I don't understand the complaints I've read about the structure of this beautifully written biography. I think Carlisle made a very good choice when she reorganized the events of Kierkegaard's life, opting to begin with his relationship with Regina Olsen and his most important book (Either/Or) and only then backing up to offer the wider perspective: his childhood, his family, etc. I also appreciated that she dealt with the intellectual and religious scene in Cophenhagen early in the book, before getting into the finer details of Kierkegaard's biography. I really appreciated the way Carlisle engaged with Kierkegaard's milieu; her summaries of Copenhagen's intellectual life and the ideas of Bishop Mynster, Heiberg, Martensen, etc., enriched my understanding of Kierkegaard's writings a great deal.

One thing I wish Carlisle had included: a succinct summary of Hegel's thought. The intellectual world Kierkegaard inhabited was so massively shaped by Hegel, a thinker whose influence I understand but whose ideas are very difficult. A brief primer on Hegel would have been really great, and would have contextualized Kierkegaard's own ideas even better. Consequently, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this biography to someone who knows *nothing* about Kierkegaard's thought. But I would certainly recommend it to anyone with a passing familiarity with Kierkegaard and his ideas.