Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln

This fictional telling of Mary's life is written using her voice in the form of memoirs written during her stay in the self-termed lunactic asylum to which her son has had her committed. Before I read this book I'd heard little good about Mary. After reading this I'm of two minds. She still seems in many ways a self-absorbed, too-needy woman who never took the time to contemplate the consequences of her actions. That being said, I can't help but think how differently things would have turned out had she not lived in a time when social constraints were so restrictive and medical knowledge so primitive. She was ambitious in an era when women were not only expected to not involve themselves in the outside world, but in fact were to appear show more not remotely interested in anything outside the sphere of their homes and children. She, who was from the beginning intensely interested in her husband's politics, was constantly thrust aside by powerful men throughout her husband's career, and ridiculed by the women of her time. She lost three of her four sons to diseases which may well have been treatable had she lived 100 years later. Finally, she clearly seemed to suffer from some form of mental illness during a period when the slightest deviation from the expected norm was unacceptable for a woman. There were no viable treatments and she self-medicated with shopping and further muddled her thinking by taking the medicines prescribed by her doctors which we now know contained opium and cocaine. While her life was tragic in many respects, it seems only more tragic because much of that tragedy would not have happened had she lived during the current age when women are allowed the freedom of opinion and ambition and there are vastly improved treatments for physical and mental conditions. show less

A novel about the first "First Lady", and her amazing, tragic, heroic life. A woman characterized by her passion, Mary captures the reader's heart. Passionate about politics, freedom and her family, Mary is driven nearly mad by the losses she's suffered. When her one remaining son has her committed to a sanatorium, she looks back on her life to determine where things went wrong.

A touching and passionate tale about history and the practice of restraining inconvenient women. A feminist look at the diagnosis of hysteria and female insanity.

Teenage angst applied to Mary Todd Lincoln and wrapped up in flowery phrasings. Though Mrs. Lincoln’s eccentricities are well known, the author writes ludicrous twistings of reasonings behind her actions. She places her characters in pubescent-daydream style contrived situations. Views of the President throughout his wife’s story are painted only in the light of middle school 'social studies', or as an object of sexual fantasies. Masquerading as an intellectual’s historical novel, just because of its title character, it’s nothing more than just another bodice-ripper. Says her Mrs. President Lincoln, “For if Mr. Wood had wished to take me here in Willard’s tearoom, I would have lifted my skirts to render it easier.”

Gag a show more maggot! show less

There is a quote on the front of the novel by USA Today, "You feel a compulsion to urge others to read it." Generally I pay no attention to quotes of this nature regardless of where they may appear. HOWEVER, as I closed the novel after reading the last page, it expresses my sentiment precisely.

Every individual interested in history ~ especially women's history in the United States ~ should read this book. Yes, it is fiction but never doubt how much you can learn through the reading of a novel.

It reminded me of feelings that I had after a view of the film, "Iron Jawed Angels." We've come a long way, baby as the tune goes but we've got miles to go for equality. Never forget the strength of the women that have walked the path before you. show more Use their strength, their courage, their passion as the fuel to ignite your dreams and always believe that "I can make a difference!" The women that came before us cared about the future. Let's care about our future and the future for the generations to come. show less

I always begin a book with such great hope. That I will love it and not be able to put it down. That it exactly what happened with this one. It is a first person account of the life of Mary Todd Lincoln.
This woman had such a tragic life. Her husband was elected president, then vilified throughout most of his first term. His reelection after the Civil War ended was followed only days later by his assassination as Mary sat by his side in Ford's Theater. By this time they had already lost two of their fours sons to illness. Mary would later watch a third son die.
Throughout it all she had to deal with her own demons, what seems to me to have been a form of PTSD, and the drive to shop endlessly. The author attempts to explain Mary's show more compulsive buying habits. Then there is her ongoing grief over her deceased huband and children. The final insult is the emotional disconnect between Mary and her oldest and only surviving child Robert, and his decision to have her declared insane and imprisoned in an asylum.
I could not put this book down, and as a result over the last week I have missed a few hours of sleep! show less

3.75 stars

Mary Todd was Abraham Lincoln’s wife. She grew up in a well-off family, but Abraham was poor. They had four sons, but only one, Robert the oldest, made it to adulthood. Although Mary loved her son with all her heart, Robert never returned that love, nor the affection she so craved.

Ten years after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Robert had Mary confined to an insane asylum, though she insisted she was sane and didn’t belong there. This book goes back and forth in time from when Mary is confined to the asylum (and her attempts to have Robert have her released) back to when Mary met Abraham, their courtship, marriage and all the way up to what led Robert to confine her.

I quite liked this. I went back and forth, on show more thinking Mary didn’t belong in the asylum to wondering if she did. I can’t say I liked her much, but I certainly felt badly for her, as Robert was awful to her. I took 1/4 star off my rating because there is no historical/author’s note at the end. I know nothing about the real Mary – did these things really happen? show less

I was very interested in the main subject of this book, Mary Todd Lincoln's confinement to Bellview Hospital for the Insane, which was granted by her son Robert's petition to the court. I wondered if being present at her husband's assassination had driven her mad, and I had heard that much of Robert's motivation was to get his hands on her money.

Newman does a good job of depicting life in the asylum, and, as a reader, I was frustrated by the restrictions put upon Mary. She could not spend a penny, move a foot, have a single visitor, or send a letter without Robert's express permission--a situation that must have been hard on the former first lady. She takes us back through events in Mary's life that strongly influenced her: the death of show more her mother and her father's remarriage to an unaffectionate stepmother who sent her off to boarding school; family resistance to her engagement to Lincoln; the death of her sons; newspaper attacks; the assassination; etc. But on the whole, Mary does not come off sympathetically. She's depicted mainly as somewhat of a nymphomaniac; Lincoln complains that her passion is too strong and makes her promise to withhold it, and he is often so repelled by it that he avoids her bed (which of course only makes her more sexually frustrated). Mary later concludes that this suppression is the reason her son Robert is so unaffectionate. In addition, she's a neurotic shopaholic. During the war, in addition to wracking up bills that her husband simply cannot pay, she squanders tens of thousands of dollars on jewelry and silver tea services "because they will last." She stashes the good in the attic and visits them as totems that will keep her husband and sons alive. If that isn't crazy, I don't know what is!

The thing I hated most about the book was the sex scenes. Don't get me wrong: sex can be good, and I don't mind it in most novels, as long as it's appropriate. But I really, REALLY did not want those detailed graphic descriptions of sex between Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, both in younger days and their middle age. Some things you just do NOT need to visualize! Newman also details a one-night stand Mary has with a New York escort; whether this has any basis in fact, I do not know, but I could have done without it.

If, like me, you'd like to know more about the subject matter, I'd advise you to skip this one and find a credible biography. It raised a lot of questions for me about Mary's political influence and her confinement that really weren't satisfactorily answered for me here. I'm giving the novel three stars, mainly because it did raise questions, and because the first half or so did keep me engaged. show less