jsdaly's review against another edition
3.0
Great story and characters, but this book could have easily been chopped by 150 pages without losing anything of substance.
sewfrench's review against another edition
3.0
This book was highly recommended, while on a Civil War battlefields tour, over Memorial Day weekend. I picked it up shortly thereafter and quickly read the first half and 5 months later I can say I have finally finished it! I did enjoy it and should have stuck it out in a more timely manner, lots to think about. If you are looking for books about the Civil War, this isn't the first one I would recommend, but it does help to round out what happened to life, for some, after the war.
piercedkl's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
I loved ‘Plays well with others’ by this same author. This is the novel Gurganus first became known for and while it is interesting, it did not keep me interested. Dealing with the confederacy and slavery, it was challenging at times. Knowing it was written by a white male author also made me question some choices made - when it first came out I am sure it read differently. Now, with the social and knowledge growth that the US has had, I found it difficult to read a slaves experience told by a white man. I am glad I read it, but I doubt I would recommend it to anyone.
chrisiant's review against another edition
3.0
Effectively this is a number of novellas told by the same narrator, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read one novella at a time, spaced out a little more. I vacillated wildly between enjoying sections and having to drag myself through others. Overall my experience was positive, but parts were seriously a slog.
jeanmachine's review against another edition
4.0
This wasn't the easiest book I've ever read but the stories in it were fascinating. None that I would have ever expected from the title. The author had an amazing way of taking the voice of each character in each separate story and owning it. The book is sort of random, told just like an old woman might ramble around telling different stories from her life. A few ended quite shockingly, especially the one at the end. The only thing that got on my nerves throughout was the incorrect use of "a" when coming before a word staring with a vowel. I don't think the word "an" was used anywhere in all 875 pages!
melissarochelle's review against another edition
I loved what I read of this book...but I took too long of a pause to get back into it. Oh well! One more for the unfinished shelf.
librarianonparade's review against another edition
5.0
Whenever I'm reading this book I remember how much I love it, and yet after I've finished it and moved on to other things I forget it. I don't forget what happens or what it's about - I forgot how much I like it. It's strange.
It's a big old rambling book - the personal recollections of Lucille Marsden, married at fifteen to a Confederate war veteran a good forty years older than her. It's not told in any kind of narrative order, it skips and jumps backwards and forwards through the years, things are repeated, some things only hinted at, some things skirted over, just as person's memory works. It's a strange way to tell a story, but it works.
Because of the nature of Lucille's marriage it really stretches over a broad expanse of time, right from the pre-war days up until the 1980s. And also because of Lucille's marriage, it makes you see that even though the war was over thirty years before she was born, she lived through it as much as her husband did, and came out the other side in a way that he never did. It really makes you realise how long the ramifications of such a war lasts - through Captain Marsden himself to his wife and his children and onwards.
It's a wonderful book, really lively and true, and I should try and remember that for the next time around.
It's a big old rambling book - the personal recollections of Lucille Marsden, married at fifteen to a Confederate war veteran a good forty years older than her. It's not told in any kind of narrative order, it skips and jumps backwards and forwards through the years, things are repeated, some things only hinted at, some things skirted over, just as person's memory works. It's a strange way to tell a story, but it works.
Because of the nature of Lucille's marriage it really stretches over a broad expanse of time, right from the pre-war days up until the 1980s. And also because of Lucille's marriage, it makes you see that even though the war was over thirty years before she was born, she lived through it as much as her husband did, and came out the other side in a way that he never did. It really makes you realise how long the ramifications of such a war lasts - through Captain Marsden himself to his wife and his children and onwards.
It's a wonderful book, really lively and true, and I should try and remember that for the next time around.
amageske's review against another edition
I had to give up on this tome. This book is huge, and didn't keep me all that enthralled. The narrative voice is really beautiful and fresh, not at all hokey. I would still recommend it to someone who has more patience with books than I.
linddykal's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a huge best seller in the 80's when it came out but I can't see the appeal.
Lucy married a 50 year old confederate war veteran when she was 15. Reading this book. I actually stopped reading and I thought, there was no way a woman wrote this because of the way the character spoke and the internal monologue thought process. So I looked at the author, and sure enough, it was a man. I knew it. It comes across as an ill-informed man writing about the inner workings of the female mind. Sorry, but I think he failed.
Neither Lucy nor her husband are especially appealing characters, and I regret spending so much time with them.
Lucy married a 50 year old confederate war veteran when she was 15. Reading this book. I actually stopped reading and I thought, there was no way a woman wrote this because of the way the character spoke and the internal monologue thought process. So I looked at the author, and sure enough, it was a man. I knew it. It comes across as an ill-informed man writing about the inner workings of the female mind. Sorry, but I think he failed.
Neither Lucy nor her husband are especially appealing characters, and I regret spending so much time with them.
lanikei's review against another edition
3.0
I'd tried to read this book several times. It is one of the slowest paced but still decent books I've ever read. I'm glad I finally finished, but I can't say I would recommend it to... well, anyone I can think of.
I'm a Civil War buff and I'm always intrigued by the female perspective. The title character (Lucy) is a pretty interesting premise to start with... a young boy went off to war, grew up and got old, and married a young girl. Lucy ends up married to a Confederate veteran and living with him through his own senility. It's an interesting perspective - a family and marriage impacted by the shadows of a war that had ended long before the family ever came to be. Lucy pays the price (and reaps the rewards) of her husband's memories, her mother-in-law's tragic meeting with Sherman's forces, and a former slave's attachment to the family.
The book covers such a long length of time... we follow Lucy from childhood to near senility, but stop to flashback to her husband's childhood and war stories, and even her mother-in-law's childhood AND a slave's journey from Africa. It's generations packed into one book, and it all gets to be a little much. It is dense and long and a real effort to plow through. Not because the writing is bad, but because it isn't sparkling and sunshine. The stories read like truth and not too-pretty fiction.
Despite my struggles to finish the book, Gurganus chooses the right tone, I think. A quicker pace, flashier writing, or snappier dialog wouldn't fit with Lucy's almost too-realistic walk through her life. Her story is all about making it through all that life throws at you, and it is often the small things that become her stumbling blocks. Her life is dreary and full of drudgery, but there is plenty of humor to keep her - and the reader - going.
The ending of the book absolutely shocked me, and I was really surprised that I could be surprised by a book that dragged along so slowly. I can't imagine a better ending, since it makes you look at Lucy and her long life story in quite a different light. I can't say the ending made the rest of the long slow effort worth it, but it certainly let me finish the book without feeling cheated.
I'm a Civil War buff and I'm always intrigued by the female perspective. The title character (Lucy) is a pretty interesting premise to start with... a young boy went off to war, grew up and got old, and married a young girl. Lucy ends up married to a Confederate veteran and living with him through his own senility. It's an interesting perspective - a family and marriage impacted by the shadows of a war that had ended long before the family ever came to be. Lucy pays the price (and reaps the rewards) of her husband's memories, her mother-in-law's tragic meeting with Sherman's forces, and a former slave's attachment to the family.
The book covers such a long length of time... we follow Lucy from childhood to near senility, but stop to flashback to her husband's childhood and war stories, and even her mother-in-law's childhood AND a slave's journey from Africa. It's generations packed into one book, and it all gets to be a little much. It is dense and long and a real effort to plow through. Not because the writing is bad, but because it isn't sparkling and sunshine. The stories read like truth and not too-pretty fiction.
Despite my struggles to finish the book, Gurganus chooses the right tone, I think. A quicker pace, flashier writing, or snappier dialog wouldn't fit with Lucy's almost too-realistic walk through her life. Her story is all about making it through all that life throws at you, and it is often the small things that become her stumbling blocks. Her life is dreary and full of drudgery, but there is plenty of humor to keep her - and the reader - going.
The ending of the book absolutely shocked me, and I was really surprised that I could be surprised by a book that dragged along so slowly. I can't imagine a better ending, since it makes you look at Lucy and her long life story in quite a different light. I can't say the ending made the rest of the long slow effort worth it, but it certainly let me finish the book without feeling cheated.