A review by serendipitysbooks
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Booth is a piece of historical fiction focussing on the Booths, a famous theatrical family in nineteenth century America. Father Junius was a famed Shakespearean actor and three of his surviving sons followed him into the theatre. The book begins when the children were young and we witness their rather unconventional upbringing (including parents who weren’t actually married since Junius was married to another woman), and see the effects of alcoholism, depression, poor money management, and grief over the deaths of four children. It ends with the aftermath of the assassination of President Lincoln by one of the siblings, John Wilkes Booth.
I found myself slightly underwhelmed by this book. The family history was interesting, but not necessarily worthy of nearly 500 pages. The particularly interesting and unique aspects - how John Wilkes moved so far politically from the rest of the family, his radicalisation, the impact this had on the family, and the way they reckoned with their own levels of culpability (should they have taken his talk more seriously?) - were there but not the focus of the story. There are good reasons for that as stated in the author’s note but for me I’m not sure the book as a whole fully came together. As a family saga it was fine but nothing outstanding. The more political aspects were a little too diluted and underplayed to be fully effective. Possibly it will hit American readers differently since they may find issues like attempted political rebellions and the rights and responsibilities of shooter’s families are more immediate and relevant.
I found myself slightly underwhelmed by this book. The family history was interesting, but not necessarily worthy of nearly 500 pages. The particularly interesting and unique aspects - how John Wilkes moved so far politically from the rest of the family, his radicalisation, the impact this had on the family, and the way they reckoned with their own levels of culpability (should they have taken his talk more seriously?) - were there but not the focus of the story. There are good reasons for that as stated in the author’s note but for me I’m not sure the book as a whole fully came together. As a family saga it was fine but nothing outstanding. The more political aspects were a little too diluted and underplayed to be fully effective. Possibly it will hit American readers differently since they may find issues like attempted political rebellions and the rights and responsibilities of shooter’s families are more immediate and relevant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Alcoholism, and Child death
Moderate: Slavery