Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot What I Expected
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2019
As my title says, this book was not what I expected and sad to say, a bit of a disappointment. McCullough does ah exemplary job of the research and clearly explains all the details of the Roosevelt family's history going back to revolutionary history of the first Roosevelt forebears. He spends a great deal of time on the history of parents of President Roosevelt. Every detail of young Roosevelt is painstakingly presented in great detail, then he never explains how he becomes president or what happens after he left office. The ending was so abrupt, I was left disappointed that I will need to read yet another book to find the answers about the last 20 years of his life. I learned more about Teddy's parents, than Teddy himself. Parts of the story seemed truly belabored, especially the details of his time in the Badlands. After suffering through each minute detail of how he made his bird collection, I felt let down that upon his return from the Badlands, the author seemed too tired or bored with the story and just sort of wrapped it all up. Rarely am I ever tempted to not finish a book after more than halfway through, but I was with this one.
