Ms. Wright chronicles Mamie’s competitive entertaining with some sympathy as well as a nice irony ... Irreverent humor and careful excavation of newspaper archives ... It has the light (very light) touch of some of her previous titles, dealing with such topics as the worst plagues and the worst breakups in history, without the substance of her recent biography of Madame Restell, the 19th-century New York abortionist. For those who love eye-popping accounts of events like the recent Bezos-Sánchez wedding in Venice, this book will be catnip.
Wright has a great eye for the absurd and amusing idiosyncrasies of the Gilded Age ... [Wright] resists interpretation and moralizing, dismissing easy critiques of Fish’s frivolity and excess ... It’s hard to know from this book what Fish thought of herself ... Spirited, sparkling ... Celebrate[s] the idea of pleasure purely for its own sake.
Charming ... Wright creates a compelling snapshot of Fish’s era, and her humorous asides work well given the subject ... Wright’s biography reads as an honest depiction of a layered individual.
Jaunty .... Wright often draws comparisons to the modern day: at times these make Mamie’s social scene feel zingily relevant, but other times the comparisons yank the reader out of the era with references to Instagram and trad wives. The book is least convincing when Wright insinuates that Mamie’s partying carries significant weight to this day ... Still, it’s a breezy, easy look at a colorful Gilded Age impresario.