death I had to read the rest.  So I can't say I didn't like it because I couldn't put it down unfinished but I can't say I really liked it either. I do feel like I learned more about "our greatest generation."  Times are tough now but times were tougher then.  I found Franklin's friendship with Winston Churchill fascinating.  The world could have been a totally different place if it weren't for these two men working together. And Franklin and his mother?  Gosh, Marie Barone (from the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond) is a pussycat compared to her.  Doris doesn't come right out and say Franklin and Eleanor each had sexual affairs outside of their marriage but she presents enough evidence for us to draw those conclusions.  Eleanor was a woman ahead of her time.  Our group pondered what Eleanor would think about current events if she were to come to our meeting.  Would she be pleased with our progress in equal human rights, social justice, and the rights of the workers?  We're not sure ER would be entirely pleased but we agreed we'd rather have her at our meeting instead of Franklin.