The story of a 99-year-old half-blind wife of a Confederate veteran. Confined to an old people's home, but with all her memories intact, Lucy Marsden unfolds the tale of the American South from General Lee and Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King and the Challenger disaster.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Written amazingly by a man, University lecturer Allan Gurganus, this massive tale is told through the voice and memories of a 98 year old widow of the American Civil War. She is telling her memoirs c. 1980, to a young researcher. The widow was married in her teens to a 50 plus year old Confederate General whose story she tells. The book also steps aside for a gruelling account of the round-up and transportation of slaves from a peaceful African village to a life of unredeemed misery on the plantations. [In this it predates the film Amistad by some time and does, arguably, an even better job.] The book changes from 1st person to narrative with flawless ease and despite its length has an economy of language which absolutely captures the graphic detail of America's bloodiest strife. In this sense it rivals Dickens and Zangwill in taking you to the very place it describes. A masterpiece that deserves coverage and should be filmed by Spielberg.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
If you're at all interested in the last 100 years of American history, but don't really have a clue about the American Civil War & all that - who did what to who, etc. - then this is a really good place to start.
Far more readable than any history book, with a real sense of pace, and lots of really sparky characters, I really enjoyed it. I would also agree that it's not obvious that it's written by a man - as the story is told very convincingly from the point of view of a 98 year old woman.
Far more readable than any history book, with a real sense of pace, and lots of really sparky characters, I really enjoyed it. I would also agree that it's not obvious that it's written by a man - as the story is told very convincingly from the point of view of a 98 year old woman.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
53 reviews
62 of 66 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I've ever read . . .
25 Mar 2000
By Linda I Barber
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I was with my family at the South Carolina beach when I read this book. I was so moved by the chapter which describes Willie shooting the young Union soldier that I asked my brother-in-law to read that chapter(he's a history teacher and I thought it would be a beautiful passage to include in the teaching of the civil war). When I returned to the beach, he had read it and cried; my sister-in-law had read it and cried . . . Some of your reviewers suggest that the author is no storyteller . . . (whether I go to heaven or hell, my prayer is that those folks won't be there with me). As a daughter of the South and a girl who has been entertained by some of the best storytellers of the South, Gurganus is one of the finest storytellers! If you want a life-altering experience, read this novel. I've never written a review for amazon.com and probably will never write another one . . but, I feel so strongly about the inspiring beauty of this book, that I just wanted to share it . . .
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
great characters non linear plot
10 April 2001
By Southern Train
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I am fascinated by Southern hisotry, civil rights and the civil war --this book contained all of these ingredients --it's not really a novel with a linear plot; instead, it's a collection of recollections --just as if you were listening to someone tell you his or her life story which would meander back and forth from early to more recent events as one event triggered memory of another. Some of these stories, though fiction, gave me a truer sense of what certain events must have been like than any other real history I've read. As an example, the story of Castalia's forced journey from Africa to Charleston gave me what felt like the truest view of that passage that I have read; likewise, the story involving Sherman's assault on the Marsden plantation made me get a sense of what that must have felt like to those living on the plantations who were either freed or lost their possessions. The writing is very rich and requires careful attention; my only criticism is that some of the stories seemed to drag and could have been more tightly edited --that made the book, at times, tedious and is the reason for 4 rather than 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I've ever read
13 Sep 2000
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I wasn't really prepared for this to be a good book -- I was given an old copy by my Mom, who is from the South. 'Oh good, another war story' I thought. But once into the book, I was hooked. So many books lately seem shallow: they have one main theme and seem constructed mainly to make a good screenplay.
This book will never make a good screenplay, but it makes a rich, intriguing read. Although the story is complex, I had no trouble remembering what was going on or who the characters were: they were so detailed and memorable. It doesn't really matter what you think about the Civil War, either: the book is primarily about people, and about a certain time in history.
On a personal note, as a woman struggling with work and kids and house, Lucy's description of life at the turn of the century made me feel downright liberated, as well as proud of all the women throughout the centuries that have fed and clothed 'a mess of children' through good times and bad. Her description of getting up every morning to make a dozen sandwiches made me think of all the trivial little things Moms do to make life go on for a family, and how it all counts somehow in the end. It was amazing to me that Allan could describe the universe from a woman's point of view with such seeming accuracy and poignancy!
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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