Scan barcode
thecarolinaash's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
An interesting fictionalized look behind the stories and letters that were left behind at our nation's founding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Pregnancy, War, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic
It's based on history, so it includes the messier aspects but tries to handle them delicately.savage_book_review's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was an impulse buy from a charity shop a few months ago, but I'm quite glad I picked it up! And after listening to The History Chicks podcast episode about the Schyuler sisters and learning that there isn't a huge amount of source material about them, I'm even more pleased I didn't leave it behind!
As you would likely expect, my starting point for knowledge of the characters in this book comes from the musical 'Hamilton', but that's OK because it was also the inspiration for the authors! However, they have very clearly delineated that their story is about Eliza, not her husband. The story is told from her point of view and deals with her life before, during and after her marriage to the "ten dollar founding father", examining her roles as wife and mother, but also as his helpmeet and as a revolutionary and fighter in her own right. So while you can certainly follow the story and generally keep track of where you are if you have a working knowledge of the musical, this really gives Eliza some of the depth that she's missing as the supporting character on stage.
The most striking thing about this is the characterisation of Eliza herself. They have managed to bring her vividly to life from limited information; it was impossible not just to see her physically in your mind's eye, but also to feel her emotions, understand her motivations and ultimately experience revolutionary America through her. In particular, they've done a great job at conveying her mixed emotions about Hamilton - you feel their relationship at every stage, from the first stirrings of interest to utter betrayal, and it manages to influence your own impressions of the man and his life. I certainly went on a bit of a rollercoaster of what I thought about him!
Likewise, they've managed to do the same for all of the other characters featured too. Yes, it does help that they are all real people, but somehow, even if they only briefly appear, I felt like I could get to know them all. The only difficulty I had was keeping the identities of some character straight in my head. For some reason, I found it really hard to separate Madison and Munroe from one another. I can't really blame the writing for this; I think it's a mix of my ignorance of the real history and perhaps my mind wandering a bit while reading.
The writing is very well put together; it has a constant flow that keeps everything moving forward without rushing, but equally there are time jumps where necessary to get to the next key event. I think my only criticism of the pacing is there are a lot of chapters that end on a '...' or some kind of foreshadowing, which did get a little repetitive and pulled me out of the moment a bit. However, it does fot with the forst person POV of the book, and I know when I write I have this same bad habit, so I can't moan too much!
While I appreciate both this and the musical are historical fiction and so aren't totally reliable as a source of learning, they do both pull from the same non-fiction source, Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton. Having read that back at the beginning of the year, I can definitely say this book is easier to digest and paints a clearer picture of events generally, so I would recommend this as a good starting point if you're interested in learning more about the period. Helpfully, my copy has a 'bonus feature' of an interview with the authors where they provide clarity on some of the changes/omissions made to the timeline, and also where this book differs from the musical (which has the added benefit of helping untangle where the musical gets it 'wrong'!).
I really must get tickets to the musical one day...
As you would likely expect, my starting point for knowledge of the characters in this book comes from the musical 'Hamilton', but that's OK because it was also the inspiration for the authors! However, they have very clearly delineated that their story is about Eliza, not her husband. The story is told from her point of view and deals with her life before, during and after her marriage to the "ten dollar founding father", examining her roles as wife and mother, but also as his helpmeet and as a revolutionary and fighter in her own right. So while you can certainly follow the story and generally keep track of where you are if you have a working knowledge of the musical, this really gives Eliza some of the depth that she's missing as the supporting character on stage.
The most striking thing about this is the characterisation of Eliza herself. They have managed to bring her vividly to life from limited information; it was impossible not just to see her physically in your mind's eye, but also to feel her emotions, understand her motivations and ultimately experience revolutionary America through her. In particular, they've done a great job at conveying her mixed emotions about Hamilton - you feel their relationship at every stage, from the first stirrings of interest to utter betrayal, and it manages to influence your own impressions of the man and his life. I certainly went on a bit of a rollercoaster of what I thought about him!
Likewise, they've managed to do the same for all of the other characters featured too. Yes, it does help that they are all real people, but somehow, even if they only briefly appear, I felt like I could get to know them all. The only difficulty I had was keeping the identities of some character straight in my head. For some reason, I found it really hard to separate Madison and Munroe from one another. I can't really blame the writing for this; I think it's a mix of my ignorance of the real history and perhaps my mind wandering a bit while reading.
The writing is very well put together; it has a constant flow that keeps everything moving forward without rushing, but equally there are time jumps where necessary to get to the next key event. I think my only criticism of the pacing is there are a lot of chapters that end on a '...' or some kind of foreshadowing, which did get a little repetitive and pulled me out of the moment a bit. However, it does fot with the forst person POV of the book, and I know when I write I have this same bad habit, so I can't moan too much!
While I appreciate both this and the musical are historical fiction and so aren't totally reliable as a source of learning, they do both pull from the same non-fiction source, Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton. Having read that back at the beginning of the year, I can definitely say this book is easier to digest and paints a clearer picture of events generally, so I would recommend this as a good starting point if you're interested in learning more about the period. Helpfully, my copy has a 'bonus feature' of an interview with the authors where they provide clarity on some of the changes/omissions made to the timeline, and also where this book differs from the musical (which has the added benefit of helping untangle where the musical gets it 'wrong'!).
I really must get tickets to the musical one day...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting