Having finished a book back in March, and taking a lot of time working my way through my magazine pile, I also began glancing on my shelves for what to read next. I found two different non-fiction books that looked good and moved them from bookshelf to reading pile. It was really time for reading a novel, however, so I went back to the shelves.
In the garage, on a shelf that contains hundreds of books slated for donation or sale, I found a volume that looked intriguing. It’s Love Is Eternal by Irving Stone. The spine is worn on this 1954 print and I could hardly read the title on it. Opening to the title page I saw the subtitle is “A Novel About Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln”. Now that sounded interesting. Lincoln is my favorite president; he naturally featured prominently in my non-fiction Civil War book. So I took this from the shelf and decided it would be my next read.
I must interject here that I am not related to Mary Todd, at least not that I know. If I am, it’s more than eight generations back someplace in the Old World. I’ve never looked for a connection back there. I probably should.
464 pages and 36 sittings later and the book is read. Wow, that’s a long time you say. Yes, just under 13 pages per sitting. That was about all the time I felt like I could devote to reading during this period, as it included my intense research and writing of a family history book, my wife’s hospitalization, and a period much devoted to decluttering. It wasn’t due to the book itself, but to life circumstances.
What a good book! Stone goes to great lengths to be faithful to the historical record. Based on the title I was expecting it to alternate between Abraham’s and Mary’s point of view, but it was all from Mary’s. That’s good, though unexpected. It shows Mary as a pampered southern belle, her daddy’s favorite. She socializes with all the important Kentucky politicians. She follows two sisters from Lexington KY to Springfield IL, where she will perhaps find a husband. She meets Stephen Douglas and other important men, but then meets Abraham Lincoln and others fade from her view.
Stone spends a lot of time on the early years, and progressively less on later years. All major events of Lincoln’s political career are covered, but in fewer words for the presidential years. I suspect Stone thought Lincoln’s presidency has been covered in great depth and that the early years needed more coverage. The book ends with Mary leaving the White House a few weeks after Lincoln’s death.
If I had to pick at some things that I didn’t like, I can find only two. First, I would have liked to have some data provided, perhaps a listing of the parents, siblings, and perhaps the grandparents of Abraham and Mary. What with parents, step-parents, siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, etc, I sometimes was confused. For Mary, especially, being one of 16 siblings, I couldn’t keep them straight. A timeline for each of them would have helped, as would have a couple of simple maps, of Lexington and Springfield.
Second, I wish Stone hadn’t spent so much time on Mary’s clothes. He constantly talked about the gowns she wore, giving color and style. Who cares? I suppose that helped to develop her character and the situations she lived in, but it got kind of tiring after a while.
So, I pulled this book from the sale/donation pile, but is it really a keeper? I think my wife would enjoy it and I’m going to encourage her to read it. Meanwhile, from my deculttering and organizing work, I found two other Irving Stone books in my library about president’s wives: Those Who Love (Abigail Adams) and The President’s Lady (Rachel Jackson). I also have a first edition of his book They Also Ran, about those who ran for the presidency as nominees of their party but never won, which I read decades ago and remember it as being excellent. I also read (from a library copy) Stone’s 1980 book The Origin about Charles Darwin, also excellent. So, I think I’ll keep this and have a mini-collection of Irving Stone books. Whether I get to read them or not is another question.