Booth follows the lives of the family of John Wilkes Booth, beginning before he is born. Written from the alternating points of view of some of his siblings, it begins when Rosalie, his oldest sister, is a young girl. Her father, a famous actor, is known as much for his drunken bouts and acts of insanity as his theatrical genius. He is often away. Rosalie’s mother is in a state of depression as, one by one, several of her children have died. Rosalie herself is missing the latest one, her favorite brother, Henry.
The family lives on a farm in Maryland that is run by their black servants, the Halls. These servants are slaves—someone else’s that Junius Booth leases, but he also pays them a wage so that they can save up to free themselves. So, the Booth family’s inconsistent stance on slavery comes in right from the beginning.
This book is interesting. It follows the growth of all the Booth siblings through several shocks—the first being the discovery that their father and mother aren’t legally married. They find this out after they move to Baltimore. His legal wife tracks them down all the way from England and follows them on the street shouting horrible things. Some of them develop a fear of sullying the family honor that is eventually forever shattered.
John Wilkes Booth becomes the son favored by their mother, the handsome one, the one who can do no wrong. He is also determined to put his mark on the world but not so interested in working hard to do it.
All of the family members have their difficulties and foibles, which makes it an interesting story. Interspersed between the chapters about the Booths are short ones about Lincoln’s progress as a politician and then as President.
Fowler says she thought of this topic when thinking of the families of our recent mass murderers. That’s exactly what I thought of when reading this novel.
It’s been interesting to see how Karen Joy Fowler has been developing, from the author of a few rather negligible although readable books to what I think is still her masterpiece, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I like that she seems to be adventurous in picking her subjects.
whatmeread 
I love it when an author can approach each book in a new way or with a fresh new topic.
She certainly seems to do that.
I enjoyed this, although I actually found the theatrical parts more interesting than the parts about John Wilkes Booth. I haven’t read anything else by Karen Joy Fowler yet.
You know, I would agree with that. I didn’t find JWB very appealing as a person. I just loved her We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, but it may sound like a very strange novel if you read the description of it. I avoided it for a while because I didn’t think I would like it, but when I read it, I thought it was extremely touching.
I fear I gave up on this pretty early on – all those dead children! Maybe I should have skipped ahead to where the survivors became adults. I read a bio of John Wilkes Booth a few years ago and came away from it feeling that his family actually sounded considerably more interesting than he was.
Yeah, he just came off as a spoiled brat.
Your post and the comments have made me interested in reading this book. Thank you.
Thanks!