Jul 30

Jul 30 Booth

Author: Karen Joy Fowler
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

From the Man Booker finalist and bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves comes an epic and intimate novel about the family behind one of the most infamous figures in American history: John Wilkes Booth.

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.

As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country's leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.

TL;DR Review

Booth is part historical fiction, part family saga focusing on the family of John Wilkes Booth. I felt pretty neutral about it, but definitely recommend audio over print if you read it.

For you if: You like a deep, historical character study of a large cast.

Full Review

Booth was my final read from the 2022 Booker Prize longlist. I went in knowing that it was everyone else’s least favorite by far, so I was determined to find some good in it. And while I definitely didn’t love it, I did find that good!

You may be wondering, “Does the world really need a book about John Wilkes Booth?” — and you’d be right to. Karen Joy Fowler felt the same way but was fascinated by the rest of the Booth family (who were not on the side of the Confederacy, politically), so she set out to write a book about them.

My enjoyment here was entirely thanks to one piece of advice that I now pass on to you: Listen to this book on audio instead of reading it in print. The audio moved along at a pace that was perfect for multitasking (cleaning, driving, etc), whereas if I had tried to sit down to read these 500+ pages, they definitely would have been a slog.

I was most drawn to the POV chapters belonging to the two sisters. One, perhaps my favorite, was nearly 100% constructed from scratch — KJF oculdn’t find much about her, except that everyone called her “poor Rosalie” and it listed scoliosis on her death certificate. I actually wish this book had had a slightly tighter focus on the women of the Booth family rather than trying to encompass everyone; I think that would have been more impactful.

All in all, I feel pretty neutral about this one. Definitely worth reading to finish out the 2022 Booker list!