This 4th of July, let’s take a moment to remember how fortunate we are to have our freedom…(Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)

…I mean, after all, Abe Lincoln had to fight off vampires so we wouldn’t all end up enslaved as food for the undead! Or…wait a minute, do I have my story straight? I do according to the book I chose to review for today—Seth Grahame-Smith’s book, recently turned blockbuster, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Now, before I get started with the reviewing I want to just mention a couple things. Number one, hope everyone had a safe and happy 4^th. Which actually brings me to my next thing—the lateness and choice of subject for this post. Two days ago I had the brilliant idea to save my review of Tithe (which I mentioned last week) to read something appropriately American for the 4^th of July. So, I ordered Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on my Nook and I set about reading at record pace to finish it just in time. So I apologize for switching subject on you guys (I will be doing Tithe next week—really, I promise) and I apologize for the lateness of this post, but here is my review of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I do realize that this isn’t the most festive, July 4^th appropriate book I could have chosen. However, the upcoming movie and the complete randomness of the title peaked my interest. And I’ll tell you right now, I fully expected to hate it. I mean, come on, Abe Lincoln? A vampire hunter? How absurd! And I’ve never been a real fan of Smith’s other title either (Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies). I thought it was just another hyped up, completely undeserving young adult novel and I’d have to restrain myself from either falling asleep or vomiting while reading it.

BUT, I now have to confess that Seth Grahame Smith has completely won me over. First of all, as a writer and as a Hudson Valley and Dutchess County girl he basically had me at the intro. He describes Rhinebeck and the little five-and-dime (which I’ve been in a hundred times) to a tee. I felt very self-satisfied knowing exactly where he was talking about and I also felt I could relate to his commentary on being a writer the way you can end up letting life get in the way of your writing.

But moving on to the actual story, there were quite a few things that made me keep reading after the intro (and made me want to check out Smith’s other books). For starters his writing style is better than most I’ve seen for this genre. I loved his phrasing of things (ex: “the pages would crumble if turned by anything more than a breath”) and the amusing honesty and realism he uses, especially in the intro. Also, I liked his description of violence—he used just enough detail where you could picture it without it being just excessive gore—it was brutally poetic. On top of all that he seamlessly transitions from his modern day account to the “historical” account. In the intro it reads like a modern person’s thoughts and concerns, and then all of a sudden we’re reading a history book, a biography (albeit a way more interesting biography than many I’ve read). Finally, his meticulousness in maintaining the illusion by welding fact and fiction is what helps him pull the whole thing off (going so far as to include quotes from Lincoln’s journals, in “Lincoln’s” voice, all formatted and everything).

Smith also excels at humanizing Lincoln’s losses. When professors lecture about famous historical figures and they mention relatives of those people who passed away, it always feels so nonchalant to me. We forget that it’s real people dying because it’s what we expect—we say things like “well, infant mortality rates were higher” and “doctors didn’t know the things we know now.” We see it as inevitable and I think we expect that they saw it as inevitable back then too. What Smith does, though, is reminds the reader that death affected them too—Lincoln’s grief is so compellingly portrayed it reminds you that those names in history books refer to real people and those people lose and grieve loved ones just as painfully as we do.

The one main (and pretty much only) complaint I have about this story is actually the vampires—and not because they weren’t done well. On the contrary, they were the perfect blend of all vampire myths brought to life. What I came to dislike more and more as I read was that the addition of the vampire conflict almost cheapened Lincoln’s real struggle against just plain old slavery. I mean yeah, fighting vampires—obvious evil doers and enemies—may be exciting, but I thought it took away a little bit from the subtler enemy of just plain injustice. As though Lincoln’s standing against injustice wasn’t reason enough to make him awesome.

All in all though I have to say that this book is totally worth reading. It made me more interested in Abraham Lincoln’s real life (it tricks you into being more interested in a history lesson). Plus the parallels it draws between Abe Lincoln, the Obama election, and Martin Luther King remind the reader that reaching equality was and continues to be a struggle. It also impresses upon the reader how lucky we are to have had so many people fight to further and maintain that freedom.

So, boys and girls, this one is definitely one for the shelf.