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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one's excellent. It moves really quickly and I love the way that you're able to see so many different perspectives of both the battle and the motivation for war. Highly recommend!
I actually have to write a review of this for my class, so... 'ware the three-to-five-page review to follow. >>
I really wanted to like this book; I got bogged down in the middle as the battles just kept going, which I suppose is the point. War stinks.
I'm not a Civil War fanatic. I've read a few books, and studied it as a typical high school student, etc. I appreciate the breadth of Shaara's research, and the detail he includes in this epic tale, and recommend it to anyone who loves history, especially the Civil War time period. If you're a CW fanatic, this is one you should definitely include.
I'm not a Civil War fanatic. I've read a few books, and studied it as a typical high school student, etc. I appreciate the breadth of Shaara's research, and the detail he includes in this epic tale, and recommend it to anyone who loves history, especially the Civil War time period. If you're a CW fanatic, this is one you should definitely include.
dark
informative
slow-paced
I absolutely hated this book. I took it on as an extra-credit assignment for Social studies and I wanted to quit every second of it.
It was really interesting to see the differing mindsets between the North and the South during the Civil War. This is the story of the Battle of Gettysburg. The South were so accustomed to winning that dear Old Bobby Lee was damn-near worshiped. So much so that, the copious bloodshed and ultimate defeat of The Rebs here couldn't be blamed on Lee. His army couldn't see that the sick man without the good ground made a mistake. So they blamed it on General Longstreet because he was preaching for a defensive war and was ordered by Lee to lead the charge. The prideful South never recovered from this defeat.
General Chamberlain was the central figure from the North. A school teacher that ran away and joined the army, he represented the opposite point of view of the war. Where the South was rarin' to go and sure of victory, the North was saddened by the fact that it came to war. Chamberlain may have wanted to go to war but he broods his way to fame. Even though he was feeling the weight of war, he performed his duties admirably.
The one thing each side had in common, though, was the thought that war would be decided at Gettysburg. It was interesting to see the different ways people handled this assumption. For a war story, there wasn't all too many battle scenes. Oh, there were a few but there were equal amounts of scenes of reflection. I think this helps paint a truer picture than those epic tales where battles are described in flowery prose. If you're interested in American History in general or the Civil War specifically, you should pick this book up.
General Chamberlain was the central figure from the North. A school teacher that ran away and joined the army, he represented the opposite point of view of the war. Where the South was rarin' to go and sure of victory, the North was saddened by the fact that it came to war. Chamberlain may have wanted to go to war but he broods his way to fame. Even though he was feeling the weight of war, he performed his duties admirably.
The one thing each side had in common, though, was the thought that war would be decided at Gettysburg. It was interesting to see the different ways people handled this assumption. For a war story, there wasn't all too many battle scenes. Oh, there were a few but there were equal amounts of scenes of reflection. I think this helps paint a truer picture than those epic tales where battles are described in flowery prose. If you're interested in American History in general or the Civil War specifically, you should pick this book up.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very compelling as a look into the experience of war, particularly for a war that while defining a lot of American history, typically doesn't get the kind of psychological portrait of its combatants that you see from more recent modern conflicts like WW2, Vietnam, or even Iraq, wars where the images were more immediate and people could feel more closely connected to the events.
I do think that while it is a worthwhile project to examine the personalities and experiences of the people on whose orders thousands lived or died, in driving home its point about the similarities of the leaders on both sides of the conflict had, the sudden rift that feel between them as they were called to lead forces against each other through obligation- it does fall a bit into the whole Lost Cause myth. It doesn't attempt to claim the war as not being about slavery, though plenty of Confederate characters think of it as a matter of preserving their rights, but it does present them as something tragically noble. The idea of brave, noble rebels who were led into evil by their commanders and who lost because Lee and other generals foolishly sacrificed their lives is a persistent one. When I grew up in NC, even not growing up in anything near the parts of the culture that belligerently held onto their grievances about the Civil War, I still absorbed the name and the idea of Pickett's Charge through osmosis, as some Platonic ideal of hopelessly doomed courage. And that was as someone who's prickly adolescent rebellion was in finding contempt for everything that even had a whiff of Southern conservatism about it.
Truth be told, those aspects of the book aren't that significant, though they're certainly detectable. Moreover, I found that Shaara's style sometimes worked and sometimes didn't for me. Sometimes it was very moving, and sometimes it made me acutely aware that he was trying to move me. Nevertheless, this is a solid little novel even if I wasn't personally in love with it- I can understand the enduring appeal.
I do think that while it is a worthwhile project to examine the personalities and experiences of the people on whose orders thousands lived or died, in driving home its point about the similarities of the leaders on both sides of the conflict had, the sudden rift that feel between them as they were called to lead forces against each other through obligation- it does fall a bit into the whole Lost Cause myth. It doesn't attempt to claim the war as not being about slavery, though plenty of Confederate characters think of it as a matter of preserving their rights, but it does present them as something tragically noble. The idea of brave, noble rebels who were led into evil by their commanders and who lost because Lee and other generals foolishly sacrificed their lives is a persistent one. When I grew up in NC, even not growing up in anything near the parts of the culture that belligerently held onto their grievances about the Civil War, I still absorbed the name and the idea of Pickett's Charge through osmosis, as some Platonic ideal of hopelessly doomed courage. And that was as someone who's prickly adolescent rebellion was in finding contempt for everything that even had a whiff of Southern conservatism about it.
Truth be told, those aspects of the book aren't that significant, though they're certainly detectable. Moreover, I found that Shaara's style sometimes worked and sometimes didn't for me. Sometimes it was very moving, and sometimes it made me acutely aware that he was trying to move me. Nevertheless, this is a solid little novel even if I wasn't personally in love with it- I can understand the enduring appeal.
What can I say about this book? It was incredible. I heard so many positive things about it but it took me years to finally sit down and read it because I thought, "I'll never be interested in or be able to follow a battle." Oh, my friends, I was wrong. It's about the battle, but not necessarily the technicalities of it--this novel is about the humanity that was lost and the ones that survived over the three days at the Battle of Gettysburg. Read it!