Becoming Lady Washington: A Novel From The Perspective of George Washington's Wife

Most of the books that I receive from publicist Wiley Saicheck have been mysteries or thrillers.  So I was astonished when he offered me Becoming Lady Washington by Betty Bolté which is historical fiction.  Since historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine and I do love reading about 18th century America, I agreed to accept a digital version prior to publication that Wiley Saichek gifted to me via Amazon.  

If you would like to see what I've previously written about George Washington,  I can direct you to my review of a history of the American Revolution called Scars of Independence which includes a paragraph about Washington here ,  and my review of an alternate history called The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington here.  My impression of Washington has been rather favorable.  So I didn't come to this book as a Washington critic. 


                            

 As a reader, I can't exactly check my 21st century perspective at the door.  This influences my subjective impression of the characters.  I want to be very clear in this review about the difference between the historical portrayal of these real individuals, and how I felt about them.  I believe that an honest review should include both. 

George Washington was and is revered for good reason.  The United States was very fortunate to have had a first president with a sense of honor and integrity.  He was all about service to his country.  If he had been oriented toward maintaining himself in power,  the history of the United States would have been very different.  It also seemed to me while I was reading  Bolté 's book that he had a very positive influence on his wife.

Martha was inclined to view home and family as her highest priorities.  There is nothing wrong with this perspective, but she was married to a man who had a great love for his country.  This love of country was a source of conflict between them.  It took some time for Martha to respect what he valued.  I think that the turning point happened during the American Revolution.  Martha Washington evolved into a patriot over the course of this novel.  This is why the title Becoming Lady Washington is so appropriate.

What makes both George and Martha most problematic in the 21st century is the issue of slavery.  Washington was unusual in considering himself an abolitionist, but believing yourself to be an abolitionist and actually being one were two different things.  See my discussion of  19th century Quaker abolitionists in my review of Slavery and the Meetinghouse here.  It all amounts to privileged people valuing their positions of privilege more than the rights of persons of color. That's why they didn't favor the abolition of slavery during their own lifetimes.   George Washington wrote in his will that his slaves would be freed after the death of Martha.  He wanted to preserve Martha's position of privilege.  Being privileged, meant that she took slavery for granted.  We see in Becoming Lady Washington that she wasn't intentionally abusive toward slaves, but the idea of a life without slaves was unthinkable until she had to think of it.

There is a book dealing with Oona Judge, a runaway slave that belonged to the Washingtons called Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar.   I haven't read this book yet, but I recognize that it changed many people's thinking about Washington and slavery when it was published.  Once you know something, you can't unknow it.  It influences the way you read books on the subject afterwards.

I found the characters and period details in Becoming Lady Washington accurate and credible.  Since I enjoy research, I liked learning about various aspects of daily life, and medical conditions mentioned in this novel about which I had no previous knowledge.  Washington's carbuncle was an unusual example.

Martha herself was likable, and I appreciated her adaptability to difficult circumstances that occurred throughout her life.  There are other wives of Founding Fathers who have never been the subjects of novels so far as I know.  Perhaps Betty Bolté will one day amaze us by writing fiction dealing with one of them.

                            

The Museum of Extraordinary Things--Alice Hoffman Discovers An Earlier New York

I wouldn't have read The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman now if the libraries hadn't been closed.  When I find books mentioned and go to the library websites to locate them, I now look for e-book editions that would enable me to check them out without waiting for libraries to re-open in the uncertain future.  This is the second library e-book that I've read lately.  The first was science fiction/mystery crossover, An Oath of Dogs, which I reviewed here.

 I honestly didn't believe I would want to write a full length blog review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things until I started reading Hoffman's acknowledgements and the Reading Group Guide questions. I then realized that I had multiple paragraphs worth of topics to discuss, and that my rating would rise accordingly.  There was more to this book than I had initially thought.

                           

One of my motivations for wanting to read The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the focus on sideshow performers who are often stigmatized as "freaks".  I am interested in their struggle  to be treated as human beings.

 I reviewed a trilogy by Hayley Lawson-Smith dealing with a circus whose original owner had an innovative and remarkably egalitarian approach toward his sideshow performers revealed in the first book of The Julius Romeros Extravaganza which I reviewed on my discontinued blog here.  The attitude of "Professor" Sardie, the "Museum's" owner, toward sideshow performers in Hoffman's book is much more akin to the villainous new owner of the Julius Romeros Extravaganza in Book 2  of Lawson-Smith's trilogy which I reviewed here .  Though Professor Sardie  isn't as relentlessly abusive as that second owner in the Lawson-Smith trilogy.

The female protagonist, Coralie Sardie,  ended up being an involuntary participant in the so called "museum". I wished that she could have been more independent sooner.  Yet I did understand that she was young and had little experience of the world away from the "Professor's"  dominance.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things is set in New York in 1911.  Alice Hoffman tells us that the events of the novel are bookended by two major fires that actually occurred that year. The first was The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire  whose casualties led to union demands for improved factory conditions.  The Wikipedia article I've linked includes an extensive list of resources related to this event.  I was thinking about the conditions of meat packers that has led to meat packing factories becoming coronavirus hotspots when I read about the Triangle Factory Fire and its aftermath in Hoffman's book.  Perhaps there is something to be learned from the success of early 20th century garment workers in getting their safety concerns addressed.  Toward the end of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, I also felt that there were parallels between the female victims of the factory fire, and Coralie's situation in the "Museum" building.

Inwood, the wooded area at the northern tip of Manhattan, is another aspect of Hoffman's novel that made me feel connected to it.  As I mentioned in my 2017 review of  Lights Out Summer, which I reviewed here , I lived in Inwood for four years.  This is the second book I've read this year in which Inwood played a significant role.  The first was The Girls With No Names which took place, largely in Inwood, during 1913. I reviewed it on Flying High Reviews here.  When I lived there, Inwood Hill Park was and still is the last patch of wild left in Manhattan.  It felt like a magical place to me.  I could imagine that forest covering a great deal more territory in the early 20th century when I was reading this novel.  I identified with Eddie Cohen's feelings about this place.  Eddie was the male protagonist of The Museum of Extraordinary Things.  Eddie considered the forest that covered the northern tip of Manhattan a refuge where he went when the city felt like an urban hell.  There were times when I felt the same way.

There is a mystery aspect to this book.  Photographer Eddie Cohen had played amateur detective by finding missing people.  When one of the missing turns out to have been murdered, Eddie is asked by the family to solve this killing. I loved Eddie's determination, and his willingness to do what seemed impossible. Eddie was actually my favorite character in The Museum of Extraordinary Things. He did transgress against ethical norms at times,  but I found his motivations understandable and I thought he always had a good heart.  He was loyal to those who he considered deserving of loyalty and kept his commitments.

Between the significant themes, the fire that has echoed down the centuries, the New York setting, the compelling characters and a resolved mystery that gave the living and the dead closure,  I have to consider this an excellent novel.

                             










                            

                        

Beaming Up and Getting Off--Star Trek Actor Walter Koenig's Latest Memoir

Since this is a blog, I sometimes don't forego the temptation to ramble a bit about subjects connected to the book under review.  This is one of the times when I decided that I really ought to exercise restraint. Recording my history of involvement in Star Trek fandom and my feelings about Babylon 5 would be cathartic, but aren't what readers of this review are really looking for.

I'm going to focus this blog entry on Walter Koenig, the author of Beaming Up and Getting Off which is an update on his previous memoirs, Chekov's Enterprise and Warped Factors.  Since I didn't read either one of those, all of this material is new to me, but there are one hundred additional pages that weren't included in the previous books. For Babylon 5 fans,  I should mention that there is an introduction by J. Michael Straczynski , the creator of that series.  I was provided with a digital review copy by publicist Jennifer Musico.

                              

I enjoy reading memoirs.  Most are focused on events.  They tend to avoid being too candid about the subject's thoughts and feelings.  I found Walter Koenig refreshingly honest. In his reminiscences, comic pratfalls meander without embarassment through the wreckage of youthful dreams, and personal pain is peppered with incisive reflections.

Koenig leans toward compassion.  It occurred to me that studying psychology in college had a good influence on Koenig. I am acquainted with individuals whose background in psychology has inclined them to be judgmental.  They are eager to stick diagnostic labels on others.  Yet Koenig seems to be empathic even toward people who had harmed him in the past.

For all his flaws, which are very visible in Beaming Up and Getting Off, I would call Walter Koenig a mensch.  This is a Yiddish term for decent human being.

                        

Mila's Tale: A Biblical Retelling Short Story by Mystery Author Laurie R. King

 I often read separately published short stories at the end of a month, but this is the first time I considered one blogworthy. I came upon "Mila's Tale" by Laurie R. King while browsing through Kindle titles looking for a short story on April 30.  I'd started and abandoned two previously, but I'd never once abandoned a Laurie R. King book unfinished.  She always holds my attention.  So I knew I'd found that final read of the month the moment I saw King's name.

                   

I really liked this modern day retelling of the Biblical story about Jephthah's daughter. King develops her into a relatable character for modern readers which makes the ending feel even more tragic.

Unfortunately,  King appropriates the Jewish term midrash to describe her story.  I'm  sorry Ms. King, but midrash simply doesn't apply in this case.  I grew up hearing midrashim throughout my childhood.  They're considered part of the oral tradition of Judaism.  They contain missing scenes or details that weren't included in the text.  They flow seamlessly from the original.  Jewish children can be so familiar with a midrash that they believe that it's actually in the Bible.  A midrash never displaces the story to a totally different context as happens in "Mila's Tale".  There is nothing wrong with writing retellings of Biblical stories that take place in the contemporary world, but please don't call it a midrash.

An actual midrash  from Ibn Ezra is cited in King's commentary that appears after the story. It reminded me of the Euripides play, Iphigenia in Tauris.  Like Euripides, Ibn Ezra re-wrote the ending of the story so that it's more to his liking.  Stories like the one of Jephthah's daughter illustrate that ancient Judaism was radically different from the religion as it is currently practiced.

King also refers to feminist theologian Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror.  Trible sees the story of Jephthah's daughter as an attack on patriarchy.  King wonders why the compilers of Old Testament biblical texts would have included it.  Good question!  The documentary hypothesis conceptualizes the Bible as being composed of differing narratives with varying viewpoints.   See the Wikipedia article I've linked. Also see The Dartmouth Bible which contains annotations that identify certain verses as belonging to one of the particular versions described in the documentary hypothesis.  The Dartmouth Bible was a college textbook of mine. The reason why I bring all this up is because the same Bible that contains the story that Eve was created from Adam's rib also contains Genesis 5:2  which reads as follows in The King James Version:

^" Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

So there's a Biblical verse from a perspective that sees both sexes as having been created together as presumed equals. Perhaps the same individual that contributed it, also selected the story of Jephthah's daughter.  We'll never know.

King says that she originally intended to write a series of Biblical retellings like "Mila's Tale".  I would have been interested in seeing them.  I think they would require King to look at the Bible through fresh eyes.