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American history soap opera. America‘s first great dysfunctional family. This was a slow burn that I sometimes questioned why I was still listening but it was also like a train wreck I couldn‘t look away from. The ending was sad. The brief author‘s note pulled it all together. And this is well worth a read.

2-30 Mar 23
#Bookerlonglist 9
I enjoyed this fictional account of the Booth family and was surprised by its mixed reviews.
Fowler‘s narrative jumps between perspectives of the Booth siblings, highlighting pre-Civil War mores, gender roles and ideas about race. She also tells a more modern story - a family‘s reaction to one of its member‘s radicalisation. I was not aware of the NY riots or of the fame of the Booths prior to Lincoln‘s assassination.

Whatever native talents he has, Lincoln attributes entirely to his first mother‘s bloodline. That he was allowed to make something of them is the work of his second mother. He credits his father with none of it.

I REALLY enjoyed this read! Enough Lincoln was sprinkled in to remind you the connection etched into American History. I appreciated the research that author took to provide this account into not just John Wilkes but his entire family.

I‘m VERY happy to be back in this platform sharing #allthebooks #fortheloveofreading

Shhh don‘t tell anybody… I have my hammock swing set up in my bedroom. At least until spring.

Shhh don‘t tell anyone. I have my hammock swing set up in my bedroom… at least until spring.

This just doesn‘t feel like it‘s going anywhere.

Because if I don‘t take a picture, I can‘t remember what I‘ve read 🙄

I very seldom stop a book, but I really battled with this book. I found it extremely slow paced.

In keeping on my American history journey (albeit fictional), I'm excited to get into this particular piece of history.

Meh. Polite and distanced in the telling. Why this tone? Lost interest in an interesting family. Bailed. 2022

I wasn‘t really interested in John Wilkes Booth, who I hadn‘t heard of before. Also he and his family didn‘t really come to life for me. But I did enjoy reading about the historical context of the American civil war even though the book could have done with some editing. It felt very repetitive at times.
A light pick, definitely not worth the #BookerPrize2022

I will admit I went into this thinking I'd probably not enjoy it because it's received so many mixed reviews. What I liked is the way the author immersed the reader in that time period of history. The Booth family felt so real to me. The contrast between the female and male siblings and the difficulties they faced was fascinating, and infuriating.

I am not sure how much of this is historically accurate, but I felt like I learned something. 😁

It‘s been a while since I read such immersive and realistic historical fiction. The underlying tension inherent in the story- it‘s foregone conclusion- was enough to propel the story forward. I liked that the author focused on Booth siblings other than John. The difference between the women‘s lives and concerns and the men‘s was an interesting theme throughout. I always enjoy Karen Joy Fowler‘s writing.

I‘ll admit that I enjoyed this book WAY more than I though I would.I was never interested in learning about the life of John Wilkes Booth. This author brought him and his family back to life. I am amazed at the parallels of historical events to what is going on today.It gives a whole new meaning to the term “history repeats itself “. The only difficulty that I had reading this book is that my puppy decided to chew it up twice as I was reading it.

#BookerPrize22 Longlist. It‘s the only reason I picked it up. While this is primarily about John Wilkes Booth family members, it offers a glimpse into the U.S. well before and during the Civil War. Some of the incidents that occurred are wild, and remind me of the anger and lawlessness of today, but on steroids. While overly long I learned things from it that I will remember for some time.

Booth is both sprawling and meditatively paced. What Fowler does well is explore history through the eyes of those who sit in its periphery. Rather than looking at exceptional players, we see how shocking events are experienced by those adjacent to them. It is a thoughtful examination of the ripple effect of extreme actions, and what it means when someone you love turns out to be someone who does awful things.

Rich and detailed historical epic about a flawed and fascinating family. Fowler shows that looking at the periphery/fringes of well-known history can be just as interesting and illuminating, if not more so. Her use of third person omniscient narration allows for a subtle modern historical commentary that really worked for me. Also, ghosts!—lost family, in Shakespeare, and looking at how the past haunts the present. #Booker2022

#IndelibleMoments Day 5: #CareerPeak indeed for these authors who have been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2022. Found this curation at Scheltema, an independent bookstore in Amsterdam. Awesome titles, really. I recall being in Barnes and Noble Antioch this summer and asking about The Seven Moons of Malaa Almeida - they didn‘t even know the book existed. 🤷🏽‍♀️

My first from the Booker longlist is a novel on the family of J Wilkes Booth. It‘s not bad, but I wasn‘t a fan, so much so that I‘ve been hesitant to post. I just didn‘t take to it. I found it barely kept my interest through the opening 11 hours on audio, which in hindsight I view as an overly dragged out setting. (It‘s 13 hours) There were other things I didn‘t - see the comments. #booker2022

4.5⭐️ Took me awhile to get into this book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. My mom is fascinated with Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil war (I didn‘t know this until she mentioned it a few weeks ago; she has an old book of his writings and speeches). I really liked how the author mainly focused on the other Booth siblings rather than on John. #2022 #bookstagram #bookreview #historicalfiction #fiction #basedonatruestory

Abe knew what he was talking about.

So overall I thought this was a good book, thus I gave it a pick. Do I think it‘s anything extra special that merits making the shortlist? Not really. What did you all think? You can read out panel‘s full reviews on the blog here: https://thereadersroom.org/2022/08/05/booker-longlist-booth-karen-joy-fowler/

#booker2022

I liked this but it felt like the author didn‘t really know what she wanted the book to be. I found the history of the entire Booth family interesting, but the assassination and the aftermath just seemed tacked on at the end.

I‘m giving it a pick for the social history aspect (most of the book) but it would be a so-so for the political aspect. I can also see why many thought it too slow. I don‘t think this will make the shortlist.

I read about half of this historical fiction and then switched to the audio because I was loosing interested. It was a fast easy read, but I dont understand why she wrote this novel. Did not work for me. 2.5 🌟
#booker2022 #bookerprize2022 @MicheleinPhilly @batsy @charl08 @vivastory @squirrelbrain @Cathythoughts @JamieArc @jlhammar @Ruthiella @sarabarnes @Brimful @Hazel2019 @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

I have mixed feelings about this one. I think it works well as a historical fiction book looking at a well-off family around the time of the Civil War, during which most of the family doesn‘t pay much attention to current events. That family being the Booths works less well for me. Focusing on this family while leaving out major aspects of JWB just doesn‘t make sense to me. But I mostly enjoyed it, so low pick for me.

More mixed feelings about my latest #Booker22 longlist read. I think what Fowler has to say about the experience of being family to an extremist is fascinating. Lots of theatrical history, early US history, urban 19c detail.

I'm just not sure it needed 400+ pages.

@Cinfhen @squirrelbrain @MicheleinPhilly @batsy @vivastory @rmaclean4 @Cathythoughts @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @jlhammar @Ruthiella @sarahbarnes @Hazel2019 @Brimful

THERE ARE REASONS, just now, why romance is unlikely. John's precipitous return is connected to rumors that, back in Philadelphia, he's left a girl pregnant. He himself thinks he's probably not responsible, but a considerable sum of money was required to persuade the girl to share his doubts.

Edwin is suffering from the clap.

Of course, Asia knows none of that. She has the most wonderful brothers!

#Booker22

I really enjoyed this immersive story of the very dysfunctional chaotic and creative family of JoHn Wilkes Booth the assassin of Lincoln. I found its account of the history and politics of the time persuasive and moving. The insights into attitudes to slavery and the experiences of the Hall family subtly juxtaposed with the Booths were very powerful. I would be pleased to see this on the Booker 22 shortlist.

The way Rosalie sees it, pretty much everyone in London was abandoning their wives to run away with their sweethearts around the time that Father met Mother. It seems to have been quite the fad. Sodom and Gomorrah with tea.

She is either accusing Mother and Father or she is defending them. Edwin can't figure out which.

This is my sixth read from what I think is one of the best ever Booker long lists. I am savouring this family history which seems very relevant in its account of radicalisation of susceptible young men.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved the beginning of this book but it started to drag about halfway through. It picked up a bit at the end but for me that wasn‘t enough to make it a pick. I really liked the concept but feel it could‘ve been cut down by about 100 pages. I do recommend her book We‘re All Completely Beside Ourselves - it‘s very good. Don‘t read descriptions before reading that though - it‘s so much better that way. Trust me!

I‘m finally covid negative (yay), and sluggishly walking. It‘s amazing how weak I feel. 🙁 But time for a new audiobook. The Booker longlist is out, and this is the longest book on the list, so I picked it. Now I‘m trying to get into it.

I came in blind, not even grasping the not subtle meaning of the title.

“The people who live there call it the farm, though it‘s half trees, woodland merging into dense forest.”

#FirstLineFridays

And here we have it, folks! The 2022 Booker Prize Longlist.

The Keegan, Strout and Everett were all five-star reads for me so thrilled to see them here. A few aren‘t out in the US yet (as is usually the case). I‘ve got The Colony and Booth on my shelves so those are up next for me! #bookerprize2022

I bought this one because of the cover. I figured it would be a dry biography. It is not!
I was pleasantly surprised to read this book about the Booth family. Told in alternating perspectives by his siblings, it actually has little to do with John Wilkes Booth until the end.
Remarkably, he was one of the least interesting of the family members. I really enjoyed this one. It reads like a family drama. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I‘m not sure if my adult historical fiction reads have ever been set in the civil war era so I found this fascinating. I need to remember to read HF authors notes first because it so often separates the fact from fiction, and explains why the fiction was used to weave the story. This is a cautionary tale of white privilege and the fear of allowing equal rights to minorities.

July #BookSpin @TheAromaofBooks

My #weekendreading plans; hope to finish one or two of these.

Getting started on what looks like an epic... 🤓🐈

“All perfectly normal,“ [the doctor] tells Edwin. “Seen it a hundred times,“ but it doesn't seem possible to Edwin that the very first act of every single person he sees on the street, the milkman, the beggar, the lord, and the lady, is to produce a searing pain in the on who'll love them most.

#SundaySentence

Fowler has a pleasant, easy flowing style that keeps the pace of this novel bobbing right along. I certainly recognize that it requires great craft and skill to make it read so smoothly. I will say however, that it often felt more like I was reading a great narrative nonfiction than a novel.

It was never a feasible plan. It was no plan at all. She'll feel the thought of it, that moment of possibility becoming impossible, as it leaves her body and drifts away. What remains is cold and hard.

A remarkable amount of research went into this historical novelization of the Booth family. A fascinating family best known for their brother/son‘s treacherous act - the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The book is richly detailed although the actual act is hardly given many pages. If you‘re curious about life in the mid 1800‘s & the political climate during that era, you‘ll be RIVETED. The Booths were a family of actors, which was really 👇🏽

I know this book has plenty of mixed reviews but I‘m REALLY ENJOYING IT!! It‘s the story of the Booth family, JW is really just a minor character in this story. I will say it‘s a DEEP DIVE into their lives, so if you‘re not a history buff, this might not hold your interest. Narration by January LaVoy is fantastic 🙌🏻♥️🎧

#UpNext #ThingsInCommon #BirdsOnCover #Pop22 #SetInVictorianEra

One very important thing to note (that I see a lot of other reviews have skipped over): Booth is not a book about John Wilkes Booth. It is very specifically – and determinedly, judging by Fowler‘s author note – about the Booth family. And it's superbly readable, realistic, and provocative. My full review here: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/booth-karen-joy-fowler/

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interestingly, Fowler chose not to focus on John Wilkes so as not to glorify him, but I‘d argue that writing a book about his family still does the same. Would she have cared about them otherwise? I wanted this entire history, the darkest parts, too. This instead focuses mostly on three of the infamous assassinator‘s siblings. Beautiful prose, but bogged down in minutiae. I struggled to stay engaged.