White Houses was very eye opening, as written based on fact. Knew Eleanor Roosevelt was a great philanthropist and really admired here for this. Wish the book was more on this and her experiences with her "first" friend, Lorena Hickok. I am definitely going to try and read more on her life and wish it could be actual; facts

As always, Bloom's prose is impeccable. Seeing up close the world of the White House inhabitants through the eyes of an unconventional observer was voyeuristic and thrilling. Bloom's details of the era were also engaging and drew me in. I felt there was less story than recall in the format of the book, so overall I was left with an abundance of setting and character study more than the blossoming, blooming and fading love affair between Eleanor and Lorena (Hick). But the both the characters and era were brought to life, which I loved. A stirring and satisfying read.

What’s it about . . .
White Houses is a fictionalized account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s relationship with Lorena Hickok and is written from Lorena’s perspective.

What did I think . . .
I was intrigued by the possibilities of this book. However, as much as I enjoyed the writing, I couldn’t get into the relationship, couldn’t feel a connection to the characters, and felt I learned little about Eleanor. Before hearing about this book, I knew nothing about a relationship between Eleanor and Hicks, which is probably why I was having trouble separating fiction from fact. Much of the book is about Lornea and we do learn a lot about her, especially her abusive childhood. But I didn’t much care for her character. In the end, this was just OK for me.

This isn't a long book, and it should have felt breezy and quick, but instead, it dragged for me. The way the timeline jumped around from "present-day" 1945 to 13 years ago to Hick's childhood and back again was just really hard to follow. It felt like someone was dead or dying and then they were spry and healthy, without any recollection of why or how we got back there. I just had a really hard time holding my interest because of that. It's also pure fiction, but based on historical places and events, so it's hard to separate if I should just pretend it's completely fake (hard to do when the secondary characters are Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt), or dive deeper into the life and times of the Roosevelts.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought given the subject matter, it was very tastefully done. I didn't know about any of the "goings-on" that this book talks about, so it led me to research the people portrayed. I found the stories fascinating. While the book is fiction, based on some factual events, it felt like it was based on a true story. I would recommend this book - I read it much faster than I anticipated!

The times were not conducive for a lesbian love affair. In this fictional version of Eleanor Roosevelt’s lifelong love affair with journalist Lorena Hickok, President Roosevelt is “in on the joke” and takes advantage with his blatant womanizing. Told from the perspective of Hickok, it’s a softly rendered portrait of Eleanor, all the loveliness of her and the imperfections softened. Readers also get a peek into Bloom’s perspective of the Roosevelt clan, with snarky remarks on cousins from Hickok, Eleanor, and FDR. Throughout the story, Hickok announces character flaws and strengths of the powerful people surrounding her, ever aware of her precarious position. Readers follow her career choices, through various relationships and friendships, and her ins and outs with Eleanor, who always chooses her as an add-on to her public, political life, even after her husband’s death.

This is a nicely written story of a highly speculative affair of a First Lady, politically powerful for her time, representing her with dignity and compassion, while displaying her passions, political and personal. With satirical leanings, it’s an interesting place to start an exploration of Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as learning about her “other half,” Lorena Hickok. Telling the story from the lesser known partner brilliantly brings her to life. It’s a little history lesson in a big love story.

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I learned something new about Eleanor Roosevelt and her friend Lorena "Hick" Hickok. I enjoyed the love story, but was left wanting more details about how their friendship and romance grew. The details of Hick's childhood and early adulthood were crisp and compelling, and then the book seemed to go flat. It is a good book, but I was hoping (as always) for great, and it fell a bit short.

I enjoyed this book; it was a quick read for me. I like historical fiction, this book was really interesting.

Amy Bloom's White Houses is a fictionalized account of the FDR White House years. The story begins in 1945 just after FDR's death and moves back and forth in time. We learn of FDR's affair with his secretary, Missy but surprisingly, very little about his relationship with his own wife, Eleanor. Instead focusing more on the, previously reported, romantic relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Associated Press journalist, Lorena Hickok (Hick), when the two women met in 1932 while Hick was covering White House news.

The story is told by Hick and the reader learns much about her poor childhood in South Dakota, and her dysfunctional childhood and her abusive father, We also get insight into her White House days as one of the first female journalists to have such a high profile job. Details are shared about her friendship and genuine love for Eleanor.

I found the book to be a quick read, the writing often humorous, but at times it also fell a bit trashy, which was disappointing as I loved, the in depth NF story Eleanor and Hick by Susan Quinn.

This is told from Lorena Hickok's POV who was the first woman journalist and dates back to the 1930's with her "friendship" she had with Eleanor Roosevelt. This book read like it really happened but I had to keep reminding myself it was only fiction. I'm usually attracted to books from the 30's and 40's but this one fell flat for me. I felt like I skimmed alot of the last part of the book because I got bored. Thanks to Random House for giving me this book free of charge in return for my honest review.

Lorena Hickok met Eleanor Roosevelt during Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential campaign. Lorena, a newspaper writer, was covering the campaign. The two women quickly became best friends and eventually intimate with other. They were an odd pair : the married , wealthy, well educated, idealistic Eleanor and the blunt lesbian Lorena. Lorena has been raised dirt poor in South Dakota and even worked in a carnival before becoming a newspaper writer. However, once Franklin was elected President, Lorena’s position as Eleanor’s First Friend and confidant made it difficult to continue reporting news from the White House. So she quit her newspaper job with the Associated Press and began working for one of the Roosevelt agencies. By that time Lorena had moved into the White House.

The women continued their physical relationship for 4 years and the White House staffers ignored the close friendship of the two women as they did Franklin’s romances with other women. Even after the relationship ended, the two women shared a deep lifelong love for each other.

The author used extensive resources to research the book but eventually created a work of fiction. She presents the reader with an intimate look at a highly respected world figure who share a loveless marriage with a popular president and the woman she loved most.

I was very interested to read a novel about Eleanor Roosevelt and the woman who was possibly the love of her life, the reporter Lorena Hickok. I know a little about Eleanor Roosevelt, enough to know that she was a fascinating person whose story should make a fascinating book. And I've had more hits than misses with the Amy Bloom books I've read.

This ended up being a disappointment. It starts at the end of the story, just after FDR has died and Eleanor goes to Hick for comfort. Almost the entire book is flashback, and the book hops around in time and subject matter, never really settling into a storyline.

And Eleanor is only ever seen from a distance, really. The viewpoint character is Hick, and the author seems far more interested in making up a backstory for her (fictionalized and rather lurid) than in showing her and Eleanor actually together. Most of their relationship is glossed over, summarized, or referred to obliquely.

So, my first quibble is that I didn't get what I'd come for- details abut the relationship between he two women. My second is that Bloom seems to go out of her way to give Hick as absolutely as horrible a background as possible. The first flashback is of her father raping her as a 13 year old against the backyard fence. There's also a very strange interlude of her a a circus, being groomed for abuse by one of the denizens of the freakshow. Hick never refers back to her sexual exploitation as a young teen, just drinks a lot. I suppose that such a life could have been lived, although the bio I could find on her didn't refer to a circus, but it felt like Bloom was going for shock value.

At this point, I think that Amy Bloom has used up any leeway I've given her for past success. It will take a lot to make me pick up another book by her.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading White Houses. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a work of fiction, it is written in such a way that, at times, I truly believed the story line to be true. The story is written from Eleanor's lover's perspective. We are given an intimate glimpses of her relationship with Eleanor, as well as glimpses into the secrets of those living in the White House.

I chose not to write a review of this book. I made it halfway through the novel and gave up. For me, the characters were not as well developed as I would like and I didn't care about their relationship. I know they were real people, but I still needed the character development on the page.

I did enjoy the writing and I loved the idea for the book, but it just didn't work for me.

I understand that I am in a minority in my dislike for this book; perhaps its because I adore Eleanor Roosevelt so much and I think that she deserves a better book than this. I do not know anything about Lorena Hickok [but what I learned in this story], but I think that she too deserves a better story than this.

This is flat, tepid and uninspired. It is tawdry and almost sleazy - not in the descriptions of their intimate times together [that is handled very deftly], but in HOW they loved each other, how they respected each other, how they adored each other - that all came across as tawdry to me. She is writing a love story and it never quite felt that way to me. It felt forced and contrived. How can a love story have no emotion? None, zero, zip. The characters were flat and devoid of any humanization. And for a book that was a billed as a love story, it was a great disappointment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This book is a good story but just not my cup of tea and not exactly what I expected

I should have probably read one of the non-fiction pieces about Eleanor Roosevelt - I felt like this was somewhat disjointed.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review. Here is my review:

I am trying to decide if I liked this book. The story is told from the viewpoint of Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt's lesbian lover. The action takes place shortly after the death of Franklin Roosevelt, as his widow is coming to terms with his death. But most of the story is told as a series of flashbacks, telling of Eleanor's relationship with Lorena in graphic (and somewhat erotic) detail. . I have seen stories that alluded to the First Lady as a lesbian, but this is so matter of fact about it, saying that Lorena actually lived in .the White House for quite a while, and everyone seemed to be totally aware of what was going on, much like they were totally aware of Franklin's "assistants" and his relationships with them.

It has certainly forever changed my view of Eleanor Roosevelt. Franklin does not come off unscathed, either. These are people who I have always viewed as larger than life, and not real people, but it was unsettling to me to see just how real they are portrayed here..

This is a true kind of historical fiction, the kind that really makes you think it's real. There isn't much of a plot or conflict, it jumps between points in time, and it's written in the first person. I wish it had more historical details, but I enjoyed exploring the relationship between Eleanor and the main character. It was well written enough to be interesting, though not compelling enough for me to read it furiously.

Amy Bloom has done it again with her newest novel, White Houses. I absolutely loved White Houses. Her writing reminds me of Paula McLain( BTW Paula McLain is about to publish her newest novel, Love and Ruin in May).

Her writing is beautiful, and poetic. The book is written with Lorena's point of view.
I am a history buff, and this grabbed me right away. Especially writing about FDR, and Eleanor. . It is the story of the friendship, and questionable relationship of Eleanor Roosevelt, and, Lorena Hickok. There has be controversy of the love relationship of these two women. During the time when her husband FDR was in office. Of course it was also said FDR had a relationship with his secretary.

The story is less about Eleanor and more about Lorena Hickok, the journalist. The story opens when Lorena was a little girl. She had a tough childhood. How she was able to turnaround her life and make something of herself.

I loved the road trip of Eleanor and her touring the country to investigate and report back to her husband, FDR. How bad the country was affecting us as US citizens. The poor conditions, the food lines, soup kitchens, living conditions, etc.

I loved the description of the time period by the author. Felt like the author was totally accurate. From the curtains in the WH to the lamp posts outside. The author made you feel like you were living during his presidency, and culture of the United States.

For once an author is not afraid to talk about middle age lovers. With their wrinkles and all. Even aging is beautiful. Also reading at first I had a difficult time. Not because of the lesbian affair. But, talking intimate subjects between her, and her lover. I felt like I was invading her privacy. Once I got beyond it. I was immersed in the story. Yes, even admired people have flaws, and are human. I was sorry that the book had to end.

Unfortunately, I am writing the review about a month later after I read it. The book is not fresh in my memory. But, what I remember, I loved the book and recommend it highly. Thank you for allowing me to review, Random House.