The anonymous reviewer is a bit over-the-top in their praise for the book, but I think it's good too, and I'm glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone who likes historical novels. Some reasons why...
The anonymous reviewer is a bit over-the-top in their praise for the book, but I think it's good too, and I'm glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone who likes historical novels.
Some reasons why you might not like it:
It's very long, covering almost the entire lives of some of the characters. (Even so, it was trimmed back drastically, and I'd be curious to learn what was cut.)
Blatant racism. I think it's period-accurate, and it doesn't mean everyone was bad all the time. There are still good stories to tell. The narrator doesn't spend any time telling you what's bad, but you can judge for yourself. (And the characters themselves are sometimes sharply critical, in a period-accurate way.)
Limited perspective. The focus of the story never leaves small-town Ohio. Events from elsewhere are reported on, but only as seen from a limited point of view as they read about it in the news and get letters. Only the things that the relatively well-off women in the women's club would have seen or heard about get reported on. I particularly would have liked to read more about the local black community in that town.
Lots of tragedy. The book covers such a long time period that you learn how all the main characters die. But also, this is back when doctors made house calls and didn't know very much. It's before antibiotics. Things do improve over the years.
Nearly everyone is a Republican. However, that post-Civil War Republicans had little in common with today's Republicans. The older men are mostly Civil War veterans - fought for the Union, of course.
The anonymous reviewer is a bit over-the-top in their praise for the book, but I think it's good too, and I'm glad I read it. I recommend it to anyone who likes historical novels.
Some reasons why you might not like it:
It's very long, covering almost the entire lives of some of the characters. (Even so, it was trimmed back drastically, and I'd be curious to learn what was cut.)
Blatant racism. I think it's period-accurate, and it doesn't mean everyone was bad all the time. There are still good stories to tell. The narrator doesn't spend any time telling you what's bad, but you can judge for yourself. (And the characters themselves are sometimes sharply critical, in a period-accurate way.)
Limited perspective. The focus of the story never leaves small-town Ohio. Events from elsewhere are reported on, but only as seen from a limited point of view as they read about it in the news and get letters. Only the things that the relatively well-off women in the women's club would have seen or heard about get reported on. I particularly would have liked to read more about the local black community in that town.
Lots of tragedy. The book covers such a long time period that you learn how all the main characters die. But also, this is back when doctors made house calls and didn't know very much. It's before antibiotics. Things do improve over the years.
Nearly everyone is a Republican. However, that post-Civil War Republicans had little in common with today's Republicans. The older men are mostly Civil War veterans - fought for the Union, of course.