A little fun fact about me is that I love musicals. Going to a theatre and watching a musical production and then immediately downloading the soundtrack and playing it on blast on the car ride home. Performing my own Broadway musical that will luckily never hear the ears of anyone else around me. Ah good times. I saw Hamilton in downtown Chicago with my family around the holiday season a few years ago. I remember sitting through this, not really understanding half of what they were singing about as well as thinking holy cow this musical is crazy long. It wasn’t until afterwards when I would listen to the album with one of my sisters when I actually started enjoying this soundtrack. It was a way for my sister and I to hang out together when we did not have much else to connect with as we were at very different places in our lives.
This is the second audio book I have ever listened to and I am still trying to figure out if it is for me. I see the appeal of it especially for those who may not have the time to physically sit down and read a book but I just am not sure if I like it. I much more enjoy reading either a hard copy or something on my Kindle app. I also have the issue that when I am listening to something I tend to zone out and ignore the noises that are coming through my headphones which is a problem when you are trying to listen to a book because I could zone out for a few chapters and have no idea what was read. Then there’s the issue of finding the proper reading speed. There’s a fine balance between being read too slowly and feeling bored and being read too fast and missing what they are saying cause of the speed. Lots to be learned and tested out.
The description of this book is pretty self explanatory once you read the title. It is the true story of Eliza Schuyler and goes throughout history of her meeting Alexander Hamilton for the first time, them starting a life together, watching him battle against not only the British but his fellow country men, the moments leading up to when Aaron Burr shot him, and her continuing his legacy afterwords. Struggling to find her place in this new country and not wanting to just sit on the sidelines watching. How she became a founding mother and shaped America.
This was a book that I didn’t even need to read the description, that just by reading the title I was already hooked and interested. A book of the unpublished letters and true story of Eliza Schulyer Hamilton, sign me up. I am very glad that I decided to listen to this book instead of reading it because holy cow it is a massive book. The audio book on regular speed had it at over 24 hours. From what I have seen, 7 hours is usually the average. And while it was incredibly interesting to listen to, I kept having to pause and try and decipher what they were talking about. They talked so properly back then that it kind of embarrasses me of how we talk today. But it’s confusing! So my only two warnings if you do pick this book up are that it is a monster size book and it is so sophistically written that it might leave you with a furrowed brow.
Until Next Time, The Library Abroad
The Library Abroad 
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