In DC earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon at one of the few historical sites I'd not yet visited: Ford's Theater. Browsing through the gift shop, my eyes fell on a "staff pic": Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. It's not my usual fare. There are definite elements of fantasy and reality is often suspended, if not entirely forsaken. The entire premise of the book is that Old Abe Lincoln fought a decades' long battle with vampires, killing scores, before waging the entire Civil War to prevent them taking over America. It's nuts, really. And yet, unlike other fantasy-esque books that I've previously read and disparaged, I actually kind of like this one. Why?
I loved the way Grahame-Smith wove historical events, speeches and writings by Lincoln, and other facts into his tall tale. In many ways, at heart this is Lincoln's story...modified to fit with the vampire theme. It's like he wanted to tell his readers about Lincoln, realized most would never make it past page five of anything resembling a real biography, and had this brilliant, subversive idea to seed his Lincoln story with vampires. Vampires, after all, seem to be the fare of choice these days for those who don't suffer from the suspension-of-reality-blues. From start to finish real and important elements of Lincoln's life and work form the cornerstones of this work, a non unimpressive feat for a vampire story.
This is not a deep, thinking read. I tackled it, start to finish, on a travel day. I started in the airport and finished before the Pacific hove into view. It is a light - and, yes, fun - refresher on the life and times of our 16th president.
4 stars.
I've to say, I'm very surprised you enjoyed it. I dismissed it based on its title.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely not my usual fare, but the gift shop people seemed to have really liked it and, since I could borrow from the library, I figured, why not?
ReplyDeleteI'm with Vi. And Dave rolls his eyes every time he sees a commercial for the movie. But I have a feeling I'm going to need more books that don't require a lot of thought.
ReplyDeleteHave not seen any commercials for the movie and would not see it (I didn't even see The Help, which everyone who read the book raved about). I think what struck me most was the way Grahame-Smith wove so much of Lincoln's life into it. This was striking to me because I think so many kids (and people, generally) get their information from less serious sources (such as this book) than from texts, non-fiction tomes, and the like.
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