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Booth's Sister
"My brother killed Abraham Lincoln. That is my weight, my shame. While he remained at large, I was held captive in my home. I should have told the soldiers who came with guns drawn and bayonets at the ready this true thing: I might have stopped him, for I harbored him and kept his secrets. I was a pie safe locked tight and guilty as he." Asia Booth Clarke was twenty-nine years old and pregnant when Union soldiers and Federal detectives stormed her Philadelphia home in search of her assassin-brother. John Wilkes Booth's older sister had grown up in one of America's most notoriously troubled but spectacularly acclaimed acting families. "Johnny" and Edwin, her handsome brothers, were the matinee idols of the era. When John Wilkes Booth's crime left the nation in furious mourning and the Booth family under a dark cloud of accusation, it was Asia who bore the brunt. Booth's Sister was inspired by Asia Booth Clarke's personal memoirs. Author, Civil War scholar and storyteller Jane Singer has masterfully imagined the family dynamics and intimate dilemmas that led to one of America's most fateful crimes and left a sister's life in shambles.
297 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2008
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380 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
May 25, 2010
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.
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.
February 11, 2011
I really can’t say much about the book. The concept is interesting but the execution was too poor for me to form an overall statement about the final product. There isn’t enough text for Singer’s vision to translate from the page. I often felt I’d missed something and constantly had to reread entire passages to follow events. I also found the writing itself to be choppy and disjointed. As for content, I hated the connection that Asia seemed to have with her brother and the visions that she experienced. I felt that while it was a creative approach, it was confusing and unnecessary. There is no character development to speak of and I’ve seen better plotlines in television documentaries.
Singer’s effort to tell the story of Asia Booth Clarke fails in both method and clarity. Her heavy-handed approach left me confused through the first half of the novel, yawning through the latter and relieved to see the final page.
Singer’s effort to tell the story of Asia Booth Clarke fails in both method and clarity. Her heavy-handed approach left me confused through the first half of the novel, yawning through the latter and relieved to see the final page.
September 23, 2013
Historical fiction often catches my attention where other more deserving books may not. I always (ok, nearly always) enjoy these works. This particular writing is well-played. It is accurate (to the best of my knowledge and research) and voiced strongly. I would and will read it again, and do recommend it as at least a once-through.
March 7, 2010
I tried - I really tried. I made it through about 30% of the book and just gave up. the description on Amazon did not match the book contents at all.
Odd, strange, hard to understand in many places - I gave up.
Odd, strange, hard to understand in many places - I gave up.
July 26, 2015
just couldn't finish it. It meandered all over the place and never even tried to hook me. Interesting concept, poor execution.
August 31, 2020
BOOTH'S SISTER, by Jane Singer, is the fictionalized story of the sister of John Wilkes Booth, the man responsible for assassinating Abraham Lincoln, our sixteenth president. Asia Booth Clarke was just twenty-nine years old and pregnant when Union soldiers and Federal detectives stormed her home in Philadelphia in order to find her brother, who had just shot and killed the nation's sixteenth president. The older sister of John Wilkes Booth grew up in one of America's most famously troubled but wildly applauded acting families. "Johnny" and Edwin, her attractive brothers, were idolized as actors of the time. John Wilkes Booth's crazed ideology and eventual crime left the nation in angered mourning, and left the Booth family under a dark cloud of accusation and suspicion. However, it was John Wilkes Booth's older sister, Asia, who bore the majority of this scrutiny. Fictional in nature, but inspired by Asia Booth Clarke's own personal memoirs, this masterfully written novel allows the reader to imagine the family dynamics and intimate issues and details that led to one of our country's most tragic crimes, which left the assassin's sister's life in total disarray. We would recommend this novel to anyone interested in this period of history. However, we must warn the reader that, while we enjoyed the basic plot of the book, the way in which it was written left much to be desired. We felt the book jumped around from plot to plot with little to no warning, making the reading of the book very disjointed.
April 30, 2010
Spoiler: Abraham Lincoln dies, and John Wilkes Booth did it. Bet you didn't know that.
Another free Kindle download, Booth's Sister intrigued me because of the subject. Wouldn't it be cool to see the events told from this point of view? It wasn't what I expected, though. The narrative style is a little too dreamlike, most especially during the first and middle part of the book where Asia (Booth's sister) describes their childhood. I liked the characterizations of the two of them, but I just didn't like how the story was told, where it goes from memory to memory in this misty non-linear pattern and characters recite verses from out of the blue with hardly any attribution.
A little bit of that writing style sprinkled throughout would have been nice, but it was maintained pretty heavily throughout the book that it got really tedious and boring to read. It's much like talking to someone with their head constantly in a cloud -- after a while, you simply can't make sense of what they're telling you, and you want to scream, "Can't you just talk straight?"
I understand the intention, but it seems like an easy way out to imagine and verbalize what Asia Booth might have gone through in the early years. Yes, I can see that she'd be a little tomboyish and want to follow her father into acting, and I can see how he would try to keep her from it and have her be a lady. I can also see how close she might have been to her brother in her attempt to live vicariously through him, but the dreamlike way of telling that story just didn't appeal to me at all.
Later in the book, Asia is somehow able to read and feel John Wilkes Booth's mind -- presumably because they've been so close to each other. I have no idea if that bit has any basis in fact or not, but it seems like a very queer way of telling John's story, in his point of view, about his deed and his capture. I can see the reason behind it, but the mechanism calls too much attention to it, and when I start to pay too much attention to that sort of thing, I know the author has failed to suspend my disbelief. All I can think then is how much better the story might have been executed.
Anyway, it was still an interesting read -- not really much to my liking, though I can say with some truth that reading this book was a unique experience. It harkened me back to the days when I read a lot of experimental writing, which, actually, can be very hard reading.
All in all, it was OK.
Downloaded March 1, 2010. Finished reading April 9, 2010.
Another free Kindle download, Booth's Sister intrigued me because of the subject. Wouldn't it be cool to see the events told from this point of view? It wasn't what I expected, though. The narrative style is a little too dreamlike, most especially during the first and middle part of the book where Asia (Booth's sister) describes their childhood. I liked the characterizations of the two of them, but I just didn't like how the story was told, where it goes from memory to memory in this misty non-linear pattern and characters recite verses from out of the blue with hardly any attribution.
A little bit of that writing style sprinkled throughout would have been nice, but it was maintained pretty heavily throughout the book that it got really tedious and boring to read. It's much like talking to someone with their head constantly in a cloud -- after a while, you simply can't make sense of what they're telling you, and you want to scream, "Can't you just talk straight?"
I understand the intention, but it seems like an easy way out to imagine and verbalize what Asia Booth might have gone through in the early years. Yes, I can see that she'd be a little tomboyish and want to follow her father into acting, and I can see how he would try to keep her from it and have her be a lady. I can also see how close she might have been to her brother in her attempt to live vicariously through him, but the dreamlike way of telling that story just didn't appeal to me at all.
Later in the book, Asia is somehow able to read and feel John Wilkes Booth's mind -- presumably because they've been so close to each other. I have no idea if that bit has any basis in fact or not, but it seems like a very queer way of telling John's story, in his point of view, about his deed and his capture. I can see the reason behind it, but the mechanism calls too much attention to it, and when I start to pay too much attention to that sort of thing, I know the author has failed to suspend my disbelief. All I can think then is how much better the story might have been executed.
Anyway, it was still an interesting read -- not really much to my liking, though I can say with some truth that reading this book was a unique experience. It harkened me back to the days when I read a lot of experimental writing, which, actually, can be very hard reading.
All in all, it was OK.
Downloaded March 1, 2010. Finished reading April 9, 2010.
June 3, 2012
Decades ago, "stream of consciousness" was a popular technique in which less attention was paid to narrative and more to the character's thoughts as they occurred. Booth's Sister, a semi-biographical novel about Asia Booth's experiences as part of the family of John Wilkes Booth, does this to some extent, particularly in the first half. John and Asia had an unconventional, unstructured upbringing, not surprising since their father and older brother were among America's earliest idols. Since the author based her story upon Asia's own memoirs, it seems likely that the childhood memories recounted here are reasonable accurate, at least with respect to how Asia perceived the things that happened. If so, questions arise as to the nature of her and John's relationship, which appears to have lacked normal boundaries, to say the least.
The second half of the novel recounts Asia's life after her marriage to John Clarke, whom she apparently did not love because he was not John Wilkes. While she was aware that her brother was plotting against President Lincoln, she did not seem to believe he would resort to murder, and she did not share his confederate sympathies. When the war ended, she expected his machinations to end along with it. The focus in this section lies mainly on the days during which she was kept under house arrest, while the manhunt for her brother was underway.
There are quotations from Shakespeare (the Booths were Shakespearian thespians) at the end of every chapter, and they were chosen with care to reflect what was happening to and around Asia herself. Booth's Sister is not your typical historical novel, but its idiosyncrasies add to the interest.
The second half of the novel recounts Asia's life after her marriage to John Clarke, whom she apparently did not love because he was not John Wilkes. While she was aware that her brother was plotting against President Lincoln, she did not seem to believe he would resort to murder, and she did not share his confederate sympathies. When the war ended, she expected his machinations to end along with it. The focus in this section lies mainly on the days during which she was kept under house arrest, while the manhunt for her brother was underway.
There are quotations from Shakespeare (the Booths were Shakespearian thespians) at the end of every chapter, and they were chosen with care to reflect what was happening to and around Asia herself. Booth's Sister is not your typical historical novel, but its idiosyncrasies add to the interest.
April 1, 2010
Ok. . Booth's Sister. . .I'm not sure what to say about this book. This was also a free kindle book that caught my eye. It's historical fiction that the author took from diaries of Asia. It's the story of Asia Booth Clarke, John Wilkes Booth's sister. It picks up on the night of Lincoln's assasination. Asia's home is stormed by military to demand the whereabouts of her brother, John. She is put on house arrest for 10 days, during which time she reflects back to her childhood and her close relationship with her brother. The book gave someone, like myself, who didn't know much about the Booth family, a little insight into who they were. So I learned a little reading this book. Thus the reason for the 2 stars.
However, there was alot of quoting of Shakespere and swearing throughout the book. I wouldn't recommend it. It was hard to follow in places and the writing just seemed really "choppy". Maybe someone who is studied up on Lincoln's assasination and well versed with Shakespere would enjoy this book. Otherwise, just stay away.
However, there was alot of quoting of Shakespere and swearing throughout the book. I wouldn't recommend it. It was hard to follow in places and the writing just seemed really "choppy". Maybe someone who is studied up on Lincoln's assasination and well versed with Shakespere would enjoy this book. Otherwise, just stay away.
July 22, 2009
I received this as a review copy from the publisher...so here's my review.
I knew of course that John Wilkes Booth was the man who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln but really that was all I knew. Nothing about who he was before that or his family so I was really was looking forward to this book. I'm afraid I was left a bit disappointed - the book as a whole was just ok. I think what ruined it for me was the entire section where Asia (John's sister) was accounting their childhood...it was barely readable for me - to much Shakespearean musings not enough straight story telling for my liking. The rest of the book was interesting I just wished she would have cut some of that out. I did learn some things I hadn't known before which is always the best part of historical fiction. But the book left me wondering as Singer portrays his family as being very pro-union, anti-slavery - what caused him to take such an opposite viewpoint and to go to such drastic lengths for that cause.
I knew of course that John Wilkes Booth was the man who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln but really that was all I knew. Nothing about who he was before that or his family so I was really was looking forward to this book. I'm afraid I was left a bit disappointed - the book as a whole was just ok. I think what ruined it for me was the entire section where Asia (John's sister) was accounting their childhood...it was barely readable for me - to much Shakespearean musings not enough straight story telling for my liking. The rest of the book was interesting I just wished she would have cut some of that out. I did learn some things I hadn't known before which is always the best part of historical fiction. But the book left me wondering as Singer portrays his family as being very pro-union, anti-slavery - what caused him to take such an opposite viewpoint and to go to such drastic lengths for that cause.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2010
I am a fan of historical fiction and non-fictional memoirs from this era and I have read a number of them, specifically focusing on the Confederacy and the plight of the slaves (including a fictional memoir from the perspective of a female slave owner, "Property", by Valerie Martin.) However, I have never read anything, fictional or non-fictional, addressing the life and times of the infamous John Wilkes Booth and his family. So when I found a free Kindle book on amazon.com for a fictional memoir told from the perspective of Asia Boothe, the assassin's sister, I was excited.
The idea is a good one and the story was readable, I just found myself skimming through some parts as the writing style just didn't really grab me. The Shakespearean quotes, while certainly accentuating the Booth's as a theatrical family, didn't really work for me either. But the idea was still interesting and a worthwhile endeavor on the part of this author.
The idea is a good one and the story was readable, I just found myself skimming through some parts as the writing style just didn't really grab me. The Shakespearean quotes, while certainly accentuating the Booth's as a theatrical family, didn't really work for me either. But the idea was still interesting and a worthwhile endeavor on the part of this author.
May 10, 2010
Oh...my.
I'm going to preface by saying that I haven't read the whole book.
That's hard for me to admit. I have this - compulsion - to finish books.
And I just can't do it. I've got this stack of incredible books I want to read and I just...can't...bring...myself to finish it.
That makes me sad.
I found it very hard to connect to Asia, JWB's sister. I was, by turns, intrigued and annoyed by the inclusion of the allegorical Shakespeare quotes at the end of each chapter. There was too much fantasy in a book I wanted to be much more reality-based. Eventually, I found myself reading other books and keeping Booth's Sister up on my currently reading shelf, so I decided to bag it.
Sorry, Jane Singer.
Next!
I'm going to preface by saying that I haven't read the whole book.
That's hard for me to admit. I have this - compulsion - to finish books.
And I just can't do it. I've got this stack of incredible books I want to read and I just...can't...bring...myself to finish it.
That makes me sad.
I found it very hard to connect to Asia, JWB's sister. I was, by turns, intrigued and annoyed by the inclusion of the allegorical Shakespeare quotes at the end of each chapter. There was too much fantasy in a book I wanted to be much more reality-based. Eventually, I found myself reading other books and keeping Booth's Sister up on my currently reading shelf, so I decided to bag it.
Sorry, Jane Singer.
Next!
July 29, 2011
This author's writing style was so hard to follow. The plot would switch from past to present with no indication. I found it hard to understand and to develop an interest in the characters. I thought it was going to be about Asia and John and how their relationship developed but it was primarily about their father and his eccentric theater lifestyle. He communicated with his family through role-playing...like everything was a play they were involved in. I just couldn't get into this book and didn't finish it. I don't feel right giving it a star rating since I didn't finish, but for what I did read I would give it 1 star. There was great potential for this story but the author just didn't deliver.
January 23, 2016
This book was one of the best I have read in quite some time. It tells the story of Asia Booth, sister of John Wilkes Booth, who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. This book was so absorbing, I literally lost touch with my true surroundings while reading it and had dreams about its happenings. No book has done that for me in years! It was sad for this book to end because I was so involved in its story. Although I could never truly sympathize with someone who has murdered, this made me feel some sort of pity for John Wilkes Booth, and a desire for him to have made a better life of himself and for his sister.
April 28, 2010
The author wants to tell the story of Asia Booth Clarke, the sister to John Wilkes Booth, but fails in clarity and style. The interesting bit, that of what happened surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, is lost amidst recollections of childhood, disjointed "visions" and scenes, and a wish for magic. Asia is a pitiable character who is bound by her gender yet rails against it, only ineffectively and never to truly live on her own. In that her behavior is probably accurate for the time, but it produces dull reading. I got this as a free Kindle book, and I'm glad that I did not spend any money on it.
July 23, 2012
This was really a whimsical piece of historical fiction loosely based on John Wilkes Booth's sister. There is a lot of creative license taken in this work and it is almost written in a "stream of conscious" method that leaves the reader feeling a bit out of the loop. Add in the Shakespeare quotes at the end of every chapter and it just gets more convoluted. I realize from reading the author's acknowledgements that she has a great interest in the Civil War time period. But, I'm glad this book was a free download and didn't take long to read.
May 1, 2010
This was rather hard to get into, disappointing for what I expected. Parts of it gave a picture of what was happening in the Booth family preceding a at the time of Lincoln's assassination, but a lot of it was trying (I think) to make a fantasy picture of what a great father and childhood they had. A couple of essays at the end were more enlightening than parts of the book even though they were written by anti-Lincoln people. The one thing this book has inspired me to do is read some Shakespeare!
December 31, 2013
I liked this book ok but it is a work of fiction and a lot of people do not realize that. I went into it thinking it was non fiction until a few things made me go 'hummm'. I then looked and realized it was fiction. For one thing Booths' sister at one point took the arm of a black man and had him escort her. Noooooooooo, I really do not think that would have happened. I thought it might be possible but certainly not probable and some could argue no respectable white woman would have done that back then North of South. It was a good book though but certainly not anything to brag about.
March 30, 2010
Ummm, welll...this is historical fiction, I guess. Fiction, certainly...historical characters, yes.. I guess the part that put me off was the absolute strangeness of the relationship between the characters. I never got the sense that the characters were developed...I never really understood them. This plays well into the 'insanity' defense that the book seems to offer fort he assassination. However, I just never really -fell into- the story, and had a hard time finishing.
March 12, 2014
Such a disappointing book! I was excited to start this book, thinking there would be some real meat to it and I was thoroughly disappointed. I have to admit I skipped several pages, I did not care to read about their games with their father. The book had less to do with the Lincoln assassination than one would assume. I don't understand what the point of the book was but I wish I'd spent my time reading something else.
October 24, 2011
I don't usually read this genre of books, however, I found "Booth's Sister" intriguing. There was some head hopping that distracted me during the reading and the constant quoting of Shakespeare could have been reduced and still maintain the point the author was trying to make, but the overall story was a good one and well worth the time I spent reading it. :)
July 13, 2013
I only finished the book because I don't finish books...its not in my DNA. I really wanted to like this book, I love historical fiction. It just wasn't meant to be.
I had a hard time following the story -- very jumpy. I could not find anything to like about Asia (Booth's sister) and being someone not schooled in Shakespeare, I was lost with all the references.
I had a hard time following the story -- very jumpy. I could not find anything to like about Asia (Booth's sister) and being someone not schooled in Shakespeare, I was lost with all the references.
May 11, 2010
A very strange book -- I had hoped for more. Obviously John Booth and his sister Asia had a very strange childhood and adulthood was apparently affected...the style of the book was eerie, which was perhaps the intent of the author...but it didn't make for very compelling reading.
March 8, 2010
I am not sure how close this is to the actual history but I found it a little bit strange. The book kept referring to a deep almost psychic connection between sister and brother. In the book she apparently felt like she was one with the brother? I don't know, strange story.
March 30, 2010
It wasn't really confusing, but I really didn't care for the floating language and the disjointed, disconnected chapters. It was too much work to keep up with the speakers and the time sequences which were not sequential!!
June 8, 2010
A free Kindle download that I couldn't pass up. Interesting story, not great writing. Sometimes the story seemed to get a little weird and disjointed, but I am glad I read it. Had not ever thought/read about Asia Booth and may have to do a little more reading about her now.
dnf
July 25, 2010DNF. Thank goodness it is a library book. The whole sister and brother love is abnormal and the prose is strange. Had to read entire sentences three times to figure out what it was saying. I pass.
August 6, 2011
I made the mistake of looking at the reviews for this book before reading it and prepared myself for a terrible read. I actually considered not reading the book. I'm glad I reconsidered.
I enjoyed the history of the Booths and this book actually made me want to find out more about them.
I enjoyed the history of the Booths and this book actually made me want to find out more about them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews