Customer Reviews

Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To write a book with Abraham Lincoln as the main character you'd think the authour would have to be crazy, arrogant, or incredibly naive. Richard Slotkin doesn't appear to be any of these. He has gone about making an epic work of fiction out of the growing up years of our greatest president in a sane and thoughtful manner, with a humility and an honesty that match Lincoln's own, and though not at all naive Slotkin seems to have been inspired by all the angels of our better nature. The passages where he shows how the Bible lessons the boy Abe received from his mother formed both his mind and his habits of speech are just beautiful. This is a poetic book and an exciting one.

A highly enjoyable book. Even though it's a fictional account of Lincoln's early years, Slotkin is able to make you feel as if you are actually there, witness to Abe's boyhood and early adult life. I highly recommend this book to anyone that would like to read fiction as a change of pace to some of the more detailed works on Mr. Lincoln.

Want a supposition on Lincoln's life as a young man? Look no further. Want an entertaining historical novel? Here's your book. Want a snapshot of life along the Mississipi River in the early 1800's? You've got it.

Slotkin's novel succeds as three different types of book. Most of all its great entertainment. Not only is Lincoln an engaging and interesting character, but so are all the other folks we met, including, Finneus, the father of John Wilkes Booth, America's first Shakespearean actor.

Much of the book is factual, much probable and all of it possible. Whether a student of Lincoln, or early US History or just interested in a good read, "Abe" fits the bill.

"Abe" has been compared to Twain's story of Tom Sawyer's river travels. Not fair. This is even more exciting and features historical figures.

I've been a compulsive reader for over 30 years and this is one of the best books I've ever read.

I have been an admirer of Lincoln since my family and I visited Washington D.C. when I was ten years old, and I gazed up at the statue of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial looking as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders but would prevail even if it killed him. As, of course, it eventually did.

Since then I've read numerous biographies and histories of that time, but none have really dealt with Lincoln's childhood. Lincoln was not, except for snippets such as his closest childhood friend going insane and the fear that engendered in him, very forthcoming in either public or private papers.

I read this book because I saw Richard Slotkin on Book TV (not a plug but check it out), and it was clear that he had thouroughly researched Lincoln's early life and based his fiction on what he read.

This book reminds me of the quote, although I can't remember who said it, "The child is the father of the man." I'm no big fan of historical fiction, but this book will hold a treasured place in my library.

At the end of this book the author provides remarks that help clarify the context in which the novel was written. First he tells us that this was a work of many decades of reading and research. That many of the chapters of Abe's young life were extracted from what was actually known. There was some co-mingling of people to compress dates and that Abe might not have actually met some of them face to face, but might have been within the vicinity of them during his travels.

What then of this story, of the earliest years of the greatest American? One is struck by the terrible poverty that he was born into and lived through till full adulthood. We simply don't have an appreciation these days of how hard life was back in the early 1800's in the backwoods of America. We learn that Abe had a loving but illiterate mother and a grim, tense and hard father who was barely able to read. The Lincoln's were not a lazy family, just hard pressed by bad times and lack of good fortune. We learn little about his sister and more about how attached he was as a young man to his mother. After her death his father remarried and to a woman with her own children. The gift she had was a unique insight into what people need, which in most cases was space, understanding and time to process. Instead of talking down to the young, heart broken and tender Abe, she gave him time for him to come round to her; indeed, in time he learned to love and trust her very deeply. It was a mutual and powerful bond that far surpassed the remote and bitter father who always lurked over the young Abe as he grew both intellectually, physically and in confidence and life experience.

The entire book is written in a clever amalgam comprised half in modern English and half in the language people would have used back then. What jars the reader today is the constant use of the devlish word "nigger". We tend to forget that in those days it was what all African American's were called and indeed what they called each other. Growing up among parents who found slavery distasteful and seeing first hand evidence of how horrible the treatment of slaves was, Lincoln started forming a strong philosophical rejection of slavery, which in turn manifested for the first time when he was elected to the state legislature and never left him.

One cannot read a book like this, with it's intense details of how evil the treatment of slaves was and not find one grinding your teeth. There are hard sections to read and like Uncle Tom's Cabin and "March", which come to mind (like many such books) slavery makes the blood hot. The end of the book sees the canny and razor sharp mind of Lincoln as he turns the tables on those older white folks in his new adopted town who thought that they could pull a fast one on the tall guy, hoping to make a fool of him, test his measure and see if he had any spine in him. In a foreshadowing of his role as President, he found a way of restating his imposed debating position, destroying his opposition and supporting his own personal feeling, without having to give an inch in compromise. The opponents in the debate are left breathless, enraged and shocked at how this young buck had managed to seize control of the moment: a trait that was completely repeated when he entered his first term as president.

This is a fantastic story that feels every bit as true and possible. If you admire Abraham Lincoln, this is a must read that will entertain and disturb. The shadow of the mythic Lincoln is given its proper foundation; a well deserved place in Americana, as the greatest President and perhaps the greatest American ever.

Brilliant! As a Lincolnphile I have read the good, the bad and the ugly about Lincoln, and Sandburg aside, this is the first book that, for me, ever brought Lincoln to life! Do not miss this opportunity to treat yourself to a literary masterpiece. Slotkin puts you inside Lincoln's skin, and carries you along with the raging passions, and incisive intellect of a great man in the making. More please. More.

This was one of those books I'd be thinking about long after I put it down. My taste in fiction tends to run to tales of twenty-something angst, but I really enjoyed this for a change. I became engrossed by the history and the hardships-a fascinating escape. The author does a commendable job describing Abe's childhood in Pigeon Creek, his journey on the river and simultaneous coming-of-age. Give it a try; you won't be disappointed.

ABE starts well. Slotkin's portrayal of his early life rings true. The relationship Abe had with his parents and their place in the community sounds very realistic. At this point, I felt Slotkin had a real grasp of what Lincoln might have been like and I was really enjoying this speculative look at the young Abe Lincoln. The trip down the river changed that for me. Slotkin uses Lincoln's flatboat journey down the Mississippi as the basis of Lincoln's eventual political beliefs, but it just doesn't ring true. The journey is one event after another, with social and sexual overtones that intefere with the natural flow of the novel. Eventually, it doesn't even seem that the novel is about Abe Lincoln anymore, but some nameless boy's "journey into manhood along the Mississippi". The best historical fiction gives the reader insight into the characters; this book seems to be trying to make too strong a point, as if it were an actual historical document instead of a picaresque fiction. Like an earlier reviewer, I found this to be less than it could have been.

Having trouble getting your teen son to read? Put this book in his room and let his mind wonder about what the world was like before he was born. Does your daughter think that doing the dishes at night is a real drag? Let her think about life in the times of slavery! Historical fiction at its best! Thanks, Richard, I believe I will read the rest of the books you have written!

Mr. Slotkin develops the childhood of President Lincoln through an accurate depiction of life on in the western wilderness weaved seemlessly with what is know about young President Lincoln. The resulting Huck Finn meets Jerry Spence story kept me imagining how these stories helped shaped the adult Lincoln. From his relationships with two mothers and a lack of one with a real father, young President Lincoln is a product of his own wits and hard work. I hope everyone who reads this book will look at their own life in comparison and seek to emulate the efforts made by young President Lincoln.