Sympathetic and involving ... The biography doesn’t elide Mesta’s missteps, from her enthusiasm for former Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun to her occasional style faux pas. But in the end, readers are likely to find Mesta as endearing as her many party guests did.
Generally sympathetic to Mesta ... Does Mesta justice and a little more, sometimes allowing a researcher’s enthusiasm to overestimate others’ interest in the ghost she’s pursuing ... There’s a certain chumminess, occasionally charming but often not, to Gordon’s narrative.
