A review by anna_reads_too_much
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Laura Kamoie, Stephanie Dray
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have some very mixed feelings about this book, and haven't quite decided whether my final rating is a 3.5 or a 4. This book is a BRICK, which I didn't realize when I picked it out for book club (oops). To finish this book on time before we met, I did some combo reading - I read it both on paper and on audio. I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts on this, so I will do a pros and cons list below.
PROS:
-I learned a lot about Eliza and Alexander's family life, which I didn't know before.
-This is a pretty comprehensive history of Eliza's time from late teenage years to the end of her life (she lived to be almost a century old!)
-The audiobook narration was wonderful.
CONS:
-There were a lot of times it felt like a history textbook and not a work of historical fiction.
-I did not connect to Eliza. Like, at all.
-There were times it felt like more of a story about Alexander instead of Eliza.
In the end, I did enjoy it, and I liked learning more about the Hamilton's - both the good and the bad. I think I will read more books by these authors in the future, but these may be ones that are better for me on audio versus reading a paper book.
PROS:
-I learned a lot about Eliza and Alexander's family life, which I didn't know before.
-This is a pretty comprehensive history of Eliza's time from late teenage years to the end of her life (she lived to be almost a century old!)
-The audiobook narration was wonderful.
CONS:
-There were a lot of times it felt like a history textbook and not a work of historical fiction.
-I did not connect to Eliza. Like, at all.
-There were times it felt like more of a story about Alexander instead of Eliza.
In the end, I did enjoy it, and I liked learning more about the Hamilton's - both the good and the bad. I think I will read more books by these authors in the future, but these may be ones that are better for me on audio versus reading a paper book.