Scan barcode
kim_j_dare's review
4.0
Gr 6-9-In 1861, the Confederacy has just declared its independence from the Union, but life goes on much as usual in the quiet town of Gettysburg. Fifteen-year-old Lizzie Allbauer and her cousin Rosanna, recently arrived from Virginia, have big plans to attend the Ladies' Seminary together in the fall. Then Lizzie's father and brother enlist in the Union army and she must stay home to help her mother run the family butcher shop. Rosanna flees back to Richmond after a Gettysburg beau is killed in one of the early battles. Torn between her romanticized view of the war and her parents' conservative rules, Rosanna impulsively agrees to marry a former beau, John Wilcox. Within a month of marriage, he is injured, and Rosanna rushes to meet up with the Virginia Infantry so that she can care for him. Realizing that she has a gift for healing, she stays on with her husband's company as a nurse. Chapters alternate between Rosanna's journal entries of her life as a Confederate nurse and Lizzie's accounts of the events leading up to the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. While Klein's extensive research is evident, the alternating voices have only limited success: readers will be drawn to Lizzie's genuine warmth, but frivolous Rosanna's leap to the ultra-responsible wife and nurse and the stilted dialogues in her journal entries stretch credibility. Still, Klein's weaving of the young women's stories to a shared conclusion gives a fresh perspective on the complexities of the Civil War.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
heididt19's review
3.0
Two Girls of Gettysburg is about two cousins, Rosanna and Lizzie. At the beginning of the book they both live in Gettysburg. Rosanna is originally from Virginia but is living with her sister Margaret. Margaret does not agree with her parents ideas about slavery and such and that is why she moved away, while Rosanna still clings to her traditional Virginian ideas. Lizzie is more unionist but becomes fast friends with Rosanna anyway. When they start enlisting for the civil war in Gettysburg Lizzie's father joins. The only consolation that Lizzie's family has is that they will still be able to get by with her older brother Luke running the family butcher shop, but when Luke runs away to join the army in the night what will they do? Soon after Rosanna runs away to Virginia. She quickly marries John Wilcox, a former beau, and he joins the Confederate army. Rosanna follows him and becomes a field nurse. John dies of dysentery but after a brief pause for mourning Rosanna resumes her work. Lizzie is entrusted with Rosanna's scrapbook where she learns all of her deepest secrets. Meanwhile Lizzie is struggling to run the family butcher shop with Amos, the hired African American man. They soon have to hire Martin Weigel because she knows they are being cheated. They receive news that her Father has been captured by the confederates. Amos reveals that he has a wife in slavery in South Carolina that he can buy back for a thousand dollars that he has saved up. He goes on a journey to free her. Lizzie starts falling in love with Martin Weigel. But will her family ever be reunited, will this war ever end, and why would Rosanna do such things?
I enjoyed this book very much. I thinki it is interesting because you get a view of both viewpoints on the war. You see that each side has it's struggles and each just really wants the war to end. This book made me think about which side of the Civil War I would have been part of, I had always imagined myself on the Union's side but have decided since then that it would really depend on which part of the country I had been raised in. I am not saying that I couldn't believe in union Ideas if I lived in the south or vice versa, I am just saying that the ideals of where I lived would probably be routed more deeply. I would recommend this book to someone else because it has an interesting way of narrating the book and it is full of history or if you like, there is a bit of romance between Lizzie and Martin.
I enjoyed this book very much. I thinki it is interesting because you get a view of both viewpoints on the war. You see that each side has it's struggles and each just really wants the war to end. This book made me think about which side of the Civil War I would have been part of, I had always imagined myself on the Union's side but have decided since then that it would really depend on which part of the country I had been raised in. I am not saying that I couldn't believe in union Ideas if I lived in the south or vice versa, I am just saying that the ideals of where I lived would probably be routed more deeply. I would recommend this book to someone else because it has an interesting way of narrating the book and it is full of history or if you like, there is a bit of romance between Lizzie and Martin.
bookgirl4ever's review
3.0
Lizzie and Rosanna are cousins, Lizzie raised in Pennsylvania and Rosanna in Virginia. The girls are separated and find they have unknown strength as they try to make sense of and survive the Civil War.
A compelling read that I didn't want to end! Lisa Klein continues to please.
A compelling read that I didn't want to end! Lisa Klein continues to please.
elizabeth_juliet's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was one of my 2023 favorites! That being said, I do love historical fiction and the civil war time period in particular. This book was interesting in that it portrayed the dueling prospectives of best friends/ cousins on different sides of the war.
Lizzie was the more relatable of the two, a hardworking girl who stayed loyal to her parents and to to the cause, preferring to stay in her small town and do whatever she can to help. Rosanna was more of a romantic, who ran off to marry a Confederate soldier and becomes wrapped up in the cause. Being torn apart by distance, the cousins becoming less close, yet their bond is renewed when the reunite during one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, fought right in their hometown of Gettysburg.
Lizzie was the more relatable of the two, a hardworking girl who stayed loyal to her parents and to to the cause, preferring to stay in her small town and do whatever she can to help. Rosanna was more of a romantic, who ran off to marry a Confederate soldier and becomes wrapped up in the cause. Being torn apart by distance, the cousins becoming less close, yet their bond is renewed when the reunite during one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, fought right in their hometown of Gettysburg.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity
This is a book about war and one of the characters is a nurse, so there are descriptions of battle wounds and illnesses.susannah1215's review
4.0
I think this is my favorite of Klein's books. Although I thought the start was a little slow, I liked the way the story was fully grounded in everyday life before the Civil War really got going. Discussions of slavery and racism felt honest if a little too polished, and the historical accuracy of the battle and trajectory of the war were on point. Even minor characters were well-conceived.
marshmallowbooks's review
4.0
This book has a lot of side stories going on, but they are all relevant to the overall theme of two girls, cousins and best friends, experiencing the Civil War from opposite sides. The story remained interesting, both in its fictional account of the girls, and the telling of the real events of this tumultuous point in America's history. If you know me at all, you know I occasionally (okay, regularly) read ahead in books, spoiling them for myself. I usually stop reading the book at that point, but even after I skimmed a few pages ahead in this book I had to go back and read it all. It was engaging enough that I had to know the whole story, not just the bare bones I could pick out every couple of pages.
fictionista3's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
crafty_nivette's review
4.0
A pretty good book. I like many of the young adult fiction since there tends to be just enough romance but not a lot of trash (USUALLY). This gave lots of great detail about many of the major Civil War battles and how the girls' lives played into the situations. This book showed the wonderful bond of friendship at its best.
book_nut's review
2.0
Wanted to like it, but it was a mess. Stock characters, sob stories, diary entries, melodrama. Bleh.