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A review by jeremyanderberg
A Friend of Mr. Lincoln by Stephen Harrigan
4.0
“he was different . . . Most of the men who were going around promoting themselves and their schemes were smoother than Lincoln, not as raw, not as striking in appearance, not as obviously self-invented. . . . He looked like a man who did not quite fit in, whom nature had made too tall and loose-jointed, with an unpleasant squeaky voice and some taint of deep, lingering poverty. He seemed to Cage like a man who desperately wanted to be better than the world would ever possibly let him be. But in Lincoln’s case that hunger did not seem underlaid with anger, as with other men it might, but with a strange seeping kindness.”
Young Lincoln is a fascinating man to read about. Quite obviously, plenty of biographical, non-fiction accounts exist, but Harrigan brings him to life in the way that only fiction can.
As a young man in rural Illinois, Lincoln was trying to find his footing. What would he do with his life? Who would he marry? Where would his potent ambition bring him? Amidst a lot of trial and error, he settled on law as a profession, and was as active and capable a lawyer as ever became president.
Aside: Plenty of our chief executives have held the title of lawyer, but only a handful ever actually practiced. Lincoln sometimes argued a dozen cases per day in court, working in that profession until he was about 50 years old before suddenly and surprisingly being elected president.
In this novel, Harrigan has invented a poet and friend of Lincoln named Cage who functions as sort of a fly on the wall in Lincoln’s life. The future president is restless, sometimes depressed, honest (of course), socially awkward (especially with women), and naturally ambitious — even desperate — to make a name for himself in some way, shape, or form.
While plenty of dialogue is a figment of the author’s imagination, Harrigan never deviates from the record of how things actually happened in Lincoln’s life, borrowing from diaries and numerous early accounts and even providing readers some of the famous jokes and anecdotes that Lincoln actually told.
A Friend of Mr. Lincoln reads easily and gives us a pretty clear sense of Lincoln the man during an especially important decade in his life (and in an easier form to digest than a lengthy biography). Even if you’re not into historical fiction, I’m guessing you’ll get a kick out of Harrigan’s novel. I sure did.
Young Lincoln is a fascinating man to read about. Quite obviously, plenty of biographical, non-fiction accounts exist, but Harrigan brings him to life in the way that only fiction can.
As a young man in rural Illinois, Lincoln was trying to find his footing. What would he do with his life? Who would he marry? Where would his potent ambition bring him? Amidst a lot of trial and error, he settled on law as a profession, and was as active and capable a lawyer as ever became president.
Aside: Plenty of our chief executives have held the title of lawyer, but only a handful ever actually practiced. Lincoln sometimes argued a dozen cases per day in court, working in that profession until he was about 50 years old before suddenly and surprisingly being elected president.
In this novel, Harrigan has invented a poet and friend of Lincoln named Cage who functions as sort of a fly on the wall in Lincoln’s life. The future president is restless, sometimes depressed, honest (of course), socially awkward (especially with women), and naturally ambitious — even desperate — to make a name for himself in some way, shape, or form.
While plenty of dialogue is a figment of the author’s imagination, Harrigan never deviates from the record of how things actually happened in Lincoln’s life, borrowing from diaries and numerous early accounts and even providing readers some of the famous jokes and anecdotes that Lincoln actually told.
A Friend of Mr. Lincoln reads easily and gives us a pretty clear sense of Lincoln the man during an especially important decade in his life (and in an easier form to digest than a lengthy biography). Even if you’re not into historical fiction, I’m guessing you’ll get a kick out of Harrigan’s novel. I sure did.