A new novel about Lincoln

[Sally]

I know there are many on this forum who don’t care for fictionalized versions of history, but I’m wondering if anyone has read “I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War” by Jerome Charyn. It’s gotten good reviews, and the book jacket features positive blurbs from some heavy hitters, including Harold Holzer and Richard Brookhiser.

As a fan of historical fiction, I was very excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for it. It’s told in the first person from Lincoln’s perspective, which is an intriguing idea. But it’s also written in the vernacular of the mid-19th century prairie. I’m okay with that technique sometimes, but it just didn’t work for me here. Others might disagree, feeling that reading Lincoln’s “voice” in the way he probably spoke makes the story more immediate and effective.

I confess I only read about 50 pages in before giving it up. Aside from the distracting language, it also frankly depicted certain behaviors that I prefer not to read about. Now, I’m all for warts-and-all depictions of Abraham Lincoln—I enjoy reading about the real person rather than the marble statue. Still, there are some things I’d rather not think about in relation to Mr. Lincoln, even though I know they were part of his life. But that’s just me.

Maybe the book gets better as it goes on. I would like to hear the opinion of other, less squeamish, members of this forum who have read it.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Sally,

I was intrigued by all the great reviews on Amazon. Posters are raving about it, so I went ahead and ordered a copy about a month ago. I am kind of torn on whether I enjoyed it as much as everyone else did. On the one hand it's the first time I have ever read a book on Lincoln in that type of format style... first person historical fiction...seeing events and people as they must have appeared to AL. I loved the earthy humor-the chapters where he meets and courts Mary are really extremely funny. Some people seemed put off by the portrayal of his sexuality for reasons I am not sure of. He was by most accounts a very earthy man, do they assume he never had sex? Or that he didn't enjoy it like regular men-just lay back and thought of the Union or something?

What bothered me is that there were huge chunks of his life missing. The period of time in Congress was skipped altogether, the Springfield years were barely mentioned. The passages dealing with Mary's descent into madness and her husband's awareness of it were poignant and effective, the underlying suggestion of Mary's borderline incestuous fixation with Robert not so much. I was also confused with AL's intense attachment to Lizzie Keckley. I didn't understand it, or where the author intended to go with it.

All in all I did enjoy "I Am Abraham"...he was written as I imagine he must have been in real life...funny, sad, compassionate, tender, earthy. The emphasis is on his emotional, inner experience of the Civil War which is very affecting. But the novel seemed to leave out things I felt were important, and emphasize other things I felt were not...therefore making the experience of reading it feel incomplete.

[Susan Higginbotham]

I read it a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it, which is something I can't say for most literary fiction, but there were parts I found bothersome, such as Mary's fixation with Robert mentioned above, and the treatment of Mary Todd Lincoln--in this book, she is certifiably insane well before the assassination. I also didn't care for some of the other liberties the author took, such as having Elizabeth Keckley arrested and committed to the Old Capitol Prison, apparently just so the author could take the Lincolns there for a visit. But I did like its portrait of Lincoln the man.