Nancy read and liked Jennifer's review of Mrs Astor Regrets: Inside the Unraveling of a Great American Dynasty:

"This book just made me sad--first, for Brooke Astor's son, Tony Marshall, who seemed to live his entire life trying to get his mother to love him and then, for Brooke Astor herself, who spent the last ten years or so of her life in a slow decline tha...more This book just made me sad--first, for Brooke Astor's son, Tony Marshall, who seemed to live his entire life trying to get his mother to love him and then, for Brooke Astor herself, who spent the last ten years or so of her life in a slow decline that all the money in the world couldn't remedy. The book was well-researched and Gordon seems to have snagged interviews with everyone who ever spoke to Brooke Astor--but I wished she had devoted a little more time to the early lives of Brooke Astor and the other key players in the book. Sometimes, too, I had trouble keeping everyone and certain events straight--but all in all, a riveting book...(less) "

Nancy read and liked Kate's review of Mrs Astor Regrets: Inside the Unraveling of a Great American Dynasty:

"Like a loaf of sourdough bread baked at 200 degrees for 3 minutes, this book took a lot of preparation but is still a half-baked mess. Did author Meryl Gordon accidentally publish her interview notes rather than her biography manuscript? She tiptoe...more Like a loaf of sourdough bread baked at 200 degrees for 3 minutes, this book took a lot of preparation but is still a half-baked mess. Did author Meryl Gordon accidentally publish her interview notes rather than her biography manuscript? She tiptoed through the war zone of upper East Side's society so carefully that the book could be called "Mrs. Astor Regrets: How to Write About Scandal Without Offending Anyone." I glimpsed the glamorous world of Mrs. Astor, but as through a scrim -- she is still a stranger to me. At times, Mrs. Astor seemed like a pathetic, grasping, insecure woman. At other times, she seemed like a sparkling, driven survivor. Perhaps she was both. Or perhaps a complicated life should only be examined after the subject has been dead for 20 years... when authors are free to project their theories and opinions without fear of retaliation from the Social Register set.(less) "