This one is a bit frustrating because there were certainly things I liked about this novel, other things where I liked the concept more than the execution, and then the parts that just made this a difficult read to get through – which actually is rather closely related to the concept that could have worked with a slightly different execution.
Having finally been swept up in the Hamilton craze, the Hamilton bio still feels rather daunting so I decided to start with this historical fiction novel take from the 1970’s. I know Gore Vidal is a famous author though I have never read him before, and I have to say the novel feels very masculine – obviously, when writing a novel about the Founding Fathers and politics, it is going to be very male oriented, but I have definitely been gravitating towards women authors much more in the last few years.
The novel is set in the mid 1830’s in New York City during Andrew Jackson’s final years of presidency with his VP, Van Buren, being next in line to run. The novel’s narrator is a lawyer who wants to be a journalist but then also maybe wants to get a political appointment. Charlie Schuyler works at Aaron Burr’s law firm and as such, some of his journalist friends want him to use his relationship with Burr to get dirt on Van Buren and prevent him from becoming president. With this incentive, Schuyler pitches Burr on the idea of doing a memoir or biography, hoping that some of this will lead to information he can sell.
I actually appreciated the idea of using the 1830’s as a framing device rather than a more straightforward historical fiction novel. Before he became persona non-grata, Burr mentored many politicians and built relationships with people that would become powerful later on, but by the 1830’s, even if they privately appreciate him, having their names too closely associated with Burr is not a smart political move. While killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel certainly didn’t help his standing in New York, the main scandal with Burr was his potential treason involving Mexico. Seeing how Burr interacts in society as an old man who is both somewhat respected but also an outcast was actually interesting.
The problem is that I hate Charlie Schuyler, our narrator. It doesn’t help that I disliked his whole motivation from the beginning – getting close to someone that he seemed to genuinely like in an effort to use it further one’s career or for a money grab already made him slightly distasteful to me, and he didn’t improve as the novel went on. Now, in Vidal’s defense, I don’t necessarily think we were supposed to view Schuyler as a sympathetic narrator, but it made it hard for me to get through the novel since I didn’t want to deal with him. There is one whole plot line where Schuyler tries to reform a prostitute and make her his mistress or wife, but he treats her as a cipher the entire time and does not actually know her, simply projecting his wants. Vidal seemed to mock his narrator for this later which I appreciated but I still could have passed on it entirely.
This is in a way related to the other issue I had with the novel – it is very politically focused. I quite enjoyed reading this Burr’s analysis of Jefferson, Washington and Hamilton (completely disagree with his view of Jackson), but wish there had been more about his relationships with his wife and daughter. They show up on occasion, and Burr’s love of them is frequently mentioned during discussions taking place about Burr in the 1830’s but I would have loved more details. I have seen in articles that Burr was rather progressive in his attitudes towards women, and that his daughter was classically educated, and would have liked to hear more about how he was so different from his contemporaries in that respect. While he briefly mentions many friendships with women, it seems to be more about name-dropping prominent historical women. However, the lack of these personal details seem like they would accurately represent a memoir written by a man in the 1830’s. I am also not sure if I had lost interest with the novel by then, but the chapters focused on Burr’s trip west were a bit tedious. The memoir pieces from Burr’s perspective really only focus on the Revolution through his treason trial. Most of the other details and hints of his life are from conversations that Schuyler has with either Burr or Burr’s friends during the 1830’s.
Overall, I am not sure I would recommend this unless someone is more focused on the politics than the personal relationships of Burr. There are definitely some interesting parts, but if you are more interested in the personal relationships than political gossip, it might be disappointing. Last year I read The Hamilton Affair, which is more traditional linear historical fiction novel, and much of it is from Eliza Hamilton’s perspective so that might be a better starting point for anyone else daunted by the 800 page biography.