Karen Abbott (1)Critiques

The information was interesting but the style was hard to read. I gave up about 2/3 of the way through; I simply didn't care anymore.

This grew on me as I got towards the end, but it's certainly a slow build. The cult is gross, but the one twin lying to the other raises interesting questions. If you could protect the person you most love from the things/memories that most hurt them, would you?½

An attempt to follow up Eric Larson's Devil in the White City by examining the Chicago demimonde in the South Side Levee--the segregated vice district. The characters and historical vignettes are all there, but it never quite comes together. In Larson's tale from the World's Fair, the jarring juxtaposition of human zenith and nadir accentuates the remarkability of both. Here the crimes and antipodes are more banal and less clearly drawn. The chronology and flow of events, what's fact and what's fiction, are opaque and lost at times, making for a confused and bewildering story that lacks momentum at times. An interesting portrait of a city and a decade as progressivism turned towards social hygiene and did away with the whorehouses--and eventually the saloons, the imbeciles, and 18th century notions of liberty. Sadly, much of that needs to be inferred.

(2014) NF. Abbott tells the story of 4 women who were either spies or undercover during the Civil War. The most fascinating is the story of Emma Edmonds who enlisted with the Union disguised as a man and served valiantly during the war all the while hiding her sex. Very good.KIRKUS:Four Civil War subversives¥who happened to be womenÂ¥garner a lively treatment.Having previously written on Gypsy Rose Lee (American Rose) and the Everleigh brothel in turn-of-the-century Chicago (Sin in the Second City), Abbott finds some sympathetic, fiery characters in these four women who managed to aid their causes, either North or South, in their own particular ways. Belle Boyd, a 17-year-old farmer's daughter from Martinsburg, Virginia, which had voted three to one against secession, declared her loyalty to the Southern cause by shooting a Yankee soldier who dared to touch her mother, and thereby took advantage of the confusion and movement of troops to slip through the lines and pass secrets; she was in and out of jail during the course of the war. Emma Edmonds, having left the family farm in 1859 to reinvent herself as a man selling Bibles door to door, offered herself to the Union cause two years later, serving mostly in a medical capacity. According to Abbott, Edmonds was one of 400 women, Northern and Southern, who posed as men. Rose Greenhow, a comely widow and grieving mother of some means in Washington, D.C., fashioned herself as a spy for the Southern cause, learning code, passing messages wound in her servants' hair and inviting all kinds of late-night gentlemen callers; Greenhow would eventually go abroad to drum up sympathy for the Confederacy in England and France, turning her charms on Napoleon III and others. A wealthy Richmond spinster, Elizabeth Van Lew had deep Yankee roots in her family and was unique in that she cultivated intricate subterfuge right under her Southern neighbors' nosesÂ¥e.g., passing Confederate troops movements to Gen. Benjamin Butler. Abbott proceeds chronologically, navigating the historical record through quotes and personal detail.Remarkable, brave lives rendered in a fluidly readable, even romantic history lesson.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014ISBN: 978-0-06-209289-2Page Count: 544Publisher: Harper/HarperCollinsReview Posted Online: June 1, 2014Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

The cover of Abbott Kahler's debut novel, Where You End, is what initially caught my eye. For some reason, those bunnies don't look cuddly at all to me. I read the publisher's description and that sealed the deal.

"When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions: Who am I? Where am I? What actually happened?"

Amnesia is always a great way to give a book an unreliable character. And adding a twin to the mix ensures it will take time to find answers. I wanted to know the answers too.

Kahler tells her tale in a now and then timeline, from the time the girls were young, and up to the date of Kat's awakening.

Their relationship is peculiar. They even have their own language. But, there's much more to these sisters. As their younger years are exposed I initially was intrigued. But as it continued, I became uncomfortable. Without providing spoilers, I could see what direction the past might be headed and what that might entail. It came close to actual events that took place in our near past.

The story started to become a bit repetitive and a bit muddy. I started to lose the desire to pick up the book. I did finish it, but it was just an okay read for me. This could be a case of the wrong reader for the right book.

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is a GREAT book and an excellent book group selection. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because it focuses on the remarkable lives of four Civil War women, that it's a "women's book." The man who first recommended it to me is quite possibly the book's biggest fan. Our book group had the opportunity to Skype with Abbott, and were immensely impressed with her warmth, openness, genuine enthusiasm for readers, and passion for historical research and writing. Now I’m reading one of her earlier books, American Rose (life and times of Gypsy Rose Lee), and can't wait to start her book titled Sin in the City. This is an author I'll be following.

A remarkable book about a talented and original woman, and the times in which she lived, survived, and became a cultural icon. The depth of Karen Abbott's research and detail in her writing was engaging and provided the reader with a multidimensional perspective of "Gypsy."

I don’t recall how The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott got on my radar. Probably from a social media outlet or one of the many bookish emails arrive to my inbox daily. I was intrigued by the book as I enjoy true crime stories.

George Remus leaves his law practice to bootleg whiskey. He becomes rather wealthy and famous during the early 1920’s. He and his second wife, Imogene, live in a lavish mansion in Cincinnati, Ohio. They host extravagant parties and hand out party favors of diamonds and new cars.

Rare for this time period, a woman, Mabel Willebrandt, is the federal prosecutor assigned to demolish George Remus and his empire of bootlegged whiskey. She assigns experienced investigator, Franklin Dodge, to work the case with her. Quickly enough, Remus is federally incarcerated for violating the Volstead Act. As most criminals learn, there is no loyalty among the players in the criminal lifestyle. Remus’ wife, Imogene, drifts away and communication between the two rapidly declines. Ironically, Imogene and Doge begin an affair and plot to destroy Remus. Tension and rage escalate between the three, and naturally someone ends up murdered.

While I can identify a lot of strengths for this book, it was just okay for me. Bootlegging is not a crime that interests me very much. I have a low tolerance for criminals who are narcissistic and think they are invincible. Remus’ grandiose behavior was nauseating, especially in the beginning of the story. With that being said, the book is very well written and extensively researched. Remus called Cincinnati his home, so I enjoyed learning about the city and surrounding areas where he engaged in his criminal business. I liked the historical Jazz Age setting of the story too. The book closed nicely with a description of how the remaining people lived out the rest of their lives.

I borrowed the audiobook from the Libby app. Narrator, Rob Shapiro, was the voice for the portions of the story that pertained to Remus and Dodge. When the story was told from the perspective of Willebrandt, narrator Cassandra Cambell was her voice. Both are top notch narrators.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed reading this one. I wanted like one of those thrillers that has you on the edge of your seat and I don't think this gave me what I wanted. In fact, I am pretty sure I put this one down like four times to read something else. I managed to get through it and it felt like it took forever. Over 90 percent of the book has absolutely nothing of interest happening. We find out that Kat was in an accident and then Jude begins to tell her about their past. You can tell pretty early on that Jude isn't telling the truth completely.

Kat ends up in this relationship where she is being violent and this dude is just like oh yeah it's fine. I like how weird you are. I honestly got annoyed with this part because it really took up a lot of the story for no reason. It felt like the story dragged on to be honest. It took Kat a long time to start to suspect Jude might not be telling the truth despite all the evidence that she was clearly lying to her. Eventually when she learns Jude has lied she takes off to uncover the truth for herself; which considering she has absolutely no memory of anything doesn't seem safe.

At the same time most of Jude's POV is giving us insight into the past and what happened in the years before the accident. The story of them starts at like eleven and we learn about this enviroment that they are put into that is kind of cultish and which led to some severe psychological trauma for them. Jude's POV eventually ends up in the present and we see her trying to fix things with Kat. Kat learns the truth of what happened to them and the night of her accident. I have to admit that this was supposed to be some big reveal but it honestly it was exactly what you would have suspected.

Overall I just felt like the pacing was off in this one. It did pick up speed at the last like 10 percent, but then it rushed the important parts and drug out the one's that weren't as important. I just felt extremely disappointed with this one. It had a lot of potential but it fell flat. It wasn't super engaging and I honestly considered not finishing the story. It also felt kind of light on the psychological thriller part for most of the book. However, it isn't terrible. It was just not something I enjoyed.

*mystery, intrigue and revenge all wrapped up nicely from cover to cover
*very interesting storyline which kept my interest from beginning to end
*strong character development
*easy to read
*highly recommend

A microhistory of the Levee District and its famous brothels in Chicago in the early 1900s, in particular the establishment run by the Everleigh Sisters.

Interesting and well-written. I learned quite a lot (including the origin of the phrase “to get laid’) and had fun in the process. I do adore a good microhistory.

Entertaining read. Tells the story of a supposedly famous bordello, without ever getting explicit.

Sometimes it almost feels like a history more than a story, but it never gets boring.½

True story of 4 women who played unusual roles in the Civil War. The author waas obviously painstaking in her research.

Karen Abbott takes a look at four women of the American Civil War, two Northern and two Southern: Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds (aka Frank Thompson), Rose Greenhow, and Belle Boyd. She sheds new light on the roles of women in the Civil War and highlights little-known activities of her subjects. This book shows how some women exploited social mores and beliefs to advance their respective wartime causes.

Elizabeth Van Lew was a wealthy abolitionist living in Richmond who supported Union prisoners from her home. Emma Edmonds disguised herself as a man in order to become a Union soldier. Rose Greenhow, a socialite living in Washington DC, assembled a courier network of southern sympathizers. Belle Boyd used flirtation as a technique for obtaining information to pass to the Confederacy.

I listened to the audiobook, read by Karen White in a clipped style. On the plus side, the narrative maintains the reader’s interest throughout. It is filled with period details, intrigue, setups, and daring schemes. It pulls no punches in describing the carnage of this war and gives the reader a sense of how horrible it truly was. On the minus side, the author states that she will point out where the journals do not match facts but does not follow through. As a result, it feels like the book repackages the women’s own memoirs and ends up conveying their biased viewpoints.

Civil War buffs and those interested in 19th century and women's history will definitely want to check out this book. Knowledge of the Civil War is not required to enjoy it.

Abbott traces the heroic actions of four women during the Civil War. Two for the North and two for the South.

For the South:
Belle Boyd and Rose O'Neal Greenhow.
In 1861 Boyd was 17, a bold, adventurous girl from Virginia. Her story begins when she shoots a Yankee at point blank range and doesn't bat an eye.
Greenhow was 43 in 1861, a widow deeply intrenched in the politics of Washington, D.C. who used her connections to head a spy ring, passing on important information about northern plans to southern leadership.
Both women are depicted as boisterously committed to their cause, but both also seemed to have a need of self-aggrandizement that made me, at times, roll my eyes at their words.

For the North:
Emma Edmonds, aka, Franklin Thompson and Elizabeth Van Lew.
In 1861 Edmonds was 19 and had already been living as a man. Originally from Canada she enlisted in the northern army in Michigan as a man and served as a battlefield nurse, then as a letter carrier, and finally as a spy.
Van Lew was 43 at the outbreak of the war, a wealthy Virginia "spinster" and abolitionist with deep ties to the North who helped northern soldiers and slaves escape and became the head of a spy network, passing on important information about southern plans to northern leadership.
Both of these women are portrayed as more cautious and less flamboyant than their southern counterparts and come off as being much more grounded.

There's a fifth woman involved who should be given accolades. No matter the risks taken by Boyd, Greenhow, Edmondson, and Van Lew, they were all white women which meant they'd perhaps have at least a chance of talking their way out of trouble if caught. It was war and spies were executed, so I don't mean to belittle their risks, but Mary Jane Bowser, on the other hand, was born a slave to the Van Lew family. She was freed after Elizabeth's father died and educated in Philadelphia. She'd been working as a servant for Elizabeth who asked her to go undercover as a slave servant and act as a sleeper agent in the home of not just any high ranking confederate, but in the mansion of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Intense, right?

While chronologically weaving the story of these women, Abbott includes tidbits about the war and what conditions were like for soldiers and civilians. Like how "depraved hucksters" sold "Yankee skulls" and rebel women wore brooches made out of the bones of soldiers scavenged from battlefields.

One of the most startling mentions was about a widow who was too sick to move from her bed and whose house happened to be in the middle of the battlefield at Manassas. Her foot was shot off during the fighting and she died the next day.

There is also a scene where Edmons/Thompson undergoes a physical examination to become a spy. She worried about her sex being uncovered, but the focus of the exam was on her head. Phrenology was supposed to reveal one's character:

She silently prayed that her head did not betray her sex; phrenological studies on women often concluded that their organs of "adhesiveness," cautiousness, and procreation were so prominent as to elongate, and even deform, the middle of the back of the head. The doctor poked and prodded with his caliper and scratched notes on a pad. Emma felt stifled inside her frock coat, drops of sweat sliding down between her breasts. He determined, finally, that Frank Thompson indeed had the head of a man, with "largely developed" organs of secretiveness and combativeness. Emma acted as though she'd expected to hear as much, and took the oat of allegiance.

Famous figures of the time make their way into the story and add to its richness: Nathaniel Hawthorne is mentioned as are Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, and Mary Chestnut. Thomas Carlyle plays a role, as does Napoleon III. Then there's Pinkerton and his crew, including at least one female detective. As always, Mary Todd Lincoln is mocked for her plainness and northern General McClellan is portrayed as a do-nothing general. However, on the southern side of the fence, instead of General Lee stealing the show Stonewall Jackson gets much more ink in this book.

This is a thick book, 544 pages, and at times it felt like it. It seems that the repetitive structure of going back and forth between four stories and the lack of a sharper unifying drive within the narrative made it was slow going here & there. However, the book was never a slog to get through, it simply isn't a swift historical narrative so don't expect a read like, say, The Devil in the White City.

One historical inaccuracy jumped out at me from the second page of the preface where Abbott sets the scene of troops pouring into each capital in the spring of 1861. She mentions that "taps" is played at night. That gave me pause because having read The Killer Angels earlier this summer where the bugle calls of General Butterfield are discussed and which led me to read a bit more about Butterfield, it is well documented that Taps wasn't written until July 1862. Some may excuse this as a minor inaccuracy, but it did cause me to be on guard as a reader.

For example, Abbott makes a point of stating that she didn't make up any dialog, but she did, it seems, imagine scenes that, while adding some spice (such as Belle waiting for General Butler with her hands on her hips and impatiently tapping her foot) or giving closure to a section (like Rose "spreading" her daughter across her lap to tell her a story and making sure the good guys win) also caused me to stop and wonder if these things really happened. Leaving the flow of a narrative to check footnotes for documentation is not something a storyteller wants the reader to do on a regular basis.

The above are minor complaints compared to the overall enjoyment of reading about these courageous women who risked their lives to fight for what they believed in. This is an engaging and important book, one that shows women's active participation in the waging of warfare long before they had the right to vote.

(review copy, read for TLC Book Tours)

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is the non-fiction account of four women during the U. S. Civil War: Rose Greenhow, Elizabeth Van Lew, Emma Edmonds, and Belle Boyd (guess which side she was on). Two are Confederates and two Unionists, each spied for the cause they embraced and suffered for doing so.

The first half of the book was quite interesting and read more like fiction than non, with the narrative storylines. But, somewhere around the middle it got bogged down and began to drag. Never a good thing when I am just wondering when I will get to the end. I was surprised that I had not ever heard of any of these women before. I do not remember any of them being mentioned during the Ken Burn’s Civil War series. At least one of them, Elizabeth Van Lew, may have had a marked impact upon the outcome of the war.

bookclub book by Lynda

Karen Abbott is famous for her detailed research, and she doesn't disappoint with this volume! She tells the stories of two sisters (Minna and Ada Everleigh) who run a high-end (the highest-end, as it turns out) brothel in early 1900s Chicago. Their story as women entrepeneurs on the wrong side of the law highlights the world of pre-war Chicago: corruption was rampant, women and men were struggling to make a living, and religious reformers were gaining traction against the vices of urban life. It is long, and extremely detailed, allowing the reader to truly feel that she is experiencing life in this time and place.

Non-fiction that reads like a novel. Gypsy Rose Lee was interesting. Rose Louise Hovick (her real name) was even more so. And Mama Rose was a psychopath.

The Ghosts of Eden Park is a case study in an unanswerable question: What should historical nonfiction do? It examines George Remus, a Cincinnati bootlegger, whose character was wildly eccentric and whose life was full of glamour and crime. Abbott writes his story with great kindness: She presents the facts and circumstances of his life, his crime, and his significant criminal trial without judgement. She surely spent years researching him, but we don’t find out whether she thinks his crime was premeditated or the result of sudden insanity, whether his theatrical behavior was genuine or carefully planned. Since Prohibition isn’t exactly a current event, I expected a judgment, an analysis with the light the present can shed on the past, but this story is presented as complexly as a modern news story, and with as little forced conclusion. A smooth read, and I'll be looking for more Abbott.

I have been interested in Gypsy Rose Lee since I saw the musical with Bernadette Peters (my idol) when I was 13. I was enchanted. I bought the cast recording and listened to it over and over and over until I knew every single word to every single song. It only took about a day. After about three days, my mother was ready to throw my cd player out the window. So, I saw this at the library and snatched it up. A about a third of it I already knew, but a lot of it I didn't. I found the sections on the Minksy brothers annoying and long and there were too many of them. I didn't care. I wanted to read about Gypsy, not them. So that was my main flaw with the book, there were a lot of chapters dealing with them that I just couldn't bring myself to care about and mostly skipped. It was well written and you could see that the biographer really did her research. All in all, a few parts were a bit boring, but it was a well written and interesting read for people who like Gypsy, and June (there is some good info on June as well).

I picked this book up on a whim. I’m glad I did. It was very entertaining. The story took place primarily in the Prohibition era, the Harding-Coolidge administrations. George Remus was a bootlegger who despite all his efforts, influence and money could not escape legal problems and threats of violence from other gangsters. What bought George down was not all the FBI and Justice Department personnel assigned to investigate and bring him to trial, but his wife.

His relationship with his wife is worthy of Jekyl and Hyde. He loves her. He hates her. He wants to kill her (which he eventually does). He mounts an incredible legal defense that he himselfs spearheads.

There are payoffs, violence, adultery, blackmail and political games---this story is like Lifestles of the Rich and Famous---Prohibion era style.

Hard to believe this is not fiction but a recap of actual events. There are also quite a few interesting characters in the book that made this book hard to put down.

American Rose is a part memoir of Gypsy Rose Lee and part history of burlesque. Chapters jump back and forth into the life of Gypsy and the rise of The Minsky brothers theatres of burlesque.

I have always been a fan of the musical Gypsy which was written about the real-life actress/ burlesque star. I learned so much about her and her family. She not only had acted in movies but wrote 2 mystery books, and had a child. Every time she tried to leave burlesque she would always find herself back. Although the musical based on her life had its bright moments I think the truth is Gypsy went through much more dark times than this book expanded on.

I was less interested in the rise and fall of the Minsky brothers and their theatres. Yes, Gypsy’s history does cross with theirs but I just never cared about their struggles. Even though I learned so much about Gypsy’s life there were parts of her history that were so strange and shocking but were only glanced over. For instance, it was rumored Gypsy’s mother Rose and possibly Gypsy herself killed a homeless man. How can you just nonchalantly mention killing someone and then go back to Gypsy house parties? It was so shocking.

I might read more about Gypsy and maybe the books she wrote. I am still very curious about the fact Rose and Gypsy might have been serial killers.

I picked this book up because I was interested in learning more about Chicago in the era that it takes place. It tells a slightly fictionalized and sensationalized version of the story of the end of sanctioned prostitution in Chicago. Specifically, this book focuses on a specific brothel which existed in Chicago from 1900 to 1911. The Everleigh Club was run by two sisters who despised the typical practices of their profession, and catered to luxury tastes. They lied flagrantly about their pasts and origins, likely because their There were amusing plenty of racy and amusing anecdotes in this book, but there was also an overwhelming amount of sadness and misery. As much as the proprietors of that one particular brothel tried to mitigate the worst problems of prostitution in their facility, the whole institution was predatory and rotten in some awful ways. Much of the horrors of the profession are glossed over in this book, or only mentioned in the context of rumors and accusations. The book also covers some of the stories of the reformers who organized, lobbied, demonstrated, and ultimately caused the end of sanctioned prostitution, but their stories are secondary to those of the "Everleigh" sisters.

I wished that there had been less speculation and more cited facts, but I understand that it is impossible to find many sources of reliable information on a criminal enterprise whose members were deliberately deceptive about it afterwards.

This book would have benefited from far more editing.