Just about the time that I’m thinking I’m a mess, I read about Mrs. Lincoln, and recognize that next to her, I’m Dr. Phil. Wow. That woman was one hot mess. Undoubtedly today she would be treated with antidepressants and/or medication for bipolar disorder. I recognize that she did have a lot awful things happen to her in her lifetime. I can’t imagine losing one child, much less three and a husband.
I enjoyed Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker very much. I’m glad that I saw the movie Lincoln before reading this book, because it gave me some context. Actually, however, the book made me understand some things about the movie as well. If you saw the movie, you will recall that Elizabeth Keckley was with Mrs. Lincoln most of the time. I remember wondering why this black woman appeared to be Mrs. Lincoln’s BFF. Now I understand it a bit better.
This wasn’t primarily the story of Mary Todd Lincoln, however. This was the story of Elizabeth Keckley, a strong, intelligent, talented woman who happened to be a former slave. It was interesting to me to see the Civil War though her eyes. It was also interesting to see how the slaves and former slaves looked at Abraham Lincoln. He was, not surprisingly, their rescuer and hero.
As usual when I read a historical novel, I had Wikipedia at my ready. While the book clearly has Keckley writing her memoirs at least in part to set the world straight about Mary Todd Lincoln, that might not necessarily be true. It is true, however, that the Lincolns never forgave Keckley for writing the memoir. And I must admit, I was somewhat uncomfortable knowing that she wrote what she did. It does seem to me that someone in a place of trust like a companion or ladies maid has an obligation to not write a tell-all at the end of it all.
How did you feel about her writing this memoir?
Chiaverini’s book gave me a fairly clear perspective about the life of a slave. I can’t imagine how it felt to be someone’s property, and to be at your master’s beck and call in every way. Keckley didn’t seem to hold a lot of bitterness, and loved her resulting son very much.
I guess I hadn’t realized that free blacks weren’t allowed in the military until the war was nearly over. Don’t know why that surprised me, but it did.
How do you feel about Mary Todd Lincoln? Did you find her to be completely narcissistic, completely kooky, or a combination of many things? Did you like Elizabeth Keckley?
I would rate this book a 7 out of 10.
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I really liked this book a lot. It was so hard for me to put down. When I did put it down, I just thought about it as though it were relevant to my daily life.
ReplyDeleteI felt so very sad for the Lincoln's. I went back and forth with my sympathies. First, I felt so sad for Mrs. Lincoln who seemed to suffer most of her life. I thinks struggling with bpd would be terrible, but for her not to have a diagnosis and counseling or medication would be so difficult. Then I would feel so bad for Mr. Lincoln having to deal with that when he seemed so steady. How could he have understood what was happening in her brain.
I liked Elizabeth very much. I thought she did live her life trying to do the right thing and I di think she was taken advantage if by that sleazy publisher. I felt terrible when I read that the friendship was never fixed and I was actually surprised that Mrs. Lincoln didn't need Elizabeth enough to decide to let her at least try to explain. After everything Elizabeth sacrificed in order to help Mrs. Lincoln, I thought she would definitely be given a chance to explain.
I enjoyed reading all the descriptions of the dresses that were made for Mrs. Lincoln. When we were at the Smithsonian a few summers ago, we saw a display of dresses from many of the first ladies. I wish I had read this book first, because I think the dresses would be that much more interesting, even though I spent about 45 minutes at that exhibit as it was.
I also was sad to think of freed slaves wanting to go back to their old lives because a free life was too hard without a job. It made me think of the people who are repeat offenders just to get back into jail since they can't function when they have to be independent.
One thing I had never known was that Lincoln had received so many death threats. Was that mentioned in the movie? I saw the movie, but may have missed them. I can't imagine being Mrs. Lincoln.....having worried about so many opportunities for her husband to be killed and then to be out one night, probably not having worried about it at all and then having it happen.
I was looking forward to reading this book, because I’m interested in the Lincoln story and because I just enjoy historical fiction in general. I found myself enjoying the book a lot at the beginning, but then I bogged down, and I’m not sure why. I struggled through the middle section a bit; it seemed to go very slowly. My pet peeve with historical fiction or biography is that authors (in my opinion) sometimes get caught up in all their research and get carried away with the details. Maybe that was it.
ReplyDeleteI did definitely like reading about the dynamic between Elizabeth and Mrs. Lincoln. I’m glad Kris consulted Wikipedia, because I wondered if it was an accurate portrayal. Mrs. Lincoln was a challenging and complicated woman. This book shows her as being so admirable in some ways but really, really hard to live with or even deal with on a regular basis. Elizabeth functioned in a role that she (Mary Todd) certainly needed.
I was sad to find that the memoir ended up having a negative effect on Elizabeth’s life. I don’t know what her motives were, but if the book is accurate, she was manipulated by the journalist. I found myself irritated with her naiveté, but then I got a grip and remembered that she wasn’t worldly or formally educated. But, she did know Mrs. Lincoln, so she probably should have been prepared for the reaction. She, better than anyone, should have anticipated it.
It was interesting to read something from the perspective of a former slave. Frankly, I found it a little unbelievable that Elizabeth had so little bitterness about her own slavery. Or, anyway, that’s how it seemed to me. The reunion with her former owners was very warm; I wonder if that is historically accurate.
I did like Elizabeth especially that she refused to be a victim. She bought her way out of slavery, worked hard, stood up for her people in concrete ways, and was able to see the good in those who might have been seen as her enemies, like Mrs. Davis. She (Elizabeth) was almost too good to be true sometimes.
Mrs. Lincoln…she is a tough one to like, for sure. But, she was surely mentally ill, and she had to deal with a lot of sadness. But, so did many others in that day. Lots of children died of disease, and the war left many parents grieving for their sons. But, it was shocking that the government did so little to help her after her husband’s death. So different from today!
I think a 7 is a fair rating for this book.
I hate to be the odd man out but I did not enjoy this book. At All. I've read many books by this author and always enjoy her stories and writing. So my dislike for this book was simply having to spend time with Mary. I did enjoy learning about Elizabeth and think her story is amazing. I loved the work she did for the people that were adapting to freedom. And I thought her friendship with the people she lived with was beautiful. They became her true family.
ReplyDeleteWasn't it funny that Abe would have Elizabeth comb his hair. Her involvement in their lives was interesting. She was a loyal, faithful friend.
The straw that broke the camels back for me was after Abe passed and Elizabeth went with Mary to Chicago. I was beyond frustrated that Mary had no regard to how being away from her business would affect her life and those of her employees.
I am astounded at the debt Mary had accumulated and the fact that Abe did not know about it. I wonder what would have come of that had he lived.
I think Abe really loved Mary. That's amazing to me.
I believe Elizabeth really did write the book to help Mary. She was naive to be sure that the book would help.
I thought for sure when Elizabeth went to visit her family in the south their would be trouble. I find the ties between the slaves (former) and their owners interesting. In many instances their love must have been genuine.
I'm with Jennifer, so add a second naysayer to the column. I had a few different reasons for not liking the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of historical fiction. I really enjoy learning about history while reading a character-driven story. I didn't really like history all that much in school, but if it had been presented as historical fiction, or if we had at least read a couple of books, I think I would have liked it more. That being said, what I like most about historical fiction is deep character development, and I think that was missing in this book. As Kris said, this was Elizabeth's story, and I wish there had been more background development of her.
I downloaded Elizabeth's real memoir from Amazon (it's in the public domain now, so it's free) because I wanted to ascertain why she wrote them. I was beyond impressed with her eloquence in the forward -- unless she has an extreme editor, her writing was very impressive. She did explain that she wrote the book to cast Mary in a more positive light. However, I didn't find that to be the case at times. Especially when she wrote of Mary's opinion of Lincoln's cabinet. I couldn't figure out how repeating what Mary said about them would cast Mary in a better light.
Now for the kicker -- which made me dislike the book even more. There were passages completely lifted from Elizabeth's memoirs in Chiaverini’s book. My electronic version went away before I downloaded the memoirs, so I guess I don't really know if it was truly plagiarism, but it seemed so to me. And, I didn't read acknowledgements in Chiaverini’s book either -- can someone who has a copy still look and see if she gave attribution? It's bugging me!
In her acknowledgments, the author says, "...no work was more important than Elizabeth Keckley's own memoir..... . Though I regret the unhappiness its publication brought her, I am deeply grateful that EK left behind such a rich and evocative account of her life." Chiaverini does NOT go on to say, "in fact, I thought it was so good that I'm using it as my own." I guess that is acknowledgment of sorts, but I share your disdain, if, in fact, plagiarized.
DeleteHowever, I guess I didn't really feel as though the characters were really underdeveloped. I felt as though I knew EK and MTL better than I had prior to reading the book. Perhaps it might have been interesting to know more about her growing up years. It would take some real courage and tenacity to buy your freedom.
I wonder if Elizabeth's memoir does touch on her younger years. I would enjoy that too.
ReplyDeleteShe is an interesting historical figure but MTL's strong personality took away my enjoyment of learning about her.
As my final complaint and comment about Mary, I don't blame congress for not supporting her monetarily after Lincoln passed. She was difficult, not liked and made many enemies.
But she was the wife of the president of the United States, likeable or not. It seems like dissing her was dissing him.
DeleteI agree with Kris here. I had the same response. That compensation isn't based on the popularity of the First Lady. It is respect for the office of President. Even though it wasn't a set thing at that point, the President's widow deserved to be taken care of.
ReplyDeleteI decided to look up another presidential widow. Although Lincoln was the first president to be killed in office, William Henry Harrison died soon after his inauguration (30 days) leaving his widow, Anna.
ReplyDeleteHarrison's wife, Anna, was not at the White House when he died. She was too ill to attend the inauguration, and she sent her daughter-in-law in her stead. Some claim she suffered depression after the death of three of her ten children in three years (sound familiar?). She outlived all but one of her children. She lived more than 20 years after her husband died, and she died at 88 years old (1864). She was grandmother to president Benjamin Harrison. She kept herself busy by working in Harrison's "museum (a room she set up in their house) and responding to letters from his supporters. After a disgruntled maid set fire to her home, she moved in with her last remaining child.
So, there was a precedent for a widow's pension.
Congress awarded her a $25,000 lump sum pension and right to free postage on all her outgoing correspondence. The first "forever" stamp, as it were! Good thing, given all that "fan" mail.
The country was in too much disarray to handle sensible compensation for the presidents widow. This book really made me think about how things would have been had Lincoln lived.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how much I thought about that as well. Had Lincoln been able to lead during reconstruction, perhaps the relationship between whites and blacks might have been different. One never knows.
ReplyDeleteCertainly the South wouldn't have suffered like they did.
ReplyDelete