PositiveNylonMoser is critical of Sontag\'s refusal to identify as a female writer, as a Jewish writer, and as a gay writer, yet he details why she was leery of that ... Moser is a tenacious biographer, keeping a tight hold on his narrative and reaching firm conclusions. He is very tough-minded, as Sontag herself was at her best, and his mind is like Sontag\'s in that he can make very sharp turns and land decisive blows ... when he quotes from Terry Castle\'s very funny 2005 article about her friendship with Sontag, he includes the section where Sontag is at her most absurd—showing Castle how to run from sniper fire while they are in a pricey shopping area —but does not include the key scene where she yells at Castle for criticizing Virginia Woolf\'s Orlando, which exposes her vulnerability ... Towards the end of this book, it does begin to feel like Sontag\'s many character flaws are being crushingly itemized without enough attempt at explanation and relief ... Sontag had the highest standards, and Moser has very high standards when judging both her work and her as a person, and both the aesthete and the masochist in her would expect and want nothing less.
