Instruct: Classify a review as either positive or negative.
Query: HAIL MARY!

It took Frances Kiernan nine years to research and write this biography of America's first lady of letters. It was well worth the wait. To see McCarthy "plain" -- simple, yet with sharp clarity -- Kiernan pieced together her subject's life, from years spent in Seattle, New York, Maine, Italy and Paris, by interviewing more than 200 people who knew her. What emerges is an intellectual,, affectionate yet judgmentally balanced portrait of a woman, mother, stepmother, wife, ex-wife, lover and friend ... as well as an important literary voice. With Kiernan on the scene, make that two important voices.