Win a copy of I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War by Jerome Charyn

On the blog today I have a chance for one of you to win a copy of author Jerome Charyn's new release, I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War!

Jerome Charyn is currently on BLOG TOUR with HF Virtual Book Tours, you can follow the rest of the tour below!

02_I Am Abraham

PB Publication Date: February 9, 2015 | Liveright Publishing Corporation | Paperback; 480p

Genre: Historical Fiction

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Narrated in Lincoln’s own voice, the tragicomic I Am Abraham promises to be the masterwork of Jerome Charyn’s remarkable career.

Since publishing his first novel in 1964, Jerome Charyn has established himself as one of the most inventive and prolific literary chroniclers of the American landscape. Here in I Am Abraham, Charyn returns with an unforgettable portrait of Lincoln and the Civil War. Narrated boldly in the first person, I Am Abraham effortlessly mixes humor with Shakespearean-like tragedy, in the process creating an achingly human portrait of our sixteenth President.

Tracing the historic arc of Lincoln's life from his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, through his improbable marriage to Kentucky belle Mary Todd, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination, I Am Abraham hews closely to the familiar Lincoln saga. Charyn seamlessly braids historical figures such as Mrs. Keckley—the former slave, who became the First Lady's dressmaker and confidante—and the swaggering and almost treasonous General McClellan with a parade of fictional extras: wise-cracking knaves, conniving hangers-on, speculators, scheming Senators, and even patriotic whores.

We encounter the renegade Rebel soldiers who flanked the District in tattered uniforms and cardboard shoes, living in a no-man's-land between North and South; as well as the Northern deserters, young men all, with sunken, hollowed faces, sitting in the punishing sun, waiting for their rendezvous with the firing squad; and the black recruits, whom Lincoln’s own generals wanted to discard, but who play a pivotal role in winning the Civil War. At the center of this grand pageant is always Lincoln himself, clad in a green shawl, pacing the White House halls in the darkest hours of America’s bloodiest war.

Using biblically cadenced prose, cornpone nineteenth-century humor, and Lincoln’s own letters and speeches, Charyn concocts a profoundly moral but troubled commander in chief, whose relationship with his Ophelia-like wife and sons—Robert, Willie, and Tad—is explored with penetrating psychological insight and the utmost compassion. Seized by melancholy and imbued with an unfaltering sense of human worth, Charyn’s President Lincoln comes to vibrant, three-dimensional life in a haunting portrait we have rarely seen in historical fiction.

Praise for I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War

“Thoughtful, observant and droll.” — Richard Brookhiser, New York Times Book Review

“Not only the best novel about President Lincoln since Gore Vidal’s Lincoln in 1984, but it is also twice as good to read.” — Gabor Boritt, author of The Lincoln Enigma and recipient of the National Humanities Medal

“Jerome Charyn [is] a fearless writer… Brave and brazen… The book is daringly imagined, written with exuberance, and with a remarkable command of historical detail. It gives us a human Lincoln besieged by vividly drawn enemies and allies… Placing Lincoln within the web ordinary and sometimes petty human relations is no small achievement.” — Andrew Delbanco, New York Review of Books

“Audacious as ever, Jerome Charyn now casts his novelist’s gimlet eye on sad-souled Abraham Lincoln, a man of many parts, who controls events and people—wife, sons, a splintering nation—even though they often are, as they must be, beyond his compassion or power. Brooding, dreamlike, resonant, and studded with strutting characters, I Am Abraham is as wide and deep and morally sure as its wonderful subjects.” — Brenda Wineapple, author of Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compassion: 1848-1877

“If all historians—or any historian—could write with the magnetic charm and authoritative verve of Jerome Charyn, American readers would be fighting over the privilege of learning about their past. They can learn much from this book—an audacious, first-person novel that makes Lincoln the most irresistible figure of a compelling story singed with equal doses of comedy, tragedy, and moral grandeur. Here is something beyond history and approaching art.” — Harold Holzer, chairman, Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

“Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature.” — Michael Chabon

“Jerome Charyn is merely one of our finest writers with a polymorphous imagination and crack comic timing. Whatever milieu he chooses to inhabit, his characters sizzle with life, and his sentences are pure vernacular music, his voice unmistakable.” — Jonathan Lethem

“Charyn, like Nabokov, is that most fiendish sort of writer—so seductive as to beg imitation, so singular as to make imitation impossible.” — Tom Bissell

“One of our most intriguing fiction writers takes on the story of Honest Abe, narrating the tale in Lincoln’s voice and offering a revealing portrait of a man as flawed as he was great.” — Abbe Wright, O, The Oprah Magazine

“Jerome Charyn, like Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s superb 2012 movie, manages a feat of ventriloquism to be admired… Most of all, Lincoln comes across as human and not some remote giant… With that, Jerome Charyn has given Lincoln a most appropriate present for what would have been his 205th birthday this month: rebirth not as a marble memorial but as a three-dimensional human who overcame much to save his nation.” — Erik Spanberg, Christian Science Monitor

“Daring… Memorable… Charyn’s richly textured portrait captures the pragmatism, cunning, despair, and moral strength of a man who could have empathy for his bitterest foes, and who ‘had never outgrown the forest and a dirt floor.’” — The New Yorker

Jack Ford presents the new Lincoln novel by Jerome Charyn



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03_Jerome Charyn_Author PhotoAbout the Author

Jerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him "one of the most important writers in American literature." New York Newsday hailed Charyn as "a contemporary American Balzac,"and the Los Angeles Times described him as "absolutely unique among American writers." Since the 1964 release of Charyn's first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009. In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn's book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong." Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

For more information please visit Jerome Charyn's website. You can also find him on Twitter and Goodreads.

I Am Abraham Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, February 9
Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Tuesday, February 10
Review & Giveaway at Flashlight Commentary

Wednesday, February 11
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Thursday, February 12
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Friday, February 13
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Monday, February 16
Review & Excerpt at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus

Tuesday, February 17
Interview & Giveaway at A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Haus
Spotlight at CelticLady's Reviews

Wednesday, February 18
Review at Back Porchervations

Thursday, February 19
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Friday, February 20
Interview & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Saturday, February 21
Spotlight at Historical Readings & Reviews

Monday, February 23
Interview & Giveaway at Teddy Rose Book Reviews

Tuesday, February 24
Audio Book Review & Interview at Just One More Chapter

Wednesday, February 25
Review at Bookish

Thursday, February 26
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Monday, March 2
Review at Forever Ashley

Tuesday, March 3
Interview at Books and Benches

Wednesday, March 4
Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

Thursday, March 5
Review & Reader's Guide at She is Too Fond of Books

Friday, March 6
Review at Impressions in Ink

Giveaway

To enter to win a paperback copy of I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War please leave a comment below with your email address.

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on February 21st. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to US residents only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

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16 comments:

  1. I would love to win a copy of this!! Thanks for the chance!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love Lincoln!!
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    sandy.mccarthy@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a fan of Civil War books. This one sounds interesting. Thank you for the chance to win. griperang at embarqmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always can learn more about Abraham Lincoln. jtretin at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. This book sounds perfect for me.lomazowr@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Excited to read this book - thanks for the giveaway!

    tiffanyannbutton[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love Abraham Lincoln! His life is so inspiring and I've read one or two books about him and his wife, and this book looks just as wonderful as those :) Thanks so much for the chance to win.

    marykate(dot)sullivan711(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've read many Civil War novels with Lincoln as a historical character, and I read and loved the non-fiction Team of Rivals, but not since reading Love is Eternal back in HS days, have I read a HF novel about this great and wonderful man. Thanks for the giveaway.
    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

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  9. This sounds like a brilliant and unexpectedly funny look at Lincoln and his life. I'd love to win a copy of I Am Abraham, thanks for the chance.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ...and of course, my email: carlscott(at)prodigy(dot)net(dot)mx. Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  11. This book would be fascinating and a book which I would enjoy greatly. Many thanks. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  12. Thank you for the offer, hope to win!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love reading books from the Civil War. This one sounds interesting.
    Campbellamyd At gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Lincoln era fascinates me.

    lag110 at mchsi dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. This book sounds really good. I love reading about the Civil War. Thanks for having the giveaway.

    ayancey1974(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I like reading books about history. This one sounds really interesting
    Jwisley8@me.com

    ReplyDelete

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