Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This was a pretty remarkable telling of the battle of Gettysburg. It's one thing to know the battles and understand the movements, but it's another to sympathize with the soldiers, reb or union, and the personal struggles they are all going through
"So this is tragedy. Yes. He nodded. In the presence of real tragedy you feel neither pain nor joy nor hatred, only a sense of enormous space and time suspended, the great doors open to black eternity" (362). Here's what struck me about this book: The spare prose made each word so meaningful; each metaphor lingered, suspended, poignant. I felt such empathy for both sides. I was mesmerized by the slow unfolding of the battle and felt actually physically ill as I read the final pages, knowing with historical hindsight the outcome.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred." (Tennyson)
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred." (Tennyson)
"'If it weren't for the slaves, there'd never have been no war, now would there?'"
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Battle of Gettysburg. This is historical fiction, but is well-researched. The focus is on the main generals on both sides of the battle. The book is divided into "days" corresponding to the days of the battle. These are then divided into chapters, each of which focuses on a particular character. While the pace is slow at the beginning, it all pays off when the battle actually begins. I became very invested in the fates of these men, even though their destinies were already written in history. This is definitely one of the best books about the Civil War that I have ever read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery, War, Injury/Injury detail
This book was all that I wanted and more. Loved it. Anybody interested in the American Civil War should read this book.
Books surprise me sometimes. A book about Gettysburg and hey, I know how that one ends. I know my dad has read this book and seen the movie and normally I wouldn't really go for things my dad likes but hey, it won a Pulitzer so I thought I'd give it a go. I love this book. To pieces. I was caught part way through and it didn't let go until the end, when I was seriously in tears, sobbing when the two friends met at the top of the hill. Couldn't handle it.
I didn’t think I would enjoy this book as much as I have. I guess any time you have a kind of battle story, there’s going to be a measure of anticipation and eagerness to see the events unfold. I admit to being sucked into this kind of enjoyment of it. The problem with these narrative retellings of such intense moments is that they tend to be gobbled up by just describing things and not really probing the depths of human feeling in any profound way. Shaara is mostly a descriptive writer, but there are some moments of depth and humanity in the storytelling. I liked it, in spite of psyching myself up to not like it.
I thought it would be more sympathetic to the Confederacy, but it actually isn’t. It’s actually more sympathetic to the Union, though the confederate characters are given much more attention and really only two voices from the Union side are explored, with one voice being predominant and the other just minor and at the beginning of the novel. The one thing I noticed about the portrayal of the Confederate characters is how much this war was like a romantic aristocratic experience, whereas the Union doesn’t seem to have this sense of nobility and chivalry. It’s not that the Union side is perceived as cold and unfeeling, just the opposite. It’s rather that there is really very little pretension about the horrors of war. As a southerner myself who loathes the Confederacy with a passion, I feel somewhat vindicated by my utter distaste for the kind of romantic glamorizing of soldiering that the confederate officers are painted as being by Shaara.
The treatment of Robert E. Lee as some kind of god-like figure is something unthinkable now, though Shaara's depiction of the story is that the catastrophe for the Confederacy at Gettysburg was because of Lee, even in the wake of advice from his top General, James Longstreet, that Lee's plan was doomed to fail. I loved the simple, thoughtful, and creative representation of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the Union regimental commander. And I thought the way Shaara had Chamberlain reflect on the wife he loved so much (not to mention his brother, Tom) was touching, especially how he relates that Chamberlain's fondness for his wife extended even to her faults, the most charming example of which was his wife's misspelling of the word "dreamyly." I don't know why, but I found that whole aspect of Chamberlain's character and his sensitivity to these loves and passions in the way Shaara wrote about them to be absolutely lovely.
Yes, yes, I think I must say this was a worthy Pulitzer winner. This book may be the Pulitzer winner by which I have been the most pleasantly surprised.
I thought it would be more sympathetic to the Confederacy, but it actually isn’t. It’s actually more sympathetic to the Union, though the confederate characters are given much more attention and really only two voices from the Union side are explored, with one voice being predominant and the other just minor and at the beginning of the novel. The one thing I noticed about the portrayal of the Confederate characters is how much this war was like a romantic aristocratic experience, whereas the Union doesn’t seem to have this sense of nobility and chivalry. It’s not that the Union side is perceived as cold and unfeeling, just the opposite. It’s rather that there is really very little pretension about the horrors of war. As a southerner myself who loathes the Confederacy with a passion, I feel somewhat vindicated by my utter distaste for the kind of romantic glamorizing of soldiering that the confederate officers are painted as being by Shaara.
The treatment of Robert E. Lee as some kind of god-like figure is something unthinkable now, though Shaara's depiction of the story is that the catastrophe for the Confederacy at Gettysburg was because of Lee, even in the wake of advice from his top General, James Longstreet, that Lee's plan was doomed to fail. I loved the simple, thoughtful, and creative representation of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the Union regimental commander. And I thought the way Shaara had Chamberlain reflect on the wife he loved so much (not to mention his brother, Tom) was touching, especially how he relates that Chamberlain's fondness for his wife extended even to her faults, the most charming example of which was his wife's misspelling of the word "dreamyly." I don't know why, but I found that whole aspect of Chamberlain's character and his sensitivity to these loves and passions in the way Shaara wrote about them to be absolutely lovely.
Yes, yes, I think I must say this was a worthy Pulitzer winner. This book may be the Pulitzer winner by which I have been the most pleasantly surprised.
I read this in college ages ago and remembered liking it, so I picked it up again. I still like it, still thought it was excellent. It really makes the historical figures come alive in your mind. Obviously prior to reading this book you knew they were "real" people, but this book does a great job of making them feel real too. The main downside was that I mostly listened to this as an audio book and I didn't care for the narrator.