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mea9an's review
5.0
I've been known to live under the rock. Especially when it comes to pop culture things that don't normally peak my interest. The last musical I actually listened/watched/etc was Phantom of the Opera and I loved it. When I heard that a play about Alexander Hamilton had sprung up out of nowhere, I was skeptic.
Not only do I find a historical musical a strange concept, but a hip-hop historical musical? That's just bizarre. However, when it became super hyped, I finally decided to give it a chance, and mind you, this is about a solid year or something since it's been out. When I heard the soundtrack the first time, I was pleasantly surprised. Then I watched videos of booktubers talking about Hamilton and explaining the book. That's when I knew I had to pick it up.
So, here I am today and am still baffled that Lin-Manuel Miranda has made something so unique and brought a lot of people into the theater world. It's truly amazing.
Looking into this book shows a different viewpoint of the play. The work that went behind it. The research put out, where the idea sprung up, all of that and more. It's worth the read.
Not only do I find a historical musical a strange concept, but a hip-hop historical musical? That's just bizarre. However, when it became super hyped, I finally decided to give it a chance, and mind you, this is about a solid year or something since it's been out. When I heard the soundtrack the first time, I was pleasantly surprised. Then I watched videos of booktubers talking about Hamilton and explaining the book. That's when I knew I had to pick it up.
So, here I am today and am still baffled that Lin-Manuel Miranda has made something so unique and brought a lot of people into the theater world. It's truly amazing.
Looking into this book shows a different viewpoint of the play. The work that went behind it. The research put out, where the idea sprung up, all of that and more. It's worth the read.
marieintheraw's review
4.0
July 2017: A reread because the audiobook was available through the library. Just lovely.
December 2016: don't try and count the times I cried.
PS: it has the appearance of something that belongs on a coffee table. the perfect way to lure someone into the obsession.
December 2016: don't try and count the times I cried.
PS: it has the appearance of something that belongs on a coffee table. the perfect way to lure someone into the obsession.
lulo49's review
5.0
Excellent book! Long, but so full of exquisite detail that I found it hard to put down. I have a much better appreciation for the fullness of American history, and understand that what we were taught in school was both sketchy and sanitized. Also -- politically, what was going on before, during and after the American Revolution was little different than today's politics - nation vs. states rights. Also, slavery was endemic throughout the nation, not just the south. And the north was even considering secession! Just a few of the many facts I learned. Of course, I also learned of Alexander Hamilton's genius and how he was instrumental in setting up so much of the nation's economic infrastructure and more. Highly recommended.
kberry513's review
5.0
I am unapologetically obsessed with the Hamilton musical, despite never having seen it. I follow Lin-Manuel Miranda on Facebook, have watched many hours of interviews and #Ham4Ham videos, plus listened to the cast recording on a loop for weeks. I even bought the biography that started it all...although it is over 800 pages, so I have yet to read it. I was worried that my love of all things Ham and my excitement for this book would result in a letdown.
This was all I was hoping for and more. I made myself leave the book downstairs and only read a few chapters at a time so I could drag the experience out. Considering that I will most likely not get to see the show in person until looong after the original cast has left the show, this book is a godsend. I also used my Audible subscription to acquire the audio version, but I wanted to read the physical copy first.
I had never thought much about what it takes behind the scenes to create a hit Broadway show and this one is so much more complicated than normal ones, what with the historical and musical aspects. I found the whole thing fascinating and completely devoured every bit of information.
In addition to all of that, the book itself is gorgeously bound and the edge of the pages has been artfully textured to look like an old book. If I could give this book more than five stars, I definitely would.
This was all I was hoping for and more. I made myself leave the book downstairs and only read a few chapters at a time so I could drag the experience out. Considering that I will most likely not get to see the show in person until looong after the original cast has left the show, this book is a godsend. I also used my Audible subscription to acquire the audio version, but I wanted to read the physical copy first.
I had never thought much about what it takes behind the scenes to create a hit Broadway show and this one is so much more complicated than normal ones, what with the historical and musical aspects. I found the whole thing fascinating and completely devoured every bit of information.
In addition to all of that, the book itself is gorgeously bound and the edge of the pages has been artfully textured to look like an old book. If I could give this book more than five stars, I definitely would.
laurenkara's review against another edition
5.0
If you haven't listened to this musical then you need to immediately.
labunnywtf's review
5.0
You didn't expect these notes to turn into my therapy session, did you?
Every review of this book on GR includes Hamilton song titles or lyrics. And you know what, I refuse. I'm not doing it. I am NOT using a lyric or song title out of context, you cannot make me.
I didn't intend to read this entire book in one sitting. It's not a long book, 286 pages, a lot of which are more pictures than text. But I figured I'd spread it out, enjoy it.* But I also had the brilliant idea to listen to the soundtrack while reading the annotations and chapters on each, because why wouldn't you?
Yeah. So, I finished this in one day. It is not only extremely interesting and compelling, but I just didn't want to stop listening to the stupid soundtrack and stop reading LMM's stupid awesome annotations. Dammit.
I'm not really a die-hard Hamilton fan. I love the soundtrack, I can listen to it on repeat. But I think the reason is because it's a musical audiobook. Hamilton is unique in that there is very little spoken word, the entire thing is done in song. And it's historical song. I get a full story and great music, and it works out beautifully.
But there are people WAY more hardcore about it than I am, and I neither claim, nor aspire, to be that level of fan. I like my level just fine, thanks. I wanted to read this book because I knew there would be notes about the songs. I wanted LMM annotation, and there just wasn't enough of it. Ugh. I wanted piece by piece annotation.*
I'm pretty okay with singing along to 90% of the lyrics in this play. The other 10%? Is Daveed Diggs's songs. That man's rapping speed should be illegal.
I listened and read along with Guns and Ships, which is my favorite song from the entire show, about four times in a row. And I still can't linguistically keep up, and still miss words because I lose them in his speed. Good god, man.
The lyric I missed ENTIRELY the hundreds of times I've listened to the song, and which I cackled aloud at when I read it:
Get ya right hand man back
You know you gotta get ya right hand man back
I mean, you gotta put some thought into the letter but the sooner the better
To get your right hand man back!
GET HIM BACK NOW. But definitely take your time writing that letter, 'k?
I would've been happy* with just a book of the song lyrics, with the annotation. I really would. By the time I get to see Hamilton live (if I can, it's coming to New Orleans next year), LMM isn't playing the lead anymore, so it's an entirely different experience. And while I know I'm going to love it, I'm missing a lot of what's talked about here. So, that is wonderful to see. He does talk about what singing these songs and living this character, both in the writing process and the acting process, was like.
In addition, I got to 'meet' the actors who play these indelible characters. I know literally nothing about them. Including that King George is the guy who voiced Kristoff in Frozen. I had to do some back-to-back listening for that one. I can almost here it. Almost.
The amount of trivia I picked up was truly delightful. I am, as ever, a sincere sucker for useless trivia. The originator of King George's line, "You'll be back". I had to step back for a second and laugh at that one.
Because I got into Hamilton so late, I missed a lot of the information the hardcore fans already knew, including almost everything LMM said on Twitter during the writing and his run. I wish more of those had been included here, though I was tickled by the ones he included.
I already knew LMM had immaculate taste in pop culture (seriously, I could cry), but there are two Harry Potter references, and a My So-Called Life shout-out in here. Are you kidding? Are you kidding?
I am uber focused on the annotations, because they are my favorite part. But Jeremy McCarter does an equally excellent job of talking about the process of putting together this amazing production. From inception to opening performance and beyond. Not everything interested me, I'm not even slightly a theater buff, so costuming and staging and lighting was kind of meh for me. But I read it anyway, and still got plenty of tidbits.
I don't know that I will be able to get through Rob Chernow's book. I have the audiobook, and will be giving it a chance*, but I worry. Luckily for me, this book (erm, and the play itself) is a cliff's notes version. I learned even more about these people here than I did in the play. John Laurens is WAY cooler than I thought. We also get two letters, written by Hamilton. One to Angelica, the other to his wife. The poem to Eliza was beautiful.
Speaking of Eliza. I don't want to talk about Chernow comparing his wife to Eliza, and the fact that the phrase "Best of wives and best of women" is on her grave stone. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
Seriously, this is such a fun book. And it's beautiful itself. This looks like a regular historical text book, or an encyclopedia. I was pleasantly surprised at how light it is to carry around while reading. Or, I was pleasantly surprised until I dropped the motherfucker on my toe. Not as light as I thought?
Lastly? Chapter 28. Just fuck Chapter 28 all around.
* I AM NOT INSERTING A HAMILTON LYRIC HERE, BRAIN, SHUT UP.
Every review of this book on GR includes Hamilton song titles or lyrics. And you know what, I refuse. I'm not doing it. I am NOT using a lyric or song title out of context, you cannot make me.
I didn't intend to read this entire book in one sitting. It's not a long book, 286 pages, a lot of which are more pictures than text. But I figured I'd spread it out, enjoy it.* But I also had the brilliant idea to listen to the soundtrack while reading the annotations and chapters on each, because why wouldn't you?
Yeah. So, I finished this in one day. It is not only extremely interesting and compelling, but I just didn't want to stop listening to the stupid soundtrack and stop reading LMM's stupid awesome annotations. Dammit.
I'm not really a die-hard Hamilton fan. I love the soundtrack, I can listen to it on repeat. But I think the reason is because it's a musical audiobook. Hamilton is unique in that there is very little spoken word, the entire thing is done in song. And it's historical song. I get a full story and great music, and it works out beautifully.
But there are people WAY more hardcore about it than I am, and I neither claim, nor aspire, to be that level of fan. I like my level just fine, thanks. I wanted to read this book because I knew there would be notes about the songs. I wanted LMM annotation, and there just wasn't enough of it. Ugh. I wanted piece by piece annotation.*
I'm pretty okay with singing along to 90% of the lyrics in this play. The other 10%? Is Daveed Diggs's songs. That man's rapping speed should be illegal.
I listened and read along with Guns and Ships, which is my favorite song from the entire show, about four times in a row. And I still can't linguistically keep up, and still miss words because I lose them in his speed. Good god, man.
The lyric I missed ENTIRELY the hundreds of times I've listened to the song, and which I cackled aloud at when I read it:
Get ya right hand man back
You know you gotta get ya right hand man back
I mean, you gotta put some thought into the letter but the sooner the better
To get your right hand man back!
GET HIM BACK NOW. But definitely take your time writing that letter, 'k?
I would've been happy* with just a book of the song lyrics, with the annotation. I really would. By the time I get to see Hamilton live (if I can, it's coming to New Orleans next year), LMM isn't playing the lead anymore, so it's an entirely different experience. And while I know I'm going to love it, I'm missing a lot of what's talked about here. So, that is wonderful to see. He does talk about what singing these songs and living this character, both in the writing process and the acting process, was like.
In addition, I got to 'meet' the actors who play these indelible characters. I know literally nothing about them. Including that King George is the guy who voiced Kristoff in Frozen. I had to do some back-to-back listening for that one. I can almost here it. Almost.
The amount of trivia I picked up was truly delightful. I am, as ever, a sincere sucker for useless trivia. The originator of King George's line, "You'll be back". I had to step back for a second and laugh at that one.
Because I got into Hamilton so late, I missed a lot of the information the hardcore fans already knew, including almost everything LMM said on Twitter during the writing and his run. I wish more of those had been included here, though I was tickled by the ones he included.
I already knew LMM had immaculate taste in pop culture (seriously, I could cry), but there are two Harry Potter references, and a My So-Called Life shout-out in here. Are you kidding? Are you kidding?
I am uber focused on the annotations, because they are my favorite part. But Jeremy McCarter does an equally excellent job of talking about the process of putting together this amazing production. From inception to opening performance and beyond. Not everything interested me, I'm not even slightly a theater buff, so costuming and staging and lighting was kind of meh for me. But I read it anyway, and still got plenty of tidbits.
I don't know that I will be able to get through Rob Chernow's book. I have the audiobook, and will be giving it a chance*, but I worry. Luckily for me, this book (erm, and the play itself) is a cliff's notes version. I learned even more about these people here than I did in the play. John Laurens is WAY cooler than I thought. We also get two letters, written by Hamilton. One to Angelica, the other to his wife. The poem to Eliza was beautiful.
Speaking of Eliza. I don't want to talk about Chernow comparing his wife to Eliza, and the fact that the phrase "Best of wives and best of women" is on her grave stone. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
Seriously, this is such a fun book. And it's beautiful itself. This looks like a regular historical text book, or an encyclopedia. I was pleasantly surprised at how light it is to carry around while reading. Or, I was pleasantly surprised until I dropped the motherfucker on my toe. Not as light as I thought?
Lastly? Chapter 28. Just fuck Chapter 28 all around.
* I AM NOT INSERTING A HAMILTON LYRIC HERE, BRAIN, SHUT UP.