BEHIND THE SCENES by ELIZABETH KECKLEY (1868)

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Keckley was a free black woman who became Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker and later her close friend. This is a short memoir of her early life as a slave, before she bought her own freedom, and of her years in the White House, as seamstress and companion, and afterwards, when she aided Mrs. Lincoln following the assassination of the President.

Keckley's years as a slave are only briefly recounted; contrary to most slave narratives, she remembers her owners fondly, for the most part. She acknowledges the injustice of slavery, particularly the cleavage of families, but has little complaint with the way she was treated. As a free woman, she sewed for some of Washington's most powerful, including Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. She developed a friendship with Mrs. Lincoln, who was shunned by the Washington elite and thus had few close friends while her husband was president. Keckley is obliquely critical of the President's wife for her profligate spending, but does not relate any indications of mental illness, which have been claimed by critics of the time and by historians.

Elizabeth Keckley was criticized by many at the time of this book's appearance for betraying Mary Lincoln's confidence. It would be interesting to find out if their friendship continued after the publication.

LINCOLN by GORE VIDAL (1984)

This is a fictionalized biography of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. It is purportedly very accurate in regard to historical events, although some historians have taken issue with several of the details, such as the fact that Lincoln was afflicted with syphilis in his young manhood. It is so detailed as to be tedious at times, and it is certainly overly long (700+ pages). If I had not read a couple of non-fiction books about Lincoln just previous, I believe I would have become bogged down by this fictional treatment.

One aspect of Lincoln's life was new to me--that his wife Mary Todd Lincoln behaved so bizarrely. I will read further non-fiction about her before I take Vidal's accounts of her actions as fact, though if he is to be believed, it would appear that she was actually mentally ill, not just temperamental.

Not just from this book, but also from the other Lincoln books I have read I have been made aware that Lincoln was not quite the abolitionist I had imagined him to be. His primary object always was to preserve the Union, not to free the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, when it came later in the war, was a tactical decision more than a decision of conscience. He did believe slavery was wrong and that it should not be allowed to spread to new territories, but he had serious doubts about the feasibility of immediate freedom for all slaves and about the prospects for integration of thousands of freed slaves into white society.

I would recommend that a reader wanting to know more about Abraham Lincoln read one of the excellent non-fiction biographies or histories rather than this fictionalized treatment. Contrary to what one would expect, it is boring in comparison to the non-fiction I have read treating the same subject.

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST by MOHSIN HAMID (2007)

I liked this novel about a young Pakistani man's disenchantment with the United States much better until I started thinking about it. When I read a well written book I tend to "go with the flow," living for a time in the world of the novelist. I don't analyze until afterwards. (That is one benefit to me of doing these reviews; I always take time afterward to think about what I have read.)

Hamid structures his story through the uninterrupted monologue of the protagonist, Changez, taking place in Lahore, Pakistan. He has returned to his home country from America, following graduation with honors from Princeton and a year as a financial analyst with a hefty salary at a New York City firm. Though he has achieved the American Dream, he gradually realizes he has allegiances more fundamental than power and money. Despite the suggestive title, the Muslim religion plays no factor in the story.

It did not take much thinking time for me to realize that the story is actually an allegory. The main character's name suggests the shift in his thinking. He has an ill-fated love affair with a girl named (Am)Erica, who ultimately chooses to try to live in reminiscences and imitation of her past rather than to forge a new future that includes him. His employer is in the business of determining the values of companies without regard for the human lives affected (just as the U.S. initiates and abets military conflicts, don't you know.) And so forth. The entire book is a critique of America and its self-centered policies. Many of these criticisms are accurate and justified, even more so now that President Trump has decided to "Make America Great Again," but this is a simplistic treatment of a complex situation. In the end, the novel comes across primarily as an exercise in America-bashing.

But it is well written. The narrative voice of the protagonist is formal and exacting and reads as I imagine a very intelligent and well educated man would speak if his first language were not English. The conclusion is open-ended, which would usually be irritating, but in this case is entirely appropriate.

I would recommend this novel, with reservations. As a surface story, its plot is less than interesting, but as an allegory, it provides much to think about. At the very least, it is worthwhile to learn something about how those from elsewhere view the U.S.

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist was longlisted for England's Booker Prize in 2007.

LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND by PAULETTE JILES (2013)

I was so impressed with the writing of Paulette Jiles in her 2016 novel News of the World (reviewed in September) that I ordered a couple of her older books. This 2013 novel is likewise vibrantly and poetically written. It is a bit disappointing, however, in that it also has a very similar plot structure. One thus assumes from the beginning that it will have a similar happy ending, causing any suspense to be missing. The plot, which is of a journey through dangers and chaos toward a safe haven, is, of course, not unique to Jiles, originating probably with The Odyssey and being used time and again since. It would have been refreshing if Jiles could have utilized another stock plot, just for variety's sake.

This is a dystopian novel of the future United States, when dense and extensive cities have covered most of the country, and the majority of the people are employed by the vast governing bureaucracy. Those individuals who don't fit in, who criticize the government, or who are denounced by someone wanting their job are sent to forced labor on work farms. The book's heroine, Nadia Stepan, is denounced, so she goes on the run, attempting to escape to the Pacific Northwest to Lighthouse Island, a sparsely populated and natural area which she has only seen on the ubiquitous television. Her danger-filled journey is the center of the story.

The simplistic plot and the addition of a love interest give the novel something of a Young Adult feel, but it is rescued from being just another YA Dystopia by the originality and beauty of the language. I wish that Paulette Jiles had the plotting talent to match her talent with words.

DIVINE INVASIONS=A LIFE OF PHILIP K. DICK by LAWRENCE SUTIN (2005)

This is a biography for die-hard Philip K. Dick fans written by an obvious die-hard fan. It is in no way a detached and impartial portrait of the writer; it is instead a tribute. Sutin briefly covers Dick's early life, concentrating instead on his adult years as an author. He gives most attention to Dick's mystical/hallucinogenic experiences, which began in February, 1974, and continued through March. Dick believed he had received knowledge from a non-human intelligence and glimpses into an alternate reality. Dick himself did not know what to make of all this, sometimes believing in the authenticity of his visions, sometimes attributing them to drug usage, sometimes attributing them to schizophrenia. The remainder of his life, he wrote an 8,000-page "exegesis" examining and trying to explain the experiences to himself. He used the experiences in his novels written after 1974 as part of the plots, particularly in Valis.

One new thing I learned was about Dick's life-long yearning for his twin sister, who had died at a few months old. He identified her in his mind as growing to be a beautiful dark haired girl, and frequently included a fascinating dark haired girl in his book plots, including the book of his I just read, We Can Build You.

Another interesting aspects of this book is the "Chronological Survey and Guide" at the end, in which Sutin summarizes each of Dick's many novels and gives his opinion as to their relative effectiveness. Some of the books would be classified as "pulp fiction" and some reached genius level. All show that Dick had a transcendent and unique imagination.

WE CAN BUILD YOU by PHILIP K. DICK (1972)

As I was searching the internet for books to read about Abraham Lincoln, I ran across this Philip K. Dick novel that I had never heard of, which was supposed to feature Lincoln as one of the characters. As it turns out, it only marginally concerns a simulacrum (android) of Lincoln, being instead primarily the story of a man's obsession with the psychopathic girl who created the android.

As always with Dick, the plot is convoluted. One of its concerns is the difference between human and non-human, much as in his more well-known novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (the basis of the movie Blade Runner). This is certainly not one of Dick's best; it is rather sloppily written and seems to contain few of the quirks that make his best books memorable. I do not recommend it except for die-hard Dick fans.

APRIL 1865 by JAY WINIK (2001)

The subtitle of this excellent history is "The Month That Saved America." This was the month in which Lee surrendered to Grant, which would not have happened if Lee had found his food supplies where he expected them to be and if he thus could have joined up with Johnston. It was the month that Johnston then surrendered to Sherman, overruling the orders of Confederate President Davis, who wanted the army to scatter and become guerilla fighters. extending the war for years, if not decades. The other Confederate generals then surrendered one by one. It was also, tragically, the month President Lincoln was assassinated, which could have plunged the Union into chaos and disarray, but the transition of power to the Vice-President was smoothly accomplished. If Lincoln had been killed before the Confederate surrender, the terms for peace would not have been so gracious and just, creating even more difficulty in bringing about a reconciliation of the divided nation.

Jay Winik's account of this extraordinary month is as engrossing as any novel and as well written, in vibrant and graceful prose. This is a history book written for non-historians and historians alike. It is as well documented as the driest history tome but presented in a style easy to understand for the history-ignorant. The author seamlessly includes character sketches and background histories of the primary participants, which make the account more personal and immediate. This book earns my highest recommendations.

Democracy is a bold endeavor, not easily achieved and maintained on a large scale with a diverse, and often culturally divided, population. The coming-together of the American states following the Civil War to form one nation which still endures is something of a miracle. It would surely have been easier if Lincoln had lived to oversee Reconstruction, but it was accomplished, nevertheless.

A. LINCOLN by RONALD C. WHITE, JR. (2009)

It is gratifying when all your preconceived notions about a famous man are confirmed. This biography corroborates my previously held opinion that Abraham Lincoln was probably the best president our fortunate country has ever elected. That the book is widely accepted as one of the best biographies of Lincoln and that it is obviously highly researched by a well-known historian allow me to accept it as factual. Even though it becomes obvious that White is a Lincoln fan, he does not hesitate to recount the instances of mistaken thinking or actions.

White spends little time in telling us about Lincoln's youth or personal details of his life. Lincoln was very reticent about such things and relatively little is known. Instead White concentrates on Lincoln's actions and writings as a politician and as president, basing his conjectures about the President's thoughts on what was done and said rather than on his own suppositions.

One unusual aspect of the book, and one that was particularly interesting to me, is that White spends a significant portion of the book in analyzing the rhetoric of Lincoln's speeches and writings. Lincoln was largely self-educated, but his mastery of the English language would seem to indicate the highest level of scholarship. That he was a voracious reader is well documented, and that his favorites included the King James Bible and Shakespeare comes as no surprise when one considers the rhetorical devices he utilized. One cannot help but be reminded that today we have a president who depends on television for his knowledge of the world and who has difficulty in forming a coherent sentence. Alas.

When one thinks of Lincoln, the first thought of most is naturally that he is the man who freed the slaves, but he did much more than that, his primary goal being to preserve the nation as one whole rather than as a loose confederation of independent states. It appears to me that he deserves all the accolades we have since awarded him.

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And he really was Honest Abe. Many who knew him, including even political enemies, remarked on the fact.