I am so far behind on reviews. So far behind. I probably should have thought about reviewing this closer to when I finished it and when the internet was freaking out about it. But that would have required some planning and forethought and hahaha, that's not going to happen.
For those that don't yet know (and you probably do, because of all the time that has passed since it came out), the Hamiltome (aka Hamilton The Revolution) is about the making of the show as well as annotated lyrics. And lots of pictures, from the show, behind the scenes (including Daveed and Oak in their underwear getting ready for the show, which is swell), during the creation. Just lots of pictures.
Are you already in love with Hamilton? Excellent, then you should read this, it is great.
Do you not love Hamilton? Then this is probably not going to be all that exciting for you.
If I had a criticism to make, it's that the book makes no criticism of itself. It gets a bit self-congratulatory at times. Everything is great, everyone is a genius, everyone is beautiful. It doesn't necessarily come off as bragging, or at least I kept thinking of LMM and he is SO DAMN POSITIVE so yes, let's say that is why.
A second criticism would be that the book is definitely a tome, but that is a fake criticism and I make it because I just dropped the book on my leg and the corner cut me, so I'm looking for something to blame that isn't clumsy me.
But really, I thought this book was not going to be nearly as large or complete as it was. I thought it would be something small, or maybe just annotated lyrics. Something that would make me go "Yeah, I'm gonna buy this, but I prob can just get these annotations online or something like that." But that would assume that LMM would half-ass something, which does not appear to be something he is capable of. And really, the book is beautiful. Don't believe me?
Yeah, it's pretty great.
Gif rating:
Miranda, Lin-Manuel and Jeremy McCarter. Hamilton the Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical with a True Account of Its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-Hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America. Grand Central Publishing. 2016
