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A review by drollgorg
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
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
3.25
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.