I had stumbled across this book in the bargain section of chapters and it sounded very interesting from the description on the back. I had never heard of Chicago May before and I was intrigued to find out what would make a young girl from Ireland run away from home to become a notorious crook and prostitute in The United States. Granted she traveled abroad for quite a while and was not just causing mischief in the states.

May seemed to have a real adventurous side to her and I’m still left wondering if things were different would she have lead a more domesticated life, or was she just one of those women you could never hold down. The reason I can’t entirely come to a conclusion on this is because the book has a lot of the authors interpretations in it as to what she thinks happened (she does states this very clearly so your never fooled) as there really isn’t a lot of documentation left on Chicago May. She did however write her own biography after her 10 year prison stay in England. However according to the author of this biography May skims across quite a few parts of her life and keeps things very factual without getting into too much detail. So you’re always left wanting more of May’s personal feelings and what was going through her head at the time.

I did enjoy reading this even though their where a lot of the authors own interpretations in it. I liked it because she was honest about it and she did her research well and it shows in the story. Also the author approaches the story from a very neutral point, she’s not in love with the idea of May nor did she sully her name more than May manage to do herself.

I loved reading about the States, England and France in the early 1900’s. The clothes and how people conducted themselves. It almost felt like I was there watching it happen before my eyes.

Edenmore 1890, Irlanda.
May Duignan abbandona la casa paterna a 19 anni per inseguire il sogno americano. Non dà mai segno di cercare una vita onesta. Diventa adescatrice, prostituta, ladra e truffatrice.
Mai un segno di rimorso o costrizione nelle sue parole, una vita scelta più che imposta dalle circostanze.
Dopo Chicago, da cui prenderà il nome d'arte, è la volta dell'Egitto, un viaggio che la riporta poi in America, a New York, in Inghilterra e di nuovo in America. Si lega ad un uomo, Eddie Guerin, autore di un'autobiografia intitolata "I was a bandit". In seguito ad una rapina all'American Express i due vengono errestati e incarcerati. Guerin fuggirà mentre May verrà graziata e rispedita in patria dopo alcuni anni.
Rancore, vendetta e altro carcere per entrambi. Le grandi somme ottenute illecitamente vengono con leggerezza sperperate e alla fine si ritroverà a vivere negli stenti alternando il carcere alla vita per strada dove unica fonte di guadagno è il corpo.

Una biografia che non nasconde mai ipotesi e congetture dell'autrice. Fondamentali per la stesura di questo libro sono l'autobiografia "Her Story" della stessa May Duignan e quella del suo amante a cui vanno aggiunte lettere e articoli di giornale.
Stralci delle parole originali di May, rigorosamente in corsivo, vengono arricchiti da approfondimenti storici e culturali creando così un quadro più ampio del periodo storico in cui visse, forse l'unico vero valore del libro.
La stessa autrice ammette che tutti i memorialisti moderni scrivono per scoprire se stessi, e lei ci mette davvero molto della sua storia, forse troppo, come se raccontare di Chicago May fosse solo una scusa per poter parlare di se stessa.
È la prima volta che mi capita di leggere una biografia con una scrittrice così invadente, il solo fatto di essere lei stessa irlandese non la deve per forza incastrare in un rapporto simbiotico con la protagonista.
Il suo volerla continuamente giustificare, se non addirittura redimere ipotizzando situazioni meno losche di quanto potessero sembrare, rende vagamente ridicolo quanto si sta leggendo.
Ridicolo e noioso.
Il suo ripercorrere fisicamente il cammino di Chicago May nelle città in cui è vissuta la spinge a scrivere continuamente "me la immagino camminare, suppongo che, avranno tenuto il vaso da notte in camera" e altre banalità simili, ma chi se ne fraga, dico io. Non mi sembra questo il modo di scrivere una biografia, e se ci sono poche fonti attendibili allora che sia una biografia romanzata, ma mi rendo conto che questa scelta avrebbe impedito all'autrice di ammorbarci con i parallelismi fra lei e la May e soprattutto di raccontarci la storia della sua vita.

Big on historic facts little on intrigue. Examines what life is like for a working-class woman with little options and big personality during the late 19th through the early 20th century. I was pleasantly surprised by the author's exploration of the significant in a seemingly trivial life. I would recommend this book if you enjoy non-fictions that offer historic context through the story of one life.

this was a pretty nitty gritty book true story

Well researched and beautifully written

After reading the story of Mata Hari, this one paled in comparison. It wasn't as thick a book and a bit easier to follow, but just lacking....I'm going to have to start looking elsewhere for my biographies, hahaha.

A biography yes, but different than any I've read. O'Faolain follows the life of famed fellow-Irish woman and criminal Chicago May. It is well researched and written. The material and interesting life of May make it very readable, but it was the personal interjections of O'Faolain that made it quite interesting. I can't think of another biography where you frequently hear the voice of the biographer with her opinions and personal reflections. She also draws parallels between the struggles of May and her own challenges or those of her family. Would recommend!

I read this on my trip to Chicago all those months ago. O'Faolain died last spring of cancer, and her passing made me terribly sad. She was a brave, talented writer and I hate to think we won't have more of her work to read. Her biography of the infamous May Duignan is interesting and intriguing. As is her style, O'Faolain looks beyond the details of May's actions for her animus. We see May as a prostitute and con artist, but also as a rebel and gender warrior.

When reading biographies, I find it distasteful to interject the author's fantasies of the subject's life when the author does not have enough facts to support their book. The author kept trying to draw comparisions to her life, which I just found annoying and egotistical. The cover's great, though.

The problem that I had with this book is one that the author admits to right away. She pretty much has to make up the book. It is an "imagining" of what Chicago May's life was like interspersed with details and pieces from her original autobiography. It was a little too much fiction for me. Maybe it would have helped if the author had just stopped interjecting herself into the book. She has a very lyrical style-it just distracted me from what the book was supposed to be about.

After watching quite a few old gangster movies recently, it was intriguing to read this biography of a woman, originally from Ireland, who lived the gangster life for real. It certainly doesn't paint a glamorous picture. O'Faolain writes beautifully, but had problems in finding out enough information, so the book is partly about the difficulty of writing a biography - and also about her own life while writing it.

Because I love this author with all my heart and I love how she tells May's story. It isn't a traditional biography but it is beautifully and honestly told.