I read a glowing review of this book and so I had high expectations, even recommended it to my book club to read. I liked it fine, I learned about the family of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, and about Polish aristocracy and celebrity, and a new aspect of American pioneering. There were parts I liked more than others, and literary gimmicks I appreciated and some that I didn't at all (I liked reading the list of everybody's reasons for setting off for America, and I like reading Maryna's husband Bogdan's diary; but I didn't like the book ending with the actor Booth's monologue at all. This was the first I've read of Susan Sontag's and I have to admit I expected more from the experience.