I needed to read Harriet the Spy because I had not read it - it stands the test of time.
I really liked this book read more like story than many biographies. It made me appreciate the life and world of an artist, full of philosophical statements that set me thinking.

Biography of Louise Fitzhugh. As a Memphian, I loved reading about her parents’ dramatic divorce and places around the city. I also liked knowing more about an author that impacted my childhood so strongly. Harriet the Spy was the only book I’ve read of hers, so I’m remedying that now.

I love "Harriet the Spy" so I was eager to learn more about Louise Fitzhugh. I was interested in her journey from rebellious Southern debutante who despised the regime of white supremacy she grew up in and ran away as soon as possible to live an openly gay life up north. I was also somewhat interested to discover that she thought of herself as primarily a painter and illustrator. But it wasn't till we got to Harriet that I got really involved. Not going to spoil it for you but there are links to Dorothy Sayers's novels and "To Kill a Mockingbird" here and it's always engaging to hear about those who miss the importance of a book in its own time. That part was a lot of fun. In the end, I was left with a sense of sadness that Fitzhugh could not have done more to fulfill her potential and left us with only a few works to remember her by. Brody's writing is OK but not much to write home about, certainly not in the league of Fitzhugh herself.

For years I’ve wanted to learn more about Louise Fitzhugh. As a kid, I looked up to Harriet the Spy and I wanted to know everything about this adult author who so clearly “got me.” The book jacket had her picture and a boring blurb that made her sound so basic. Now I see that she was anything but. It’s just that she got the Emily Dickinson screw job.

Thank you to everyone involved with researching this book and for giving us access to the real Louise, a gutsy tomboy who lived out and proud as a queer woman. You painted such a beautiful picture of the various stages of her life and, as a result, you also gave insight into the world of gay NY beyond what was fictionalized in such works as The Price of Salt and Beebo Brinker.

I didn’t want the journey to end, and I really hope a producer reaches out to you to make a series about the lesbian Greenwich village scene circa 1950s-1960s, the L Word meets historical fiction. I’d so be down for that.

"Harriet the Spy" was one of my favorite books when I was a child. Imitating Harriet, I carried a notebook and created a spy route for myself. Sadly I discovered that I didn't really like egg creams.

For many years I tried to find out more about Harriet's creator, Louise Fitzhugh, but there was simply nothing available. I was THRILLED to hear about this book, and devoured it happily, like a tomato sandwich! I learned a lot about Fitzhugh--I didn't know that she considered herself more a visual artist than a writer, or that she carried around a book as a child herself, but it was a SKETCH book, not a notebook! She died way too young, and so suddenly that she didn't properly look after her legacy, leaving it in the hands of her (closeted) final lover, who didn't want the public to know anything about Louise's private life. Unfortunately, much of her work still seems to be under tight control--there are very few pictures here, and none of her art work has been reproduced. Two children's books she co-wrote with Sandra Scoppetone are out of print because of quarrels with the executor's estate.

I would love to have more of Louise Fitzhugh, but this will have to do for now. Thank you to Leslie Brody, for all the research and work she has done in bringing a favorite childhood author back to life.

DNF, but got the gist of it

As should be obvious from my username and avatar, I am, like many women of my generation and writerly profession, a little obsessed with Harriet the Spy. As such I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Louise Fitzhugh through Brody's biography, but it left me with as many questions as it answered. Given the tactfully worded descriptions of the privacy of the Fitzhugh estate, it can have been no small feat to write this book at all. Brody does a stellar job at conjuring up the lively world in which Louise lived, connecting Fitzhugh's life and work with broader social movements and events. She made some connections between contemporary artists and work that I found insightful and interesting. I was particularly glad to see the Harriet Vane connection spoken about -- I've wondered about it for years).

But Brody's biography never really gets beyond the mythology ring-fenced by her staunch coterie of friends. Everything feels a bit cleaned up for company and rather than knowing Fitzhugh, I feel like I've seen a mosaic where each tile has been manufactured by a different acquaintance. The result is an image that looks different from different angles. This succeeds at capturing some of the complexities of Fitzhugh's life, but you come away still feeling like you don't really know her. And some things give me pause about the depth of the portrait, in which Fitzhugh seems a little too good to be true. For someone who sounds as if she was difficult to live with in a number of respects, does everyone really love her forever? Even after relationships have broken up? Everyone? I adored the descriptions of Fitzhugh's paintings, but there were no photos of them. I assume all this is an issue with the estate. I found it frustrating and can only assume the author found it even more so. But these things aside, I found new things to consider about Fitzhugh. In places where there was more material, as with the description of Fitzhugh's memorial service, Brody is meticulous and insightful. I was she had had more freedom with the materials. I also wish the editor had made one more pass to get rid of some of the repetition across chapters, but that is a minor quibble. This is still a great read and I recommend it to Harriet lovers everywhere.

Utterly fascinating.