Martha Trachtenberg – Anne McCaffrey: SF Storyteller

Genre: Biography

To get it out of the way, I’m not usually a fan of Biographies. Both of my grandparents have an extensive collection of these things and they’re certainly not something I’ve ever considered reading.

Now, for my University dissertation I found myself having to read through a copy of ‘Anne McCaffrey, Science Fiction Storyteller’, and I found it both intriguing and refreshing. It was everything I believed a biography ought to be. The writing style was well-flowing and formal without being stuffy and boring. The facts were indeed facts and not speculation (with the non-too-infrequent use of references when anything might be called into dispute). If you’re wanting a thoroughly detailed timeline, stating what she used to eat for breakfast then this isn’t the book you want, but somehow the almost vague passing over of some aspects simply intrigues the reader more.

Something I barely ever do is talk about the length of a book, but I think for this review it’s rather important. When I opened this particular volume I was surprised at how quickly I’d be able to get through it (less than a day, if you wanted to know), but I didn’t feel cheated by it’s comparatively short length. The writing was succinct enough to keep my attention throughout, without wandering into the realms of waffle, which is only ever a good thing, especially with this sort of genre. Also, being able to get through the book in a day means that you don’t have time to lose patience with irrelevant paragraphs of text, keeping your attention throughout and holding it in a vice-grip.

To talk fleetingly about the references throughout the book, the only downside of it that I can see is that most of them seem to come from emails sent between the author and the subject in question. Perhaps it’s the degree student in me talking, but I would have liked to see a slightly wider range of bibliography, although once I got past those pages I realised that there was a ‘further reading’ page and all was mostly forgiven. I am rather pleased that a list of Anne’s novels made it into the back of the book, making them more accessible to people who have perhaps only read one or two and wanted to know where to go from there.

The presentation of the book is also startlingly efficient and effective. There are a number of photographs littered throughout the book instead of – as many decide to utilise – a block of glossed pages in the middle with photographs that mean nothing to the overall chronology of the book. The chapters are also very well thought out, with each of them being just long enough to warrant pausing and getting a cup of tea every now and then, before resuming with renewed interest.

On the whole, I found the book incredibly interesting, giving me some new information about an author I thought I already knew a great deal about. Thanks to the easy-going writing style the book is accessible to teenagers as well as adults, without being at all condescending in the written approach.

If I try my hardest to criticise the book (because despite biases, I do still believe that every book has its flaws, no matter how small they might be) all I can really say is that some of the writing is rather vague, and once or twice I found myself wanting a reference to a comment when there wasn’t one. Also, one or two bits of information were repeated in separate ways, but they were admittedly done so to remind the reader later on in the book. Whilst done for the best of intentions, this almost assumes a reader who won’t retain the knowledge, and if this is the case then what is the point of the book to begin with?

I’m sure that there are some biographies of Anne McCaffrey out there which go into greater depth and detail – in fact I know there are, I own them – but I was rather charmed by this version. It gives enough information to be interesting, enhancing general knowledge of this writer, but it also gives way (with a great bibliography at the back of the book) to further reading about Anne’s life.

I believe this book is a great first-insight into a much loved, respected and important author of our time. If you can get your hands on one, then please do have a sit down and at least skim through some rather interesting information. Oh, and the last line is one of my personal favourites.

Audience: 13+

4 Responses to “Martha Trachtenberg – Anne McCaffrey: SF Storyteller”

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