Assassination Vacation
By: Sarah Vowell / Narrated By: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Catherine Keener, Stephen King, Dave Eggers, Jon Stewart
Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
Uneven guest narrators don’t throw off a delight. Morbid meets Road Trip
Sarah Vowell can’t just be an odd and quirky history nut. Nooooo, she has to involve friends and family, and here they’re all following her to cemeteries, assassinations spots, tourist traps that sell American flag coasters for you to put your Confederate flag glasses on. Her friends, her family, reeeeally miss that Vowell USED to cover concerts and musicians.
Tsk tsk
Instead, what they have is mentions in the delightful Assassination Vacation!
Let’s get right on to the audiobook’s greatest weakness: Its many and varied guest narrators. I s’pose Vowell is so popular, so tremendously quirky in a sublimely geeky sort of way that all and sundry celebrities wanna jump in and toss a line out here and there. Which is fine if you’re say, Jon Stewart knocking it outta the park as James Garfield. Or the guy who did Garfield assassin, Charles Guiteau’s voice (The man was totally off his rocker, and the voice actor—oh wait: Brad Bird!!!—sang and shouted and made huuuuuge declarations in a hiLARious manner!).
But if you’re, say, Stephen King doing Lincoln’s voice, or Catherine Keener doing a museum director’s end of a conversation? Hmmmm, not so much. The Keener interlude is the oddest as I wondered why a simple everyday person would need a celebrity appearance. And it was a conversation between Vowell and the director, not a quote from a great person. It was just weird.
And Stephen King is okay, but as MOST of the book is about Lincoln and his assassination (With Vowell drooling about the dreamy John Wilkes Booth and how he’s her favorite assassin), maybe someone with a more dynamic voice coulda done the honors. As it is, King is certainly instantly recognizable, but he has rather flat tones. I mean, I get it: Lincoln wasn’t a laugh a minute, and he navigated the country (And his family) through tough times, but there was some much-needed Oooomph lacking.
But okay, enough of that. Just dip into this book for a jaunty trip to the dark side. Yes, Lincoln’s murder gets the lion’s share, especially seeing what a spectacle it was throughout the country and how momentous it was. Garfield and, esPECially, William McKinley get rather short shrift. As for McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt winds up getting more airtime with his involvement and with becoming President after McKinley died. While Garfield and his assassin are narrated with great verve and gusto? McKinley and his assassin kinda peter out and can’t hold a candle to the other two in comparison.
Whatever! Vowell makes everything enjoyable, and I wound up chuckling aloud a few times to go with grinning maniacally many many times. Be prepared, tho’: If you’re a fan of George W. Bush, you might find yourself plenty peeved as Vowell is NOT quiet about her grrrr-moments of his (then current) presidency. But if you’ll stop yourself from throwing your listening device at the wall for a moment after her first growl, do keep in mind that ALL she views is within the light of History. She knows what invading other countries devolves into—she’s heard it all before and thus judges accordingly. Maybe if we all studied a bit more History we wouldn’t keep on repeating it.
That said, this was a real treat of a listen, edifying whilst also making one chortle and feel mirth about the ghoulish. And what’s not to love about her aDORable nephew, Owen? He who looooves jumping around in cemeteries whilst Auntie Sarah combs through looking for the famed fallen? He who will turn down a comforting lamby stuffed toy at the ER, saying he likes spoooooky stuff, thank you very much. I got a kick outta him as much as I got a kick outta all of Vowell’s pals who enthusiastically or (rather) unenthusiastically joined her on her road trips. A guy who proudly sports his Anarchy t-shirt while pondering America’s past? I’m THERE; it’s funny!
But the topper to all of this is that Vowell herself conveys most of the text. That screechy warble that I thought would make listening an utter nightmare has charmed me to no end. Only she can do her dry words, her witty words, her biting words, and her wry observations that can charm, that can burn with sarcasm. I do so love her!
And I did so love this audiobook! After Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, I picked up some other audiobooks of hers on sale at Audible, plus I found one on sale at Chirpbooks.
So I’m set for quite a while. Any of y’all care to join me for another jaunt into her ironic mind?!
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