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Booth's Sister
Booth's Sister
Booth's Sister
Ebook269 pages3 hours

Booth's Sister

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

2/5

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Her brothers were the matinee idols of the 1850's theater world; her father was a famous Shakespearean; she wanted to be an actress but the social rules of the era prevented it; Asia Booth, sister of John Wilkes Booth, endured a peculiar and often sad childhood with her flamboyant father, flighty mother and restricted ambitions. Her devotion to brother Johnnie led her to aid his anti-Union sentiments during the Civil War, and she was suspected of conspiracy in the Lincoln assassination. Historian Jane Singer imagines the dreamlike misery and mistakes of a little-known player in the Lincoln tragedy.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBelleBooks
Release dateJul 15, 2008
ISBN9781935661269
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Reviews for Booth's Sister

Rating: 2.1714285285714285 out of 5 stars
2/5

35 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not much story here....lots of quotes.... Unfortunately, this is the type of book one gets for free from Amazon.com. The selection used to be much better. You could really get some good ones for not much. This one was disappointing..... I couldn't really empathize with any of the characters.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Never received it from early reviewers, so I checked it out from the library. The characters were one-dimensional and the plot was hard to get into for me. Harder core historical fiction fans will enjoy, however, reading this book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is a look at John Wilkes Booth through the eyes of his sister Asia. I began reading this during a particularly boring and misinformed lecture at a conference I attended in October. To be honest, the book wasn't much better than the lecture, but it gave me something to do without having to listen to a speaker who didn't know the difference in a blog and Facebook. I finally got back to it. I certainly had never considered how Booth's life had affected his family members, and this did give insight into it. The book seemed to be very full of dialogue. Much of the book is at a very low reading level -- maybe as low as 3rd grade. I really believe the book is better suited as a book for about 5th or 6th graders than adults to which it is marketed, although there are a couple of scenes that would be questionable content-wise for that audience. I read the Kindle edition of this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disclaimer: I got this e-book for free in exchange for a review.The book tells the story of Asia Booth Clarke who is placed under house arrest the night her brother shot President Lincoln. The book is divided into two parts, part one is when Asia reflects on her childhood and the second takes place in adulthood after the murder of President Lincoln.The first part (young Asia) was difficult to read and confusing, but the second part (adult Asia) was interesting with its perspective and easier to get through. The writing style is old fashioned and heavy handed, I believe the author used Asia’s diary and /or memoires as a guideline but the style didn’t work for me; to boot there are a lot of Shakespeare quotations peppered around the book, understandable since the Booths were a family of famous Shakespearean actors, but instead of adding to the story I felt it just made it more difficult to read (too much of a good thing?). I don’t know what to think of this book. I never really got into the novel even though it was an interesting read about an event we all know about, but from a fresh (to me) perspective. I was really looking forward to reading this book, maybe that’s why I was not too thrilled with it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyable read which kept my interest to the last page. Starting with the murder of Abraham Lincoln and the effect this event impinged on the lives of Asia Booth and her immediate family -the novel then reverts to the childhood of the heroine and her brother John Wilkes Booth, the killer of president LIncoln. The author portrays Asia Booth as a "tomboy" and a frustrated shakespearean "actor" held back because of her gender and the conventions of the 19th century. We feel empathy towards her as the novel progresses through her teenage years to her growth into womanhood and wife. Although pro-union and married to a yankee, she is stiil drawn by the magnetism of her brother to engaging in disloyal behavior through letting her house become a conduit for confederate spies as a "drop" for dispatches. She is a magnificent well-drawn character who under "house arrest" as the manhunt for her brother continues in the background , faces her captors with courage. The author has researched the period and told a wonderful tale.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Every now and then, if you are lucky, you will come across a book on a topic you never knew you wanted to explore. Booth’s Sister by Jane Singer is one. Being Canadian I had an interest, certainly, in American history and politics, but no driving urge to know more about the John Wilkes Booths or Lee Harvey Oswalds. Much of what you hear about the latter swirls around conspiracy theories and yawn, government cover-up. This has never really whetted my appetite. I knew nothing of Booth, other that he shot a pivotal figure during the Civil War and was subsequently caught and killed. I think the credibility of this book centers on the author and her credentials as an historian. But bearing in mind that this was a work of historical fiction and not non-fiction, I did find myself becoming more and more involved and by the end of the book, I was wanting more.I wanted more of what it was that inspired and influenced John Wilkes Booth during his childhood. How does one grow up in a house of thought and people dedicated to anti-slavery and pro-union, and with such close a relationship to a sibling (as to border on adulation), diverge so greatly in social philosophy and political ideology?Given what is happening in the US today since the election of a black president, I drew many parallels while reading this book. The polarization in politics, the fanatical and fundamentalist beliefs and the vitriol being hurled in America today is reflected in this book set over 150 years ago. It actually made me nervous for the realities of today as I watched the manifestation of an obsessive belief in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.Singer takes considerable literary licence and that is not necessarily a bad thing in Booth’s Sister. It adds colour and gives the reader a real sense of being an insider in this home. Structurally, a few sections were a bit disjointed and some of the transitions in time and reality were slightly confusing, but overall I enjoyed reading this book. I will certainly read the published memoir of Asia Booth.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Booth's Sister by Jane Singer is a fictionalized account of the relationship of Asia Booth Clarke and her brother John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. The book basically divides itself into two parts, early life and adult years. Granted that this is historical fiction, the first part of the book was hard to follow and seemed disjointed.....maybe too little fact and too much fiction. The second part of the book that delt with the adult lives of Asia and John Wilkes seemed to be based on more factual material or at least was more believable. The author's ability to paint a scene with words is excellent, the stuff of great fiction. I was however, disappointed in the excessive and unnecessary use of profanity. I think it is possible to spin a good story without dragging the Lord's name thru the mud.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Starts out recounting Asia and John Wilkes Booth childhood and then becomes rather disjointed as Asia tells of her implication in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Too much back story and not enough action. Gets hard to follow in the last quarter of the story.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I was really excited when this came out on the Kindle for free. I had just borrowed a Kindle from where I work and I was dying to try it out. Let me just start off by saying that I was really excited to read this, I had never thought of the effect of Booth's actions in reguards to the rest of the family. It started out rather decently if not a little confusing at times. We readers were transported into the childhood of Asia and John written in a flowery language with a dash of magical realism sprinkled in for good measure. There was much quoting of plays but seeing as their father was an actor, that was perfectly fine. Then it starts getting weird. First off there aren't many indications over the lapse of time between sections and between chapters. Sometimes Singer would give a clue but mostly the reader had to play catch up. Then we have imagine scenerios with Asia which jump in and out of reality. It was just too hard to follow. Don't waste your time on this one.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Received a free kindle ebook and can't finish it. I read about 2 chapters and it was WEIRD. Had a lot to do with their early life with actor parents and dragged. Maybe it picked up as it went further chronologically, but I couldn't get there.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book covers the life of Asia Booth and her brother John Wilkes. This was a story I couldn't wait to read. I was disappointed. There is a lot of Shakespearean verse and acting scenes which I thought was unneccessary. After plowing through it, I did learn a few things about the Booth family . Mainly, Asia wanted to be on stage but her Father would not allow it. She did help her brother become a famous actor.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is a book told from the point of view of Asia Booth Clark, John Wilks Booth's sister. It begins after he shoots the president and then goes back to their childhood on a scrub farm. Both children are raised in an acting family, although Asia shows more promise than her brother to be an actor, her father forbids her to act, telling her he doesn't want her to wear make up or to be anyone's whore. In the segment about their childhood, it is a little slow, partly b/c of the writing and partly b/c I have a hard time reading about obvious neglect of children. Once it moves past their childhood and when both Booth children are in puberty/early teens, it speeds up more.I enjoyed the historical point of this book, but the author made it seem like Asia (who married a man she didn't love to save the family money) was in love w/ her brother. The free slave, Gillian, seemed more like a mother than her birth mother. I'm giving it two stars b/c I do like civil war history, but the book seems disjointed and confusing in places. I probably won't read this one again.

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Booth's Sister - Jane Singer

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