Rating: 
Summary: Abe
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Abe
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts well but loses its way
Review: 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reader insight into the characters; this book seems to be trying to make too strong a point, as if it were an actual historical document instead of a picaresque fiction.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.
Rating:
Summary: Not the true story of young Abe Lincoln but still a real one
Review: After the "Lost Years" that preceded the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, the life of the young Abraham Lincoln is one of the great biographical mysteries. How did a boy, born in a log cabin to poor, uneducated dirt farmer become arguably the most important figure in the nation's history? The prominence of this position is based on my belief that no other American living during the time of the Civil War could have preserved the Union. But it is hard to reconcile the author of the rhetorical eloquence of "The Gettysburg Address" and "The Second Inaugural," both of which are carved into the walls of the Lincoln Memorial, with the young boy trying to learn to read by candlelight out on the American frontier. What little is known of the young Lincoln serves as the narrative framework for "Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln." As he explains in his afterword, author Richard Slotkin has taken some liberties with events (he combines Lincoln's two raft trips down the Mississippi into one) and people (Lincoln crosses paths with several prominent people he probably never met). Slotkin is interested in explaining "how a man raised as a 'normal' nineteenth century racist was able to transcend the limitations of his culture." Having authored several books on the American frontier of the 19th century, Slotkin uses that background to select various true stories and add Lincoln to their telling. Readers will see a strong but ironic parallel to Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," which I am sure was intentional on Slotkin's part. The strength of "Abe" is how Slotkin slowly has the pieces come together for the Lincoln that would preserve the Union. There is a moment relatively early on in the novel where Lincoln gets the hang of telling a story and of making a point "sideways." It is watching the young Lincoln try to make sense of the world around him, not just the issue of slavery but his strained relationship with his father, the nature of republican government, the mystery of women, and how to navigate the Mississippi River, that this novel becomes captivating. The portrait of Lincoln's parents has a resonance beyond what you can find in a Lincoln biography and Slotkin totally captures life on the frontier of Kentucky, Indiana and Elanoy. This is obviously a work of fiction, so it is not the true story of young Abe Lincoln, but it has the feel of a real story. Certainly Slotkin can be forgiven historical liberties taken in the pursuit of a better understanding of the creation of the nation's most important political figure. Following his assassination, Lincoln, the most vilified President in the nation's history to be sure, was deified as a martyred saint. Slotkin creates a memorable portrait of Lincoln, at the time when the idea first entered his head that his goal in life was to find a part to play, and a stage to play it on. In the end, Slotkin creates a slight but significant gap in his narrative, signifying that the final chapters have caught up with the historical Lincoln (certainly more than the rest of the book). By that point, I think most readers will be willing to agree that he has achieved his goal and told a convincing tale of how Abe became Lincoln.
Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Great read!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: "The child is the father of the man."
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Mimicking the Greats
Review: I will be quite honest, this is a bad book. The research Slotkin did about many of the often ignored events in Lincoln's formative years and the inclusion of some obscure celebrities of the 1830's is impressive, but attempts to connect the two are ridiculous. There is simply no reason to make up a fictional story about Lincoln's upbringing to make it interesting, unusual, and important to his political beliefs. It is thrown together haphazardly and Slotkin's attempts to occasionally use the vernacular (without rhyme or reason all of the characters and even the narrator go in and out of their unique dialects)do not help the story flow or add anything to the novel. Basically it seems that Slotkin is trying to take elements from Huck Finn, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and The Bible, stir them up and add a little sexual scandal to sell a book. It does not work and really makes for a disappointing read. I think historical novels about famous leaders are great, but there should be a thesis the author goes on to prove in it and the later part of that equation is sorely lacking here--Slotkin wants to show that Lincoln's trip down the Mississippi influenced Lincoln's future politics, but he never really demonstrates it even though he was free to make up any dialogue and events he liked in order to do it. Slotkin tried to do many things with this book, and I appreciate the effort, but it just does not work and going against the general feeling of most reviewers on Amazon, I cannot recommend this to anyone unless it all you have available to read.
Rating:
Summary: Huck Finn meets Jerry Spence
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Not a typical read for me
Review: 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.
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