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A review by msand3
Band of Angels by Robert Penn Warren
2.0
1.5 stars. Another novel by Robert Penn Warren -- this one of the Civil War in New Orleans -- that has so many conflicting strengths and weaknesses that I find it difficult to review. Warren presents the tired old story of the “tragic mulatto,” an archetype that had been around for a century by the time Warren wrote this in the 1950s, which he somehow combines with the equally clichéd "Southern Belle in peril" narrative. Warren presents the classic parade of stereotypes: the Mammy, the cruel slave seller, the religiously-inclined Northern abolitionist, the mysterious New Orleans massa with a dark past, and the tragic mulatto herself.
Perhaps this would have been a more admirable novel if Warren had done something unique or new with these character types, or even tried to subvert them from a mid-20th century perspective, but really he just gives us [b:Gone with the Wind|18405|Gone with the Wind|Margaret Mitchell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551144577l/18405._SY75_.jpg|3358283], Part II, combining the Southern Belle and tragic mulatto heroines. The prose, as is so often the case with Warren, shifts between poetic and purple. For every passage of beauty and insight, there are several that wallow in cheesy romance novel tripe, where everything is repeated three times for emphasis. ("I seized him by the shoulder and began to shake him. 'I've got to know!' I cried, desperately. 'Don't you see, I've got to know? I've got to know something.'")
Even so, there were some specific details and touches, especially about the city of New Orleans, that struck me as quite authentic. As someone born and raised in the city, I found certain details to be the type that only locals with a strong sense of history would know: the use of white shells for old roads leading out to the lake; the passing reference to Tenerife (although misspelled as "Teneriffe" in both the Random House first edition and the LSU Press reprint), the main island of the Canaries that has a strong connection to Spanish New Orleans; the description of banquettes along the New Orleans streets; and the infamous terrors (perhaps exaggerated?) of General Butler's occupation of the city during the Civil War. As a New Orleans novel, it has certain merits. But that's the strongest praise I can muster.
Despite reading a melodramatic and Romantic tale of the Old South, I couldn’t stop turning pages, even with all the noteworthy flaws -- and sometimes BECAUSE of them, as I wanted to see just how schmaltzy Warren could get. If this hadn't been written by a Pulitzer Prize winner -- in fiction AND poetry, no less-- I would have tossed it aside as cheesy and clichéd. But Warren’s writing kept me just interested enough to finish this Civil War soap opera. ("Finished it, I say! Oh, I finished it!" he cried, desperately....)
Perhaps this would have been a more admirable novel if Warren had done something unique or new with these character types, or even tried to subvert them from a mid-20th century perspective, but really he just gives us [b:Gone with the Wind|18405|Gone with the Wind|Margaret Mitchell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551144577l/18405._SY75_.jpg|3358283], Part II, combining the Southern Belle and tragic mulatto heroines. The prose, as is so often the case with Warren, shifts between poetic and purple. For every passage of beauty and insight, there are several that wallow in cheesy romance novel tripe, where everything is repeated three times for emphasis. ("I seized him by the shoulder and began to shake him. 'I've got to know!' I cried, desperately. 'Don't you see, I've got to know? I've got to know something.'")
Even so, there were some specific details and touches, especially about the city of New Orleans, that struck me as quite authentic. As someone born and raised in the city, I found certain details to be the type that only locals with a strong sense of history would know: the use of white shells for old roads leading out to the lake; the passing reference to Tenerife (although misspelled as "Teneriffe" in both the Random House first edition and the LSU Press reprint), the main island of the Canaries that has a strong connection to Spanish New Orleans; the description of banquettes along the New Orleans streets; and the infamous terrors (perhaps exaggerated?) of General Butler's occupation of the city during the Civil War. As a New Orleans novel, it has certain merits. But that's the strongest praise I can muster.
Despite reading a melodramatic and Romantic tale of the Old South, I couldn’t stop turning pages, even with all the noteworthy flaws -- and sometimes BECAUSE of them, as I wanted to see just how schmaltzy Warren could get. If this hadn't been written by a Pulitzer Prize winner -- in fiction AND poetry, no less-- I would have tossed it aside as cheesy and clichéd. But Warren’s writing kept me just interested enough to finish this Civil War soap opera. ("Finished it, I say! Oh, I finished it!" he cried, desperately....)