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There are currently 16 member reviews
for Signed Mata Hari
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Michele (saint james NY)
Signed Mata Hari
I enjoyed this book, especially because I knew the "name" Mata Hari but didn't really know any real information. It was easy to read and hard to put down at times. The author did an excellent job of depicting the character and the atmosphere to get a clear vision of the time period and what was going on.
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Wendy (Mechanicsville VA)
Signed Mata Hari
Signed Mata Hari is an interestingly written as well as an intriguing tale about one of histories most mysterious and scandalous woman. The author has written short vignettes about her life, alternating between first, second and third person points of view depending on the time and situation being described. We meet her as a young girl crossing Ameland in the North Sea during low tide. She prides herself on being able to escape death before high tide comes in and this is a recurring image throughout the book- one that helps remind her that she is a survivor during some of the more difficult times of her life. Later we find her unhappily married and she seems at times to barely be a participant in her own life. Her one weakness is her children. Her drive to dance, to spy and to take lovers stems from her need to earn money to pay the lawyers who claim to be working to get her custody of her daughter Non.
The writing style, as well as the famous subject matter, certainly casts the Mata Hari of history in a different light. While most readers know of her impending doom, many will not see her as a spy but as a victim of men, especially her husband, and as a loving mother who wants only to see her daughter again. The novel is a nice blend of historical information as well as a more human look at the sexy dancer whose image was immortalized on Mata Hari cigarettes and biscuit tins.
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Heather (Orlando FL)
Signed Mata Hari
While reading this book, I was struck by the simple yet lush language. Though the language isn't complex, its direct and confidential tone suggest the intimacy of Mata Hari's confessions. Yannick Murphy does a good job at making the reader see Mata Hari's motivations, and one ends up feeling that this woman could be any of us, struggling against the oppression of her times. I would recommend this book to readers of historical fiction or anyone who would like to get a realistic picture of Mata Hari.
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Jessica (New York NY)
Hits (Almost) Always
There are passages in this book that sound a gong and remind us why we read books in the first place: to encourage us to look at our world and see it in all its grotesque and magical lucidity. Murphy does it. Her language is precise. There's an occasional hiccup in plot, a missed rung on the ladder, though it's easy to forget once the next step's been met. This book is worth the time for those who love a seamless intersection of story and language, history and poetry.
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Harriet (Visalia CA)
Signed Mata Hari
I enjoyed reading this book with it's many descriptive and interesting portrayal's of the main character, Mata Hari. She was an intriguing person with a lot of baggage which formed the person she became. I was surprised at some of the revelations that came out toward the end. I'm not sure I would recommend it to my book club because of the graphic sexual content throughout the book.
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Anne (Austin TX)
Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy
In this creative book the life of Mata Hari comes alive as we've never known it before. Murphy has filled the gaps that exist in the research available on this intriguing character from WWI. In this story Mata Hari comes to life and one finds sympathy for her despite her life choices.
There are some deliciously erotic sex scenes in the book that might make it a questionable choice for some readers and some group discussions. I found it all to be well written and a quick enjoyable reading experience. It made me go to the web to see what I could learn about Mata Hari and to verify some of the author's conclusions as either fact or fiction.
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Cynthia (Aurora CO)
A rapid and exotic read
I enjoyed this book. The time-jumping, vignette chapters gave this book a crisp pace. The lush and exotic prose provided a stark contrast to Mata Hari's despair while bringing to life her sensuality and sexuality. Disappointedly, the focus on Mata Hari's despair left little exploration of her success as a dancer throughout Europe. My first literary exposure to Mata Hari and I found myself wanting more. Fans of historical fiction would enjoy this book.
