“The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post” by Allison Pataki is a historical fiction book about the life of Marjorie Post. I had heard of Ms. Post before reading this book, but knew very little about her other than in connection with her father and her running Post/General Foods. I learned a bit more bout Ms. Post through this book, but this book left me wanting to know yet more about her, which was disappointing because I really really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. For instance, I found the story about the hospital in Florida to be quite interesting - someone mentioned a need, she thought about it, did a fund raiser, and set the hospital up where everyone in the area could use it opposed to just the snowbirds (smart decision). I also found the story about how she helped her father’s business in the beginning interesting (including the fight with Dr. Kellogg over cereal) … and also her experiences in Russia. But at other times, this book felt like a story of Ms. Post’s failed marriages, instead of about her life. But, the author, in her notes, mentions that she had to edit information so that this wasn’t a 1000 page book (and I thank her for that!). So, while I found the book an interesting one (including information about her houses - especially Mar-a-Lago), it felt lacking, but I cannot exactly figure out why. Maybe it’s because it’s a rather surface dive into Ms. Post’s life as an adult? Maybe because there wasn’t a lot of discussion about Ms. Post’s time as a Board Member of her company (granted, she couldn’t be on the Board for a while, but other than making the decision about purchasing Bird’s Eye, she must’ve done more than just listen to her second husband’s (EF Hutton, if anyone remembers those commercials) suggestions)? Ms. Post may have been an interesting person - and she certainly was generous with her fund raising and donations to worthy causes - but at times I wished to know more about her motivations or why certain causes moved her opposed to others. This is an interesting read and Ms. Pataki’s writing definitely kept my interest, but I wish there had just been a bit less about the marriages and a bit more about what made Marjorie Post tick. 3.5 stars, rounded down.

Interesting historical fiction that I highly recommend. Marjorie Post is the daughter of the Post cereal brand and a very important lady, wining and dining with presidents and First Ladies. This is a fictionalized account of her life that starts with the onset of Marjorie as a young girl helping make cereal in a barn. An easy and interesting read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in the form of an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank Random House - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read and review The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by author Allison Pataki.
This is a rags to riches and more riches of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Her father was sent to a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan to see if his health could be improved. He didn’t like Dr Kellogg’s tasteless grains so eventually he left and invented what would become Post Grapenuts. Next was Postu n as a substitute for coffee. That was the beginning of the family fortune. Many other products followed.
Marjorie was very bright and a beautiful strong willed women. Her success with her business and continued increasing wealth was part of the problem with her marriages.
She earned her place in society!
The building of her home in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, was a story in itself.
Marjorie Merriweather Post was one of a kind. Actress Dina Merrill was one of her daughters. The glamour and opulence and her generous contributions were a small part of her life. There is a lot to learn in this 4 part 52 chapter book.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post publishes February 15,2022.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is extraordinary in the depth of details in the life of Marjorie Post, daughter of C. W. Post the cereal developer from Battle Creek Michigan. The story details her life with her very powerful father and his influence in her life. You learn everything imaginable about her and her several husbands as they lived very glamorous and privileged lives. You experience her failures and successes and feel like you are actually attending all the events with her. The description of jewels, fashions, homes, and travels is absolutely amazing and I loved the journey. This one is not a quick read as you want to really enjoy each page and not move through the story with speed.

I have read other books by this author and Allison Pataki is a brilliant writer who never disappoints. I am a fan and highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. This one is full of history and the only fiction is in the narrative conversations

This is historical fiction at it’s best! Using the facts of Marjorie Post’s incredible life, Allison Pataki spins a compelling and readable narrative to bring her characters to life. I wasn’t at all familiar with the history of the Post family so all the true events were as exciting and amazing to me as if they were fiction. Marjorie Post was an impressive woman ahead of her time. She was a leader in business, philanthropy and women’s rights. She was also a devoted mother and wife who follows her heart in love. The description of homes and art, Marjorie Post’s love of beauty and entertaining, and stories of travel and spending all made for fascinating material. This was a wonderful book that I would recommend to anyone!

This novel was a great read! I really enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the all around world building. Definitely worth picking up!

I had a hard time with this book. I was aware of the story of Marjorie Post and the cereal empire her father left to her. But this book was very slow moving and boring at times. I really wanted to like this book, as the story of the family and Marjorie's successes in the business world is quite fascinating. I want to thank #Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to preview and review it. #themagnificentlivesofmarjoriepost

I always love Allison Pataki's books and insight into the lives of women from the past. I was shocked to learn about all the different things Marjorie Post had her hands in. While I enjoyed this book overall, there were parts, especially in the middle, that seemed to drag a bit. Looking forward to another book by this author.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post” is a historical fiction novel that explores the life of Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal empire (which eventually became General Foods) through a first-person narrative. The book begins with Marjorie’s childhood and ends with her death. It details her four marriages and her personal development along the way.

I wanted to love this book. I am a big fan of historical fiction, and the description of this book had me hooked. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I was highly disappointed with this novel. Many times throughout the book I considered not finishing, which is extremely rare for me. Part of the problem inherent in this novel is the depiction of Marjorie. She is overall depicted as a naïve girl who develops into a vapid woman overly focused on her many marriages and her money. Yes, the book does give credence to Marjorie’s many philanthropic endeavors. However, they are not fully flushed out and are negated by Marjorie’s focus on excess. I am not sure how accurate the depiction of Marjorie is compared to real life, but the way she is portrayed in this novel makes her a rather unlikeable narrator/character.

Overall, I found this book to be lacking. The odious first-person narrator left me frustrated and uninvested in the plot and the character of Marjorie in general. While I read a great deal of historical fiction novels and am a huge fan of same, I found that this book just missed the mark. A reader should feel engaged in the story and connected to the main character; however, this book simply failed in this regard.

In addition to a rather unlikeable narrator, the writing felt weak and more suited to a young adult audience exploring historical fiction for the first time. Frankly, that is the only target audience this book may appeal to. If you are an adult reader who has explored historical fiction in the past, you may be disappointed in this read. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book. If you are looking for a quality historical fiction novel, I would advise you to bypass this novel in favor of something else.

The first part of this book was interesting and engaging. In this first part, we see Marjorie Post's father, near death, experience a near-miraculous recovery through healthy living, an improved diet, and faith. He goes on to start the Post cereals empire, with his young daughter at his side. We see the breakdown of the Post's marriage as the father thrives and the mother devolves.

The latter parts of the book lagged, in my opinion. In the parts of the book chronicling Majorie as an adult, the focus is mostly on her several marriages. She does not come across as a sympathetic character. The divorces are never her fault, and she seems like a very spoiled woman.

I'd give the first part of the book 5 stars, 2 for the latter parts, 3 overall.

Delicious undertaking of the life of Marjorie Post.. Thoroughly entertaining and mesmerizing.
Very compelling account of her life and obstacles she had to face.
Wonderful read!

"And it was time for me to show the world just who Marjorie Post intended to be."

'thank you to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for early access to this wonderfully engaging novel from Allison Pataki. I loved reading, and now talking about, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post and the past day I find myself talking to my spouse about how fascinating her life was. I am all in for books that highlight interesting, complex, and perhaps a bit ahead of their time women and Marjorie post, with her early wealth, interest in building up her business (Post cereal... who knew that business was steeped in such interesting history!) and her role in society, business, and advocacy as well as her pursuit of love and a house that would feel like home... she was fascinating and vibrant and complex. I loved how this novel captured my attention from the beginning, that the narrative was steady and never slowed despite being filled with depth and details about her life, and that the story did not cater to readers in terms of asking for or expecting sympathy for a complex woman and instead let her life and work and pursuits speak for themselves. Marjorie Post is someone I would have loved to have known and would have marveled at her spirit and her refusal to never sit back and simply be a Greenwich socialite. This book is written with a confidence and poise and weaves in of glamour and intellectual pursuits with philanthropy that honors Marjorie's life and her flair.

I can't wait to recommend this to many of my book loving friends and book clubs. I was reminded, in a good way, of one of my favorite books The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so I would recommend this to the many fans of that book.

I will be supporting this book on my website (dont-stop-reading.com), my instagram account (pageus_of_books), and my bookshop.org page (https://bookshop.org/shop/pageus)

What a fantastic book about Marjorie Post; it is aptly titled, her lives are magnificent! From her growing up years in Battle Creek, Michigan to her multiple husbands and various lives, Marjorie's story is engrossing, exciting, sometimes unbelievable. In an era when women didn't do much outside the home Marjorie managed a growing cereal empire (from behind the scenes), was instrumental in international diplomacy, and raised a family. Like all of her books, Allison Pataki has done a meticulous job of researching Marjorie's lives and presenting them to us in a book you just can't put down. Definitely a five star read!

Allison Pataki has written another winner imagining the personal life of the very wealthy heir to the Post cereal, later General Foods, fortune. Like the author before she did her research, I never really knew much about Marjorie Post though her name was vaguely familiar. She really lead a rather extraordinary life as a businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist, as well as the first ambassadress to Russia in the years between WWI and WWII. She created Mar-a-Lago among her many homes and also had her own ship!

This work of historical fiction gives a "Birds Eye" (pun intended) view of all the many accomplishments of Marjorie Post with sumptuous descriptions of her many homes and treasures. I was thoroughly entertained.

I received an ARC ebook edition of this novel courtesy of Netgalley.

It was fun to read about a woman whose name I had only vaguely heard before. Mrs. Post certainly had an eventful life, and she was close to the center of many major events in the 20th century. The writing was fine, but I found myself wondering what motivated her. I didn't get a sense of any depth in this woman, although she must have had some. It seems that she flitted from one thing to the next, whether that was causes or husbands, and I would have liked to know more about the whys rather than the hows. Ultimately, I came away not really liking her because I didn't feel that I knew her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of historical fiction; from the first page through the last. It was smartly written, entertaining and a good timepiece. I was rooting for Marjorie the whole way through and after finishing the book and googling to learn more of her history I am even a bigger fan. She was an incredibly giving philanthropist and I can only imagine what she would have done with her life if she had been born 70 years later.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for an honest review.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post is exceptionally well-researched and well-written. Allison Pataki's prose flows smoothly and conveys such emotion. I really felt like I was with Marjorie in her mansions and gardens. I felt like I had known her for years.

The problem is I didn't like her. Marjorie comes off to me as quite a snob. We read allusions to her philanthropy because people fawn over her and say she is generous, but we really don't see examples of what she did. All we really know is that she wrote checks and was then very high on herself for doing so.

Marjorie narrates her story, and she finds reason to describe how fabulous her possessions are at least once per page. She tells us how much people adore her. She doesn't really give us any reason to adore her along with her staff, her friends, the president, royalty and the dozens of others she makes sure we know adore her.

The book is divided up in sections corresponding to each of her marriages. She picks lousy men over and over again and mentions in passing she never learns to choose better in love. But then she never does. I know the character of Marjorie is based on a real woman who had multiple failed marriages with less than stellar men, but as a fictional account, perhaps our narrator Marjorie could have helped us understand her decisions better.

Thr author's note mentions how involved Marjorie was with philanthropy and community, but, again, we don't learn that much about what she actually did.

I think some readers will love this book as it does offer a glimpse into the private life of the rich and fabulous. But for me, someone who comes across people with real problems in my professional life, Marjorie just comes off as another rich snob out of touch with the world.

I was given a free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Marjorie Post was the only child and heir of C.W. Post, the man who introduced cereal to the world. This story tells about her life and loves. Ms. Post did some wonderful things in her lifetime, but they were just touched on in this book. The publisher's synopsis sounded so enticing, but this book is basically about a privileged woman who jumps from marriage to marriage and every decade or so she does a good deed. It was mainly about her love life and the repercussions when things went south in her relationships. The most fascinating tidbit for me was that a good friend of hers was actress Billie Burke, who played Glinda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz movie! Marjorie was also the mother of actress Dina Merrill. I usually love historical fiction books about real people, but this one missed the mark for me .I feel that Marjorie Merriweather Post was a fascinating person and this book could have been so much better. It was too focused on her marriages and I know she lived in a different time, but the courtships were extremely short and it all felt rushed ie: love at first sight with ALL of them - not very realistic IMO. Reading between the lines I think Mrs. Post was a generous woman to many, but there was an underlying narcissism about her. Personally, I think that is why her marriages kept ending. Many times throughout the book she would refer to things as “her money”, “her house”, etc. I’m sure being married to someone who lords their wealth over you gets old after a time. All of her husbands became alcoholics and philanderers so my question is, was she just attracted to the same type of man or was she doing something to push them away? This book makes her seem like the innocent one in all of the divorces, but I believe there are two sides to every story and a lot is missing from this one…

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Allison Pataki for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced copy of The Marvelous Marjorie Post!

This book will be published Feb 15, 2022. 📚

I had NO IDEA the figure that Mrs. Post was! This book took you on a tour from the early 1900s through her death in 1978 - of a developing country (of which Marjorie Post and her father had so much to do with!) and of Marjorie’s four husbands.

If you are a fan of historical fiction, definitely pick this one up! The only complaint I have is that I do think the writing was a bit choppy in places - we made huge leaps in her life within just a couple of sentences.

All in all - this is a great way to learn about a figure in history that I believe is under appreciated .

Four stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really wanted to like this book, yet I found it to be a bit dull and I trudged through more than 50% of the book. This novel is based on the life of Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post/General Foods corporation. While I was interested to read/learn about her, as I had not heard of her before, I was left wanting her to be more than she was.

At first I thought, oh here is a powerful historical woman who has helped shape the lives of future generations, and I was sadly disappointed as the story progressed. In this novel, she comes off as a spoiled socialite who cares more about possessions and her standing in society. While she may have had some great ideas that helped the Post/General Foods company to further develop into the corporation it has become and her generous monetary support to WWI and WWII, during the depression, and other philanthropy, she really was uninspiring. It seems throughout the book, she thought she was more of a role model or trailblazer than she was. There are many references to Marie Antionette and here is where I find our main character to be quite similar to her, especially the section of the book detailing her life in Russia. Hello!- it was like she had no idea what had been going on in the world. (As you can tell, a frustrating section of the book for me, LOL.)

If you are someone who enjoys reading about socialites and their lifestyle, then this may be a book for you. If you are someone wanting a bit more of a trailblazer character, this may not be the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.