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A review by soulwinds
When Will This Cruel War Be Over?: The Civil War Diary of Emma Simpson, Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864 by Barry Denenberg
1.0
1 star for When Will This Cruel World Be Over?
Thoughts and Plot
Emma Simpson is a 14 year old, wealthy, white girl from Virginia whose father is off fighting in the civil war for the south (as they are slave plantation owners).
This book is not an apt representation of how it was in the south before or during the war. The author has Emma saying things like how her and her mother hold a weekly lesson for the slave children, where they read them stories from the bible and teach them how to read and write. This makes no sense because very few slaves were taught to read and write. Most were severely beaten for trying to learn to read because plantation owners didn’t want them to be able to send and receive information that wasn’t in accordance to what their owner’s wanted them to know. I’m pretty sure there was even a law about that in Virginia.
I know the author was probably trying to play down how terrible things were for slaves in the south, but as a non-fiction author, you would think they’d stick to the facts and not completely go off from history in such a way. Another example is trying to portray his narrator and her family as kindly shepherds to the poor black slaves isn’t realistic. But Emma repeatedly says, they only ‘discipline’ when it is in dire need and that her father is a kindly but firm owner. That all the slaves love them. Please. Maybe she didn’t know, but as a 14 year old girl, I think she would know where or not someone was disciplined in the fields for whatever perceived offense they committed. Therefore I think it’s safe to assume that the author was once again trying to make it look like slavery wasn’t as terrible as it actually was.
Moving on from that…Emma was a terribly boring young lady of 14. Her diary is short, dry, dull and the only time she has any long entries is to complain about her cousin, whine about the war being so hard on HER, pine after a boy she only talked to for one evening at a dance, and once and awhile talk about letters she got from said boy or her father…who only writes 3-4 times in the whole book! Oh and she does like to go on about her views on marriage in contrast to her cousin’s views. Tiresome.
People are supposed to be starving to death, but you rarely hear about it. Emma only makes passing comments like “I can’t remember the last time we had beef!” or “funny how things you used to take for granted are now so precious, like baking soda, sugar-“ blah blah blah. But it seems like she somehow rarely goes hungry. I know if I kept a journal and I was hungry, you’d hear about it every entry! Emma does mention not being able to get new clothes, not dressing up anymore, etc but you never hear her say there was no food to eat or medicine to have! All these supplies were cut off that far into the war, so where is it all coming from???
The only half decently interesting person was “Cousin Rachel” who is the only Rachel in the book, so I’m not sure why she’s always “Cousin Rachel.” Who else would she be talking about when she constantly complains no one visits??? Anyhow, “Cousin Rachel” was originally obsessed with marriage (If I remember correctly) then suddenly turns against it. Since her and Emma arguing over marriage take up so much of the book you bring to wonder if maybe Rachel was rejected at some point and that’s what turned her opinion of marriage so sour. I secretly hoped that something interesting from her past would be revealed and you spend the whole book hoping only to get to the Epilogue and discover nope, that’s not it at all. She’s just nuts and that’s why she has some valid concerns about marriage and a full rage on against it. Boring and disappointing.
There other thing I disliked was how many one sentence entries there were. What a waste of paper! Most of them could have been excluded to save trees! Of course you would then have to call the book a short story because it was short enough as it was.
I copied down some examples so you could get a feel for how terrible it was:
Wednesday, January 13, 1864 - I never realized how happy I was until this war besieged our land.
Tuesday, February 16, 1864 - There are many reports of smallpox in the area.
Tuesday, February 23, 1864 - Mother remained in bed all day.
Wednesday, March 23, 1864 - Mother is still feeling poorly.
Monday, April 18, 1864 - Mother died today.
Tuesday, May 10, 1864 - We received word of the death of Lieutenant Walker.
Tuesday, May 24, 1864 - Cousin Rachel and I talked in my room again this evening.
Saturday, July 9, 1864 - My watch is broken.
Sunday, July 24, 1864 - The weather is quite warm today.
Saturday, December 3, 1864 - We wait in breathless anticipation for news.
Sunday, December 11, 1864 - How long O Lord, how long?
Thursday, December 22, 1864 - I am growing thin and feeling weak. I can no longer even weep.
In Conclusion
This Dear America was sadly lacking. For such an interesting time period it was boring and extremely unrealistic. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Age range: anyone who’s old enough to stick with how boring it is
Content: Main character uses the word Negros a lot, some mention of war wounds but none go into great detail.
Thoughts and Plot
Emma Simpson is a 14 year old, wealthy, white girl from Virginia whose father is off fighting in the civil war for the south (as they are slave plantation owners).
This book is not an apt representation of how it was in the south before or during the war. The author has Emma saying things like how her and her mother hold a weekly lesson for the slave children, where they read them stories from the bible and teach them how to read and write. This makes no sense because very few slaves were taught to read and write. Most were severely beaten for trying to learn to read because plantation owners didn’t want them to be able to send and receive information that wasn’t in accordance to what their owner’s wanted them to know. I’m pretty sure there was even a law about that in Virginia.
I know the author was probably trying to play down how terrible things were for slaves in the south, but as a non-fiction author, you would think they’d stick to the facts and not completely go off from history in such a way. Another example is trying to portray his narrator and her family as kindly shepherds to the poor black slaves isn’t realistic. But Emma repeatedly says, they only ‘discipline’ when it is in dire need and that her father is a kindly but firm owner. That all the slaves love them. Please. Maybe she didn’t know, but as a 14 year old girl, I think she would know where or not someone was disciplined in the fields for whatever perceived offense they committed. Therefore I think it’s safe to assume that the author was once again trying to make it look like slavery wasn’t as terrible as it actually was.
Moving on from that…Emma was a terribly boring young lady of 14. Her diary is short, dry, dull and the only time she has any long entries is to complain about her cousin, whine about the war being so hard on HER, pine after a boy she only talked to for one evening at a dance, and once and awhile talk about letters she got from said boy or her father…who only writes 3-4 times in the whole book! Oh and she does like to go on about her views on marriage in contrast to her cousin’s views. Tiresome.
People are supposed to be starving to death, but you rarely hear about it. Emma only makes passing comments like “I can’t remember the last time we had beef!” or “funny how things you used to take for granted are now so precious, like baking soda, sugar-“ blah blah blah. But it seems like she somehow rarely goes hungry. I know if I kept a journal and I was hungry, you’d hear about it every entry! Emma does mention not being able to get new clothes, not dressing up anymore, etc but you never hear her say there was no food to eat or medicine to have! All these supplies were cut off that far into the war, so where is it all coming from???
The only half decently interesting person was “Cousin Rachel” who is the only Rachel in the book, so I’m not sure why she’s always “Cousin Rachel.” Who else would she be talking about when she constantly complains no one visits??? Anyhow, “Cousin Rachel” was originally obsessed with marriage (If I remember correctly) then suddenly turns against it. Since her and Emma arguing over marriage take up so much of the book you bring to wonder if maybe Rachel was rejected at some point and that’s what turned her opinion of marriage so sour. I secretly hoped that something interesting from her past would be revealed and you spend the whole book hoping only to get to the Epilogue and discover nope, that’s not it at all. She’s just nuts and that’s why she has some valid concerns about marriage and a full rage on against it. Boring and disappointing.
There other thing I disliked was how many one sentence entries there were. What a waste of paper! Most of them could have been excluded to save trees! Of course you would then have to call the book a short story because it was short enough as it was.
I copied down some examples so you could get a feel for how terrible it was:
Wednesday, January 13, 1864 - I never realized how happy I was until this war besieged our land.
Tuesday, February 16, 1864 - There are many reports of smallpox in the area.
Tuesday, February 23, 1864 - Mother remained in bed all day.
Wednesday, March 23, 1864 - Mother is still feeling poorly.
Monday, April 18, 1864 - Mother died today.
Tuesday, May 10, 1864 - We received word of the death of Lieutenant Walker.
Tuesday, May 24, 1864 - Cousin Rachel and I talked in my room again this evening.
Saturday, July 9, 1864 - My watch is broken.
Sunday, July 24, 1864 - The weather is quite warm today.
Saturday, December 3, 1864 - We wait in breathless anticipation for news.
Sunday, December 11, 1864 - How long O Lord, how long?
Thursday, December 22, 1864 - I am growing thin and feeling weak. I can no longer even weep.
In Conclusion
This Dear America was sadly lacking. For such an interesting time period it was boring and extremely unrealistic. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Age range: anyone who’s old enough to stick with how boring it is
Content: Main character uses the word Negros a lot, some mention of war wounds but none go into great detail.