Four star review, originally posted here on February 2, 2024.
I wanted this book to be a 5 star review. It started off so great. There was so much amazing history to learn here. I relished the pouring on of details about life in post-colonial New York City. I think most history I’ve learned about this period was entirely about the formation of the new federal government, and the lives of normal humans, their jobs, their culture, their dramas, is skipped over. The fact that the author was able to retrace the character’s exact movements in such details was incredible, and I loved how he was able to switch between this narrative drama and the historic topics it introduced. It was fascinating to compare attitudes and laws of today with those described in the book. In terms of content, this book was absolutely incredible, and definitely worth a read.
That being said, I was constantly annoyed while reading it. If the content wasn’t so interesting, the star rating would be even lower. My #1 complaint is that the book is just suuuuuuper repetitive. This is especially true when we got to the trial itself. The facts themselves aren’t really repeated much, but the speculation and commentary is. If things are dragging a bit because we’re a little heavy with the quantity of historic details, that’s something I’m generally ok with. But this book dragged because we had to have the stakes of the trial reframed for us again and again and again.
Also, the author had to walk a very fine line when deciding how to describe Lanah Sawyer’s mindset, attitude, and thoughts. We have no way of really knowing what this lady was thinking at any given time. The author carefully started each inferred idea of hers with something to the effect of “Lanah Sawyer might have been thinking…” This fine line is virtually impossible to walk perfectly, as it’s so thin and broken. Taking a couple guesses at what her thoughts might be, based on various collected external factors, was a great way to make her narrative more engaging and human. However, at times he really overuses it. But, of course, everyone’s opinions will vary on the appropriate level of speculation; hence it’s an impossible line.
Could this book have used one more round of editing to chop some excess? Yes, absolutely. But the sheer volume of fascinating new (to me) material is so overwhelming and fascinating that it’s worth powering through the weaker bits.
Helga without the H 