Scan barcode
merv_d's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
katmarhan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
8.25/10
Certainly a different view of the early history of the US than the one I learned years ago in school. Lengthy, detailed, readable, entertaining, disturbing, and , in some ways, a little too close to current political reality.
Certainly a different view of the early history of the US than the one I learned years ago in school. Lengthy, detailed, readable, entertaining, disturbing, and , in some ways, a little too close to current political reality.
sozh's review against another edition
5.0
Gosh. I might have to read this whole series.
BURR is amazing!
You know how once in a while, you get together with co-workers for happy hour, and after a drink or two, everyone starts to gossip and giggle about the boss - other co-workers, etc ... ?
That's what this book is like, except the co-workers are Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, etc, and the boss is George Washington.
Also, Aaron Burr is a super-interesting and mostly forgotten figure of early American history.
This is a highly accurate (within the bounds of its "unreliable" narrators) and HIGHLY amusing depiction of the Founding Fathers and early America.
So many "bon mots" — so many times I was shaking my head to myself and grinning or laughing out loud.
Gore Vidal is a master of historical fiction.
BURR is amazing!
You know how once in a while, you get together with co-workers for happy hour, and after a drink or two, everyone starts to gossip and giggle about the boss - other co-workers, etc ... ?
That's what this book is like, except the co-workers are Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, etc, and the boss is George Washington.
Also, Aaron Burr is a super-interesting and mostly forgotten figure of early American history.
This is a highly accurate (within the bounds of its "unreliable" narrators) and HIGHLY amusing depiction of the Founding Fathers and early America.
So many "bon mots" — so many times I was shaking my head to myself and grinning or laughing out loud.
Gore Vidal is a master of historical fiction.
rachrennie's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe I need to know more American history but I found this quite complicated!
aoosterwyk's review against another edition
5.0
My first Gore Vidal book and it was very enjoyable. What a terrific way to learn history. I have considered Burr to be the villain since I read a book about bringing water to Manhattan and Burr's attempts to create a bank to enrich himself instead of doing what was best for the people. This story painted all our founding fathers with the same brush; a very unflattering portrait but oh so entertaining.
peggyluwho's review against another edition
5.0
5 out of 5 dueling pistols
This is one of my all-time favorite books and was the first novel that made me love historical fiction and how it makes me curious about the factual history that lays beneath it by making it into a story where gaps and questions we will likely never have an answer to are filled in. I enjoy Vidal’s writing, it’s accessible to me and just stylized enough. I like the device of a book-within-a- book as it is employed here but generally am a fan. It obviously doesn’t shy away from some of the less than pleasant realities of the time period, such as slavery, racism, and sexism, but I didn’t read any of it as an endorsement of the prevailing opinions of the time or apologetics. If anything, one of the things about this book that I liked was that it humanized historical figures who are frequently put on a pedestal, the “Founding Fathers”, and showed them with all their glorious flaws on display. It pokes holes in the mythology that they were all interested in government by the masses and that they were unanimously and wholeheartedly committed to democracy. Plots to colonize to the east and south of the United States and install new monarchies were not a thing that I was taught in history classes throughout my childhood, but I did learn about from this book. I took Burr as a starting point and was able to investigate the history further to find out more about not just Aaron Burr, but many of his contemporaries. At the same time, I was entertained.
This is one of my all-time favorite books and was the first novel that made me love historical fiction and how it makes me curious about the factual history that lays beneath it by making it into a story where gaps and questions we will likely never have an answer to are filled in. I enjoy Vidal’s writing, it’s accessible to me and just stylized enough. I like the device of a book-within-a- book as it is employed here but generally am a fan. It obviously doesn’t shy away from some of the less than pleasant realities of the time period, such as slavery, racism, and sexism, but I didn’t read any of it as an endorsement of the prevailing opinions of the time or apologetics. If anything, one of the things about this book that I liked was that it humanized historical figures who are frequently put on a pedestal, the “Founding Fathers”, and showed them with all their glorious flaws on display. It pokes holes in the mythology that they were all interested in government by the masses and that they were unanimously and wholeheartedly committed to democracy. Plots to colonize to the east and south of the United States and install new monarchies were not a thing that I was taught in history classes throughout my childhood, but I did learn about from this book. I took Burr as a starting point and was able to investigate the history further to find out more about not just Aaron Burr, but many of his contemporaries. At the same time, I was entertained.
leah_alexandra's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I was not expecting to like this so much. What a fun and often thrilling read!
traciemasek's review against another edition
3.0
I started to re-read Lincoln, then Sarah pointed out that Burr is actually the first book in the American Chronicle series, and it makes sense to read them in order, so let's read this instead.
I didn't like this anywhere near as much as I liked Lincoln, but it's still enjoyable, and Burr's a great character. But that's part of the problem, he seemed the whole time a lot more like a character in a novel to me than an actual historical figure. The fictional first person narrator annoyed me a lot, and I think I got lost a few times with the non-linear plot. Also, I don't know anything about the Revolutionary War, nor about the early years of the United States, so maybe Lincoln was just more approachable to me because I knew more of the context? But, man, Vidal loves to use French phrases in this book, and there's nothing that pulls me out of a story more than a phrase I can't understand. But these are details that might just be annoying to me because everything is annoying to me.
But, yeah, three stars still. Even though I basically just did nothing but bitch about the book, I actually wish it had been longer. I could have used a little more information and context, and I felt like large sections were sort of left out. But maybe that's bc most of Burr's memoirs and notes were lost at sea. Glad to have read it, but also glad to move back on to Lincoln.
I didn't like this anywhere near as much as I liked Lincoln, but it's still enjoyable, and Burr's a great character. But that's part of the problem, he seemed the whole time a lot more like a character in a novel to me than an actual historical figure. The fictional first person narrator annoyed me a lot, and I think I got lost a few times with the non-linear plot. Also, I don't know anything about the Revolutionary War, nor about the early years of the United States, so maybe Lincoln was just more approachable to me because I knew more of the context? But, man, Vidal loves to use French phrases in this book, and there's nothing that pulls me out of a story more than a phrase I can't understand. But these are details that might just be annoying to me because everything is annoying to me.
But, yeah, three stars still. Even though I basically just did nothing but bitch about the book, I actually wish it had been longer. I could have used a little more information and context, and I felt like large sections were sort of left out. But maybe that's bc most of Burr's memoirs and notes were lost at sea. Glad to have read it, but also glad to move back on to Lincoln.
jhouses's review against another edition
3.0
Gore Vidal, como hizo en [b:Lincoln|8716|Lincoln|Gore Vidal|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403185993l/8716._SY75_.jpg|658163], trae a la vida a los intocables y mitificados padres fundadores de los Estados Unidos y los convierte en una panda de políticos marrulleros y miserables que es lo que en el fondo eran.
En esta novela tenemos un narrador poco fiable -el propio Burr- cuyos recuerdos recoge un joven periodista con intenciones confusas: primero hacer un libelo contra el futuro presidente Van Buren, de quien se sospecha que es hijo ilegítimo de Burr, luego conocer la verdadera historia de la relación entre Burr y Hamilton y por último conseguir un cargo en la nueva administración.
El libro tiene una entrada dificil para un lector ignorante de la historia y la política de los Estados Unidos ya que nos presenta varios tiempos mezclados: el ocaso de la vida de Burr en 1840 y diferentes recuerdos no muy ordenados cronológicamente, todos ellos repletos de personajes históricos más o menos desconocidos y de entornos históricos y políticos poco accesibles (para un lector español) y que los personajes dan por descontado y no explican ya que forman parte de su actualidad.
Poco a poco y con la ayuda de la wikipedia la confusión va pasando a segundo plano y Aaaron Burr, Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson y Adams se adueñan de la trama produciendo una historia compleja muy bien construida y llena de matices.