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i got five books for my birthday, so there's a huge pile waiting for me.
i'm finishing up MacKinley Kantor's Andersonville and thought i ought to share some thoughts on it (the big fat 750 page ordeal that it is). there are spoilers in this, be forewarned.
i am only half-kidding about it being an ordeal. i thought i might give up after the third chapter (which is always the "danger" chapter for me in any book) ~ but i was compelled by the keen writing to persevere and i am glad i did.
the big three positives:
1. it's really well-written ~ the characterizations are marvelous and the level of detail is astonishing. it really sucks you into the world in an amazing way (both inside the stockade as well as in the neighboring georgia farmsteads). the dialogue is a pure joy: the idioms, the slang, the peculiarities of the New Yorkers, the coal miners, the Georgia reserves, etc. I think the language of the men and women is what really makes this book worth owning.
2. the characters are interesting and have lovely mannerisms and voices. kantor weaves their personal histories into the book so seamlessly that you can jump from the bowery to the stockade without blinking an eyelash and everything feels very organic and "real" ~ the historical figures are interestingly drawn. Wirz is complex (and insane), Father Whelan compelling and affectionate, the Raiders well-motivated, and random "real" prisoners like John Ransom and Chickamauga nicely drawn (though interestingly, I have to say Ransom and Bateese were some of the thinner characters in the novel ~ perhaps Kantor was shy of filling in what wasn't historical fact, though he did wonders with the Raiders).
3. many of the storylines are excellently executed. you can follow one character through an arc and it's as if you are getting a whole nine-course meal with a satisfying dessert at the end. now, i say most ~ there are a few duds and clunkers among the rest. The Willie Mann story is especially satisfying. As well as the Flory Tebbs story and the Willie Collins story and the Colonel Persons story. The Caffeys and Dillards and likable (Veronica Caffey being an exception ~ i was so glad when she was dead). Some of the stories were predictable (was disappointed with the Laurel Tebbs arc, ah well), but for the most part the book didn't lapse into maudlin clichés or obnoxious stereotypes. After the trial and hanging, i really missed Father Whelan ~ his absence felt really sudden ~ like he was dropped and forgotten.
the big three negatives:
1. the style is a little overwhelming at first, but i was able to get into a stride with it. the lack of quotation marks and dialogue attribution was very well handled, but there was a time or two that i stumbled over who was saying what or whether someone was actually talking and that made me frustrated for having to back up and re-read whole sections sometimes.
2. the story is told with a decidedly northern slant, i think. general winder is presented as a monster more horrendous than even wirz. i admit i don't know enough about the actual history to know whether this is over the top, but good heavens, the inhumanity of it is appalling. i don't feel kantor did much to off-set this. much of the worst cruelty is depicted as absolutely deliberate. while he makes eloquent cases for the barbarous conditions which turn men into monsters, he's pretty condemnatory of military arrogance and stupidity and savagery (as well he should be, but i question the degree, as i said, to which he asserts that the horror was intentional).
3. the structure of the novel is a mite frustrating. this is its biggest failure, i think. the book begins with the building of the stockade, the arrival of the prisoners, and the subsequent domination struggles as the Raiders rise to power and then are overthrown and hanged. that brings us midway through the book after which the structure devolves into a plethora of semi-random chapters about the trials and tribulations of one man after another (most of whom are new men and so there's no carry-over from the Raiders storyline). this was frustrating because no matter how well all these stories are written (and they were well-written), they just seem a diversion from action that we were invested in prior to their interruption. the height of this problem is a long chapter that dwells on the european travels of Nathan Dreyfoos, who is kidnapped by bandits in Spain (what all this has to do with Andersonville is never made clear). ultimately the character meets his end in an interesting and poignant way, but would have been just as effective or even moreso without all that digression about mules, baking bread, and naked ladies in knives. if anything this long digression made me lose my interest in the character and undercut the shock of his death because Kantor had removed us so far from what had made the character likable and interesting to begin with.
the gist of the complaint is this: it really feels like a novel and a set of short stories embedded within the larger framework of the viewpoint of the Caffeys (the farmer and his daughter who live closeby). i enjoyed it muchly, but got tired of it before it ran out of pages (and that can't be a good sign).
~ * ~
and that's that. i guess.
not sure what else there is to say about it except i recommend it with all sorts of caveats ~ i think you have to be a fan of the genre to really appreciate what's remarkable about the book. if you're on the outside of the history, it may be difficult to get into the era and "get" all the nuances.
: D
i'm finishing up MacKinley Kantor's Andersonville and thought i ought to share some thoughts on it (the big fat 750 page ordeal that it is). there are spoilers in this, be forewarned.
i am only half-kidding about it being an ordeal. i thought i might give up after the third chapter (which is always the "danger" chapter for me in any book) ~ but i was compelled by the keen writing to persevere and i am glad i did.
the big three positives:
1. it's really well-written ~ the characterizations are marvelous and the level of detail is astonishing. it really sucks you into the world in an amazing way (both inside the stockade as well as in the neighboring georgia farmsteads). the dialogue is a pure joy: the idioms, the slang, the peculiarities of the New Yorkers, the coal miners, the Georgia reserves, etc. I think the language of the men and women is what really makes this book worth owning.
2. the characters are interesting and have lovely mannerisms and voices. kantor weaves their personal histories into the book so seamlessly that you can jump from the bowery to the stockade without blinking an eyelash and everything feels very organic and "real" ~ the historical figures are interestingly drawn. Wirz is complex (and insane), Father Whelan compelling and affectionate, the Raiders well-motivated, and random "real" prisoners like John Ransom and Chickamauga nicely drawn (though interestingly, I have to say Ransom and Bateese were some of the thinner characters in the novel ~ perhaps Kantor was shy of filling in what wasn't historical fact, though he did wonders with the Raiders).
3. many of the storylines are excellently executed. you can follow one character through an arc and it's as if you are getting a whole nine-course meal with a satisfying dessert at the end. now, i say most ~ there are a few duds and clunkers among the rest. The Willie Mann story is especially satisfying. As well as the Flory Tebbs story and the Willie Collins story and the Colonel Persons story. The Caffeys and Dillards and likable (Veronica Caffey being an exception ~ i was so glad when she was dead). Some of the stories were predictable (was disappointed with the Laurel Tebbs arc, ah well), but for the most part the book didn't lapse into maudlin clichés or obnoxious stereotypes. After the trial and hanging, i really missed Father Whelan ~ his absence felt really sudden ~ like he was dropped and forgotten.
the big three negatives:
1. the style is a little overwhelming at first, but i was able to get into a stride with it. the lack of quotation marks and dialogue attribution was very well handled, but there was a time or two that i stumbled over who was saying what or whether someone was actually talking and that made me frustrated for having to back up and re-read whole sections sometimes.
2. the story is told with a decidedly northern slant, i think. general winder is presented as a monster more horrendous than even wirz. i admit i don't know enough about the actual history to know whether this is over the top, but good heavens, the inhumanity of it is appalling. i don't feel kantor did much to off-set this. much of the worst cruelty is depicted as absolutely deliberate. while he makes eloquent cases for the barbarous conditions which turn men into monsters, he's pretty condemnatory of military arrogance and stupidity and savagery (as well he should be, but i question the degree, as i said, to which he asserts that the horror was intentional).
3. the structure of the novel is a mite frustrating. this is its biggest failure, i think. the book begins with the building of the stockade, the arrival of the prisoners, and the subsequent domination struggles as the Raiders rise to power and then are overthrown and hanged. that brings us midway through the book after which the structure devolves into a plethora of semi-random chapters about the trials and tribulations of one man after another (most of whom are new men and so there's no carry-over from the Raiders storyline). this was frustrating because no matter how well all these stories are written (and they were well-written), they just seem a diversion from action that we were invested in prior to their interruption. the height of this problem is a long chapter that dwells on the european travels of Nathan Dreyfoos, who is kidnapped by bandits in Spain (what all this has to do with Andersonville is never made clear). ultimately the character meets his end in an interesting and poignant way, but would have been just as effective or even moreso without all that digression about mules, baking bread, and naked ladies in knives. if anything this long digression made me lose my interest in the character and undercut the shock of his death because Kantor had removed us so far from what had made the character likable and interesting to begin with.
the gist of the complaint is this: it really feels like a novel and a set of short stories embedded within the larger framework of the viewpoint of the Caffeys (the farmer and his daughter who live closeby). i enjoyed it muchly, but got tired of it before it ran out of pages (and that can't be a good sign).
~ * ~
and that's that. i guess.
not sure what else there is to say about it except i recommend it with all sorts of caveats ~ i think you have to be a fan of the genre to really appreciate what's remarkable about the book. if you're on the outside of the history, it may be difficult to get into the era and "get" all the nuances.
: D
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