Booth

Villains have families, too. That's not something we often think about. When villains die in movies, it doesn't occur to us that they must have had someone who loved them. And it is much the same way with real-life villains.

This thought led Karen Joy Fowler to write her excellent 2022 novel “Booth” about not John Wilkes Booth but rather his family.

Fowler tells her story through the eyes of various members of the Booth family, but never John Wilkes, the handsome, unpredictable younger brother. It is Edwin, an older son in a family of actors, who becomes the family's central figure. It is he, not Junius or John, who matches their father's greatness on the stage.

It turns out that their father and mother had never actually married. It's show more a shock to all when his actual wife arrives from England and begins making demands. Then there is his alcoholism, a trait passed down to his elder sons. The daughters — Rosalie, the plain one, and Asia, the beauty — also feature prominently in the novel.

Although the Booths have slaves — set free but still working for the family — their sympathies lie with the North when war breaks out. That is, except for John, who has lived in Richmond, and Joe, an even younger brother, who was notable for being a deserter from both armies.

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln comes as as much of a shock to the Booths as to anyone else, and they all pay the price of notoriety. Edwin's acting career tanks; Junius spends time in prison for the crime of being John's brother.

At times you don't know whether you are reading fiction or history, and this uncertainty seems to be deliberate on Fowler's part. Little is actually known about Rosalie, one of the best drawn characters, and so she is almost entirely fictional. Others left letters or are mentioned more in historical records, and so their stories read more like history. All in all, it makes for an impressive book, not as good as some of Fowler's other novels, yet better than many books written by historians about this tragedy. show less

In an “Author’s Note” toward the end of Booth, Karen Joy Fowler notes that the germ of this book came from thinking about America’s mass shootings and the families of the shooters. “How,” she asked herself, “would such a family deal with their own culpability?”
This led her to the gifted, troubled family of the actor and bigamist Junius Brutus Booth and the ten children he had with the woman he ran off to America with in an act of Byronic madness.
The ninth of these children was John Wilkes, whose flair for the dramatic gesture led him to Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865. There he crossed paths with Abraham Lincoln, whom he slays.
Throughout the book, as Fowler weaves her narrative, changing viewpoints from one sibling to show more another (but never taking that of John Wilkes), she includes insets of Lincoln’s unfolding life that suggest parallels in the trajectories of his life and that of the man who took it.
A recurring motif is Shakespeare, two plays in particular. One is “Richard III,” one of the elder Booth’s staples (“no role is so completely Father’s own as that of the murdering and murdered king”). The other is “Hamlet,” in which John Wilkes’ brother Edwin became the definitive interpreter of his time of the ghost-haunted prince of Denmark who avenged his father’s murder. Of course, no writings, except for the Bible, affected Lincoln as deeply as Shakespeare.
Fowler closes by noting that she was in final edits during the insurrection of January 6, 2021, when she saw “the flag of the Confederacy carried through the halls of the Capitol for the very first time.” She ends: “Let it be the last.”
This sense of the past as prologue gives the book much of its poignancy but also points to a flaw. This is not a biography but historical fiction. Yet, from time to time, Fowler breaks genre. A reader attuned to history immediately responds to the first mention of theatre owner John T. Ford, or Laura Keene’s overwhelming success with “Our American Cousin,” or John Wilkes’ attraction to the Virginia state flag with its motto “sic semper tyrannis,” and accepts these as a legitimate use of foreshadowing. But Fowler also intrusively brings the story up to date. For example, after Maryland—without seceding from the Union—blocks the route of conscripts from the North, leading Lincoln to impose countermeasures little short of military occupation, Maryland adopts a new state song exulting how the state “spurns the Northern scum!” Fowler notes the repeated failed attempts to replace it, most recently in 2020. These lapses resemble an actor on stage breaking the fourth wall, and they jar.
Aside from these, though, I found the book readable. It’s a particular achievement that, in relating a story whose conclusion is all-too-well known, Fowler can hold one’s attention. In fact, the closer the inevitable climax approached, the more difficulty I had in putting it down. show less

Historical fiction based on the (real) Booth family, set in the US in the mid-19th century. Junius, the patriarch, is an accomplished Shakespearean actor. His wife, Mary, bears ten children. The story focuses on four. Eldest son, Edwin, follows in his father’s footsteps, becoming a famous actor. Both Junius and Edwin suffer from alcohol addictions. Eldest sister, Rosalie, provides the links to the family’s early years, describing siblings who died young. Asia is the second surviving daughter. Abraham Lincoln’s future assassin, John Wilkes Booth, is the youngest. The family ends up divided in political opinion.

I tend to enjoy reading non-fiction history paired with historical fiction about the same topic. In this case, I had show more previously read several non-fiction accounts of the American Civil War and specifically about Lincoln’s assassination. What these non-fiction books do not provide is a deep dive into the Booth family. This book fills in the gap. The author states she intended to portray a family’s culpability, but honestly, I cannot blame the family. The majority are unionists, but John Wilkes follows his own rebellious path.

It is well-constructed. It is interspersed with snippets from Lincoln’s life, which provide context for the political turmoil leading up to the Civil War. There are no glaring anachronisms, though the author admits that accounts vary widely, and she had to pick and choose what perspectives to include. The author specifically wanted to keep the focus off John Wilkes Booth so as not to glorify someone who committed a horrible crime, and in this, she succeeds, but what is missing is a character who serves as a witness. Rosalie serves this function early in the book but was not present for the climactic scenes. Other than this one issue, I found it to be well-researched historical fiction with a strong sense of time and place. show less

Fowler has envisioned family life in the Junius Brutus Booth household from the early days of his bigamous marriage to Mary Ann Holmes, through the lives and deaths of his 10 children, including, of course, John Wilkes Booth. Dysfunctional barely begins to describe the madness, compulsions, and passions of this group of actors, alcoholics, and abolitionists, even before John Wilkes's political leanings create a rift among the siblings. The sisters, Rosalie and Asia, are much too fond of their famous brothers, who are much too fond of drink, like their father, who is prone to violence and unreasonable demands. Their mother verges on nervous collapse much of the time, due to multiple pregnancies, a mostly absent (also drunken) husband, show more and the loss of four children at early ages. Fame and fortune rise and fall, suitors come and go, the family moves back and forth between Baltimore and "the farm", and that inconvenient first wife and son show up, to the utter disbelief of Mary's brood, threatening to consign them all to illegitimacy and the poorhouse. Fowler invented a good deal of this story, of course; almost nothing is known of the eldest daughter, Rosalie, other than her vague unspecified "invalid" state, nor of the youngest son, Joseph, who did not follow his father and older brothers into the theatrical life. Yet a strong foundation of research underlies the narrative, and in fact some portions read more like history than fiction, with references to 20th and 21st century consequences tucked in. The writing was fine; there was no drama or suspense to speak of, and I had very little connection to any of the characters; I certainly did not develop any sympathy for John Wilkes Booth. I think I would much prefer to have read a good narrative non-fiction account of the history of the Booth family. I'm left feeling that the author's efforts and imagination were somewhat wasted on this story. show less

So refreshing! A well written and researched character driven novel, which was a pleasure to read (even at nearly 500 pages!) I, like the author and probably most people, knew nothing about the family of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, and was intrigued to learn that his father and brothers were famous in their own right as actors. Karen Joy Fowler also makes sure that his sisters Rosalie and Asia are included too.

I read a few reviews before starting this mammoth bio-fic (is that a word?) and noted a couple of remarks about the subject of the book. The title Booth refers to the family name, not JWB in particular, and Lincoln only features in brief chapters to establish the historical background. Anyone hoping for a study show more of the assassin himself - although he does unavoidably feature - or his presidential victim will be disappointed, but I wasn't. Who wants to read about another little man trying to make a name for himself by killing a greater personality? As the author writes, 'This is a man who craved attention and has gotten too much of it; I didn’t think he deserved mine.'

Instead, the focus is on his family, who were naturally destroyed by his actions in 1865. I loved Rosalie, whose representation here is mostly fictional as little is known about her: 'She’s never wanted to be at the center of a story, not even her own, but she likes very much being near the center'. Her sister Asia, far more suited to the limelight and keen to preserve the family's memory in her memoirs, wrote that Rosalie was an 'invalid' but never explained why. Brothers Edwin and June continue the family trade on stage, while never quite matching their father's national acclaim or personal ego, while the mother Mary Ann, who was technically living with another woman's husband for the first twenty years of their family life, claimed to 'love her children more than her [adopted] country' - especially the ever wayward John, who the author suggests was triggered by the death of a friend's father at the Christiana Riot.

Karen Joy Fowler brings to life a period of history and a cast of characters - even Lincoln - that I wasn't overly familiar with, employing a quirky free indirect narrative which is equal parts biography and family saga. I honestly learned so much while growing to love real life 'characters' like Rosalie and her larger than life father, Junius. An amazing read, if slightly overlong! show less

4.5 near perfect, but long. I was so touched when I read the author's note at the end about where the idea for the book came from: after a recent mass shooting in the 20-teens and thinking about the family of the shooter: “What happens to love when the person you love is a monster?” From that contemporary concept, Fowler went back in time to look at one of the biggest monsters in American history: John Wilkes Booth. More than anything, this historical fiction puts him in the context of his kind-of crazy family, but never would they or (they thought) he resort to such mad violence. From 1838 when John was born into a family of 9 siblings, with an actor father, and a fragile mother, we see his place in that constellation (favorite) show more and get a detailed look at the family and the times. Junius, the father and Mary Ann came from England to further his acting career and to live in sin. He was married to another woman there and Mary Ann became his mistress and once in the US, they lived as husband and wife, with none the wiser. (though that bubble bursts). Each sibling gets in depth treatment, and the story is largely from their point of view which really humanizes everyone. The family was decidedly anti-slavery, and Junius went so far as to insist on vegetarianism so as not to kill another living creature. But he also drank away whatever he earned as an itinerant actor while the family squeaked by in various locations, often depending on the generosity of others. Older brothers June and Edwin also became actors - all the children were brought up on Shakespeare and quoting various plays became a parlor game - though they all had their struggles in the profession too. I was amazed at the amount of travel they did - mostly for work - given the challenges of the time. Fowler intersperses short chapters of Lincoln's rise to the Presidency, giving the formidable feeling of how their lives would intersect - like two trains on the same track from opposite directions. Booth's action not only destroyed the nation, but his family as well. Fascinating, well-written handling of thousand disparate pieces of information - it turns to compelling narrative in the author's capable hands. show less

Reacting to the headline of a mass shooting, Karen Joy Fowler wondered about the families of the shooters. Did they struggle under the burden of notoriety? Were they stigmatized, or able to navigate in society? She realized she knew little about the family of the most notorious American shooter–the man who killed President Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth.

As she researched extensively to understand the Booth family, she realized the relevance of this episode in American history, especially after the January 6 insurrection.

In her new novel Booth, Fowler brings to life the nine children and parents of the Booth family, beginning with Junius Brutus Booth, a famous actor. He was also a deeply flawed man, a bigamist and an alcoholic. Junius show more abandoned his English wife and child when he met the beautiful Mary. He settled their family on a farm, scrambling to survive as their patriarch was on tour most of the year. As the boys came of age, they are tasked with being their father’s guardian and caretaker, endeavoring to keep him sober. The eldest son, June becomes an actor with a career in the West. Edwin had hoped for college but was next tasked with his father’s care; he falls into the same bad habits as his father, going on to forge his own acting career. The youngest son to go into acting is John Wilkes, beloved and handsome but demonstrating disturbing traits since childhood. He had little academic interest, joined a gang, and was swayed by extremist politics.

The eldest daughter Rosalie experienced the death of younger siblings. She was plagued by physical handicaps, a limp and a curved spine, keeping her at home, a perpetual daughter and caretaker. Asia, strong willed and beautiful, settles for a comfortable marriage, but she remains devoted to her brother John Wilkes.

These deeply flawed characters share family trauma of loss and poverty and alcoholism, revering their absent, unreliable father and idolizing their long suffering, beautiful mother. They move from the hard life of the farm to city luxury as the family fortunes rise. The family is apolitical, but Republican, but for John Wilkes who comes to hate abolition and defends slavery.

Interspersed are chapters summarizing President Lincoln’s life, career, and speeches–which today seem prescient, referring to mobs and political division and populist leaders. Baltimore and Maryland’s political strife and division are central to the story. The political division in Maryland mirrors the entire country, then and now.

Fowler’s story is deep and rich. The Booths seem like a family meant for fiction, encompassing such a broad swath of human experience.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased. show less