Author: Jenn

BOOK REVIEW: Widow of the South

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May’s pick for our When Johnny Comes Marching Home: A Civil War Book

Widow of the South

Discussion is The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks.

This book had been sitting on my to be read bookshelf for more than 8 years (and yes, I do have an entire bookcase of books that I have not read yet!). I remember picking it up in the grocery store, of all places, when I was out shopping with my grandmother, and thinking it was intriguing enough to go in my cart. Eight years later, the book finally made it to the top of my list for this book club.

It’s November 1864 and the Civil War has waged on for more than 3 1/2 years now. Carrie McGavock is sitting in her bedroom, rocking back and forth in her chair when General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest comes knocking at her door. Her house is being taken as a field hospital. Her town of Franklin is now a battlefield.

All throughout town men are falling, wounded or dead. Carrie’s plantation has now become a field of the battle scarred. Four generals lie dead on her porch and the pile of limbs grows taller and taller. One soldier taken to Carrie’s plantation is Zachariah Cashwell, a Confederate soldier from Arkansas. Cashwell was struck with a bullet in the leg when he attempted to raise the colors. He’s in tough shape- he needs his leg amputated but would rather die.

What ensues between Carrie and Zachariah was recently named by Amazon as one of the Top 50 Love Stories. Initially angered at Carrie’s interference in the amputating of his leg, Zachariah grows to love Carrie. Theirs is a relationship that will never be anything more, they care deeply for each other.

While I enjoyed Zachariah and Carrie’s friendship- really what I found the “love” story to be- what I enjoyed the most was the telling of the battle of Franklin and Carrie’s quest to honor the men and boys who fought and died there. Too much time was spent on matters that were not pertinent to the heart of the story, which was Carrie and the cemetery.

Based on the true story of Carrie McGavock and Carnton plantation, McGavock’s backyard became the final resting place for 1,500 Confederate soldiers. She was known for her meticulous care and keeping of the cemetery, which she tended until her death some 50 years later.

I listened to this book, which was a full cast audio, switching between the voice of Zachariah and Carrie, as well as a narrator. The readers were just OK in my opinion- the woman who read for Carrie sounded much older than her 35 years.

Hicks, to me, what at his best and most passionate in his Author’s Note, when he told the story of Carrie and her cemetery. Hicks had worked for many years as the driving force behind the preservation of the Carnton Plantation, and he was intimately acquainted with the property and those who lived there. I wished the rest of the story could have been so eloquently told as his Author’s Note.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Myth, Maggots, Minie Balls, Gangrene, and Glory

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The first program in our spring Civil War 150th Celebration is Civil War Medicine: Myth, Maggots, Minie Balls, Gangrene, and Glory Monday April 29th at 7PM in the Mary Baldwin room. Carolyn Ivanhoff, housemaster of Shelton Intermediate School returns to present this program.

Medicine in the Civil War was primitive compared to today’s standards. Doctors knew little about infection, blood transfusions, and sterilization. You were more likely to die from wounds sustained on the battlefield than to actually die on the battlefield. Men who knew they would need amputations would sometimes try to amputate the limb themselves, rather than have the doctor do it, knowing their chances of survival were about the same.

Hygiene in camps was almost nonexistent, and therefore disease could run rampant throughout the soldiers. Dysentery, smallpox, measles, and pneumonia were a soldier’s worst enemy, not the men whom they faced on the battlefield. Rations were insufficient and poor, water was not clean or filtered, clothing was tattered and ratty, and sanitation of waste did not exist.

Join us next week as Ivanoff educates us on what exactly it was like to be a soldier during the Civil War and how fortunate we are today to have the medical care we have. Registration is required for this event.

Book Review: Cleopatra’s Daughter

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This month’s pick for my personal book club outside of the library wasCleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran. In this book club we take turns selecting the month’s read and hosting at our homes. The feel of this book club is much different than the ones I run at the library, since it’s more democratic in selection of materials, and we get to eat and drink great food!

It was my turn to pick this month, and I was really looking forward to sharing Michelle Moran with my friends. The first book I read by Moran was The Heretic’s Queen, which was about Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen Nefertiti. I had not done much reading about ancient Egypt since sixth grade, and immediately fell in love with the time period once again.

Cleopatra’s Daughter is about, well, Cleopatra’s daughter with Marc Antony, Selene Kleopatra. The novel opens right as Octavian’s forces are storming through Alexandria, and Egypt is to be lost to Rome. Antony, thinking his wife has committed suicide, kills himself rather than be captured and killed by his former friend Octavian. The Antony children wait helplessly with their mother as word of defeat spreads and the Romans take over the city. Cleopatra will famously kill herself with the help of a snake, and the children are orphaned.

Most of the story takes place in Rome, a city very much like a city in our own time. The city’s rulers are struggling to keep order, reduce crime, entertain the masses, and maintain justice. Fortunately for us, our methods of doing all of these things have become more civilized. Selene and her twin brother are kept and raised by Antony’s former wife Octavia, sister to Octavian, a kind and sympathetic mother figure.

The story is chock full of real historical figures: Marcus Agrippa, Juba, Julia, daughter of Octavian, Livia, wife to Octavia, Tiberius, the future emperor, and many more. Moran took from contemporary times trials and incidents to highlight what a dangerous and unsafe time period it was. More than 50,000 slaves lived in the city and each time an area was conquered, more slaves were brought in. The Romans were a brutal people.

One of the things I love so much about Moran is her ability to put you in whatever time period she is writing about. You can smell the food in the marketplace, hear the cries of the gladiators in the Circus, and be in the crowd as the sentence is passed for a trial. With The Heretic Queen, I put visiting Egypt on my bucket list; now with Cleopatra’s Daughter, Rome is on my list as well.

Rating: 4 stars.

Book Review: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

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Our classics pick for April is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I had picked this book a while ago, not knowing it was the 50th anniversary this year of the publication.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I was warned when I picked this book that it would be “terribly depressing” and “Ooo, that’s so depressing I’m not sure I want to read it.” While this book was depressing, that was not the whole of the story.

The Bell Jar is a coming of age story that takes place in 1953 and centers around main character Esther Greenwood, a 21 year old college student. She is bright, but has a difficult time reconciling with the stifling world of the 1950’s.  Esther works for a fashion magazine in NYC during the summer of 1953 and is fascinated with the news headlines of the day, including the execution of the Rosenbergs and a man’s suicide. It appears that Esther may be on the track to bigger and better things.

But Esther is not as stable as she presents herself. This is a coming of age story, like The Catcher In the Rye, but it is through rebirth and pain. Esther begins a slow decline into mental illness, so slowly it’s almost impossible to remember what the “trigger” was for her. In her rejection of conventional models of woman,, like purity, relationships with men, and the fashion world of NYC, she finds herself on the outside looking in. I found myself, when reading of Esther’s first suicide attempt, wondering “Well, where did that come from?” Esther had no reason to try to kill herself, she even says that she wants to see if she can do it.

Plath’s use of language, imagery, and tone in The Bell Jar allowed the reader into the mind and life of Esther Greenwood. Plath is simply a genius when it comes to weaving a story. A slim 264 pages, it was easy reading.

One of the reasons I liked this book so much was that I found so much of myself in Esther Greenwood. At that age, I too was bright, ambitious, and sometimes on the brink. But unlike Esther, I had the mental fortitude and support system to bring me back from the edge.

I listened to this book on audio and it was read by Maggie Gyllenhaal. I found her reading to be less than stellar, as she read…. like… she.. was… taking… her… time. It was extremely annoying, but I was able to look past her inept reading and hear the heart of the story.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: March by E. L. Doctorow

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[Cover]

March by E. L. Doctorow

This month’s selection for “When Johnny Comes Marching Home: A Civil War Book  Discussion” was March by E. L. Doctorow, not to be confused with Geraldine Brooks’ March.

I selected this book because of the accolades it has received: Pen/Faulkner Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also a New York Times Bestseller. I had given the audiobook version to my husband to listen to, and he could not get past the first three discs. This did not bode well for my own listening of this book.

March tells the story of Sherman’s imfamous march through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina during 1864 and into 1865. There is a rather large, colorful, and diverse cast of characters, led by William Tecumsah Sherman himself. Doctorow does an excellent job incorporating people from all “walks of life” into this story: freed slaves, Southern women, Confederate and Union soldiers, and even a British journalist. However, there were almost too many characters. At some point I lost track of who was where when and what happened to them. Some people stayed behind on different parts of the march and we never heard from them again. After a time, you wondered, “Hey, what happened to…?” and you never found out.

This book is not for the queasy or faint at heart, as there are graphic war scenes, including mass rape, killing of prisoners of war, drowning of freed slaves, and the burning of entire cities. If you’re expecting a nice, wholesome story, you won’t find it here. This is a realistic account of what actually happened during Sherman’s march to the sea. You’ll learn a lot and gain insight into a much maligned man.

Whether you love or hate Sherman and can or can’t justify his actions during the Civil War, one has to admit that he greatly helped end the Civil War and saved thousands of lives who would have been lost if the war had continued. March shows a softer side of Sherman, a man who, while following orders, often found himself at the mercy of his men, who got carried away with the spoils of war.

While I found this book to be interesting and the reader, Joe Morton, engaging, I did not love it. The language and style were easy to read and understand. I’m not sure what Doctorow could have done to take my rating from an “ok” to “great”.

Rating: 3 stars