Vinnie Ream - An American Sculptor

[Gene C]

Interesting young lady. She made the statue of Lincoln that is in the Capital when she was only 18. Book written by Edward Cooper and about 265 pages. I'll give it B-. Filled with info I really didn't care about (such as a detailed description of her wedding dress, and places she stayed in Europe) and left out a lot of things I would have liked to have known. I don't feel like a know much about her personality. She was a prolific letter writer, but he doesn't quote from many of her letters. She was a very attractive, outgoing and vivacious young lady, and it seems this may be reflected in her letters to and from influential politicians of her day. Her husband pretty well put a stop to her sculpting career, so there was some tension in her marriage, but the book deals lightly with that. "Finally, to gain some peace, she put aside her tools." " Vinnie was only thirty five years old, and she felt trapped by the conventions of marriage."

Vinnie has a close relationship with George Custer's wife after Custer dies, and perhaps, at one time, an even a closer relationship with George.

"When her son was six years old, a playmate shot him with an air rifle and the pellet penetrated his skull, pressing on his brain. Surgeons said that only an operation to remove the pellet would save the child from metal retardation, but there was only one chance in a thousand the he would survive the operation. Vinnie refused to allow the operation, and the boy remained at a six year old mental level" I would have like to have known a little more about this and how she dealt with it, but that is all the author had to say. It's not till the epilogue is it mentioned he dies around the age of 53 of cancer at a sanitarium in Missouri where he had lived for over 20 years.

A fair book, but it could have been better. (I shouldn't complain, I bought the book used - very good, off Amazon for $1.50)

(I just found this a few minutes ago on Google books. Isn't life interesting?) http://books.google.com/books?id=PfUEAAA...&q&f=false