A review by lanikei
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, by Allan Gurganus
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.