Marie Covlin was an amazing woman, but troubled by life's experience. Who among us aren't, really? She started as a journalist and soon became a war correspondent. She wanted to make a difference and to tell the stories of the people, the victims... not the victors. She died trying to make that difference. ( )

As the adult book buyer for an indie bookstore, I begged our publisher rep for an advance copy as soon as she told me about In Extremis. Ever since reading Lynsey Addario’s memoir a few years ago, I’ve been a bit obsessed with the stories of war correspondents, particularly those of the women who have reported from the Middle East in the last 2 decades. I devoured In Extremis in nearly one sitting. Marie Colvin was an icon, a real gem of a human being who played by her own rules. Written by a fellow female journalist and her friend for nearly 15 years until her death, In Extremis is a masterful blend of Marie’s own diary entries from her life, interviews with her friends and family, and Lindsey Hilsum’s own recollections of their time together as well as her recounting of momentous events in the course of Marie’s life. I turned every page with gusto and can’t wait for the rest of the world to read this, my new favorite book. ( )

I am not brave enough to be a war correspondent but that doesn’t stop me from wishing for the courage to do so. In Extremis took a considerable amount of time to finish because the details of Marie Colvin’s life and the horrors she witnessed had to be digested in small bites. The stories she reported in the 30 years preceding her death were straight out of headline news but with the specificity of detail missing from the nightly news. She went everywhere and knew everyone worth knowing from Kosovo to Tripoli to Tehran. At the same time her personal life was equally volatile and helped fuel her descent into alcoholism. Her lack of regard for her personal safety led her to scoop stories no one else dared tackle. The irrational risks she undertook led to the loss of an eye in Sri Lanka and ultimately her death in Syria. There she was tracked and targeted by Assad to prevent her reports of the atrocities occurring and discourage other journalists. She remains an inspiration for those seeking to shine the light of truth. ( )

Audio book read by author. This is an affecting, harrowing account of the life of war correspondent, Marie Colvin, who was killed in Syria, trying to leave Homs, in 2012. Colvin was an outsize character, fascinating to others, a prodigious drinker, and a dedicated and effectively fearless reporter. She dedicated her professional life to being the voice of the innocent, civilian victims in some of the most fiercely violent conflicts around the world, including Chechnya, East Timor, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Kosovo, and ultimately Syria, where she would die at the age of 56. The book recounts her experiences under-fire, getting into and out of war zones, ignoring other peoples' warnings about when it was time to leave, as well as her association with figures such as Arafat and Ghadaffi. But most of all, the book tells the story of her dedication to reporting the toll on civilians caused by the various conflicts. She was committed to the notion that her reporting of the toll on women and children could change the events, the world. In a sense, maybe she was right--after her death, survivors and partisans of conflicts in Sri Lanka and Syria, in particular, remembered her participating and mourned her loss. I was not convinced that the reporting achieved change: I wish it were so but don't believe it.

That, however, may be exactly the point of why you would want to read this book. As the author says, Marie never lost her humanity and her faith in the importance of being there, on the ground, to witness the violence and suffering. It seems she kept some core of herself immune from the horrors she witnessed so that she could continue reporting. That core remained inviolate, even as she pursued much reckless behavior, in her relationships with men, in her drinking and partying, in her neglect of sleep, health, food, in her PTSD, in the loss of an eye to shrapnel.

Determined as she was in pursuing her career as a war correspondent and not allowing her gender to impede, she did have many devoted friends, lovers, and family. She longed for a stable family life but was unable to put that together for herself. She discovered sailing and that became a core solace in her life.

I believe the author wants to get across just how charismatic, loved, and important to her friends she was. I don't doubt it, but to me how exasperating she was, her hubris, her lack of sweet common sense was even more powerfully portrayed. I realized that I was experiencing her as though she were an explorer, crossing a frozen terrain barefoot, or swimming around the world, or a senseless genius who can just do no other than the thing she has devoted herself to. Marie Colvin was a fascinating and heroic character who saw things I cannot imagine. This story of her life is fascinating to read and I recommend it. ( )

This got tiresome after a while. Technically DNFed it at almost halfway through when I realized that I just did not care about all of Colvin's love affairs. ( )