Customer Reviews

Brave Enemies: A Novel of the American Revolution (Shannon Ravenel Books)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just picked this book out as one of the books I was going to read on vaction. The problem is that it never made withme on my trip to the Gulf. I finished the book in two days. Because I could not put it down. I am not one who would read a love story. I got the book because of the Battle of Cowpens. I found the love story between Josie and John was my favoir part of the book. I do not what to give anything away. This book gives us many gifts. Robert Morgan gives us poetly, history, and gripping story of love. As well as a taste of the South during the Revolution. I hope Mr. Morgan will write his next book with Joise and John picking up where we last see them. A
great book that you well be glad you read. It will warm your heart to the very end.

You may disagree, but I'll say it anyway...Robert Morgan's writing reminds me of Van Gogh's paintings. From me, this is a huge compliment. Van Gogh had an almost simple way with color and form; he attacked his subjects with raw energy; a child's exaggerated grace leapt from his canvas. In much the same manner, Morgan's words are lean and raw, yet full of life and color and grace.

"Brave Enemies" follows young Josie Summers as she escapes a horrible situation at home, disguises herself as a man--in part, to avoid punishment for a crime committed--and finds herself walking through the Carolinas as the Revolutionary War takes its toll on everyone around her. She marries, becomes pregnant, and goes to war at the famed battle of Cowpens. Surprises lurk, and lessons are learned, and a vivid history lesson courses through the narrative.

With "Gap Creek," Morgan made his way into the public eye. He followed that book with "This Rock," a powerful book, but one lacking sympathetic or central female characters. For this reason, he seemed to lose some of his Oprah-generated audience. Well, "Brave Enemies" races ahead with all the elements that made "Gap Creek" a success. Strong female lead. Obstacles overcome. Tragedy endured. Be warned, some scenes are horrifying in their depictions of war and abuse of women. Yet Morgan imbues even these with his usual grace and his views that try to balance a world gone astray.

If you, like me, find Morgan's writing elementary at first, keep reading and discover the economic poetry that runs through every word he pens. Morgan, like Van Gogh, creates masterpieces.

Comparisons to COLD MOUNTAIN are in order. BRAVE ENEMIES, too, is a love story set during the brutality and misfortune of a civil war. Here it is the American Revolutionary War with patriots and loyalists hanging each other and burning down each other's homes as well as the militia and redcoats doing battle. But while CM is burdened and slowed by literary pretensions, BRAVE ENEMIES is a fast-moving and entertaining tale, without heavy-handed symbolism or repeated flashbacks, of sixteen year old Josie Summers and John Trethman, a young itinerant Methodist minister, who fall in love and then are separated by the war. Being a history buff, I liked the realistic feel of the novel. The descriptions of the time and place, the clothes, food, weapons, homes, all seemed well-researched. And the battle of Cowpens was presented brilliantly. I feel like I was there. My only complaint is that the description of John's religious services went on too long in a couple places but that is a minor quibble. This is a gritty, realistic book, well-written, full of action and with a couple powerful sex scenes from the woman's point of view. Robert Morgan scores a double with BRAVE ENEMIES in that this is a novel I think both men and women will enjoy. Five cannonballs out of five.

Set in the backwoods Carolinas in 1781, this brutal, tumultuous story centers on the narrator, 16-year-old Josie Summers, who murders her rapist stepfather and flees in men's clothing. Rescued (as Joseph) by an evangelical, itinerant preacher who's aghast when he discovers her deception, but then secretly performs a marriage ceremony, Josie embraces religion and love.

But calamity is never far away in the war-torn colonies as roving bands of redcoats vie with vigilante patriots in cruelty towards their enemies. When the preacher, John, is seized by the British and his cabin burned, Josie flees again and - still dressed as a man - joins the North Carolina militia, where (as we know from the prologue) she is wounded and her disguise revealed.

The story's near-constant fever pitch of danger and desperation is disrupted from time to time by a switch to John's point of view, and a man tormented by his own human frailties is not nearly as interesting as a girl marching to war in the freezing mud without boots, or even shoes.

Josie's period-perfect voice and the eloquent immediacy of Morgan's ("Gap Creek," "This Rock") descriptive prose keep the reader immersed in a world of hurt and hardship. The battlefield scenes are a riveting mess of confusion, blood, terror and bewilderment, and the love scenes are transporting. A visceral story, elegantly told.

This historical novel takes place in 1780 and 1781 in the Carolina border country, where the American Revolution was a veritable civil war that raged for years. Rebels burn down the houses of Tories, lynch Tory men, and rape the women; Tories return the favor. A 16-year-old girl named Josie Summers is caught up in a nightmare of her own. A strong, stoic, and thoughtful farm girl, Josie is becoming a woman, and attracting the unwanted advances of her worthless stepfather. When their relationship finally explodes into terrible violence, Josie is forced to run away into the countryside. To survive, she disguises herself as a boy, and in that guise meets another young person, John Trethman, an itinerant Methodist preacher.

I'm not a big fan of "girl disguises herself as a man" stories, because I don't find them credible. But true to the conventions of this kind of storyline, Trethman is pretty slow on the uptake. When he finally does realize that Josie is a girl, they (not surprisingly) fall in love. Soon, however, their budding life together is destroyed when John is arrested by British troops as a rebel organizer and taken away. A pregnant Josie is on the run again, and eventually falls in with the rebel militia under Dan Morgan, the legendary "Old Waggoner." She becomes a soldier and the young couple eventually wind up on opposite sides of the epic Battle of Cowpens.

The good: The depiction of this unknown (to me, anyway) part of the war made the story of the American Revolution seem fresh and new. Josie and John are wonderful characters, thoughtful young people with much to learn. Simple rich language.

The bad: I still can't buy the idea that a guileless young pregnant woman could fool a bunch of soldiers into believing she was a man. Sometimes tiresomely literary. A pacifist philosophy, well articulated, that didn't appeal to this reader -- your mileage may vary.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark"

I am not usually a fan of historical fiction, but Morgan does an
excellent job of describing the details of life in frontier South Carolina in 1789-90 at the height of the internecine civil war between loyalists and rebels, with such colorful figures as Daniel Morgan and Banastre Tarleton thrown in. Yes, there are ambiguities and coincidences which move the plot along, but this was a turbulent place and time, as any biography of Andrew Jackson's youth in the Waxhaws at the same time will demonstrate. This is a great book, worthy of comparison with Cold Mountain, which was set some 75 years later in a nearby place. Even if you are not familiar with the Battle of Cowpens, you will enjoy the dramatic impact of the writing, the vivid if brutal battles and killings, and the balm of religion in that time and place.

I thought this was a perfect title to buy. There's a lot to enjoy in Brave Enemies, but there is a lot that is disappointing. For example, Christmas trees weren't used in the Americas until the 1850-60's. Strictly a German custom. Nothing in the plot is resolved. Josie kills her stepfather, and her mother disappears from the book. No one looks for the murderer, or Josie. To many loose ends. The ending does make me wonder if there is a sequel planned, but I didn't get a good feeling for the love story. I did enjoy the discriptions of the mountains, of the battle, however, it just didn't tie together well.

While the author is obviously a competent writer and excels at description, he is overly reptitious. The pacing was slow and tedious, which did litle to create tension or anticipation. The only thing I anticipated was the end of the book. The characters seemed one dimensional. I never felt like I knew them or particularly cared about them. Whereas we are subjected to lengthy observations of the settings, we are seldom exposed to the emotions and feelings of the characters. We are told that John falls in love with Josie, but nothing other than proximity even hints at the reason why. I didn't like Cold Mountain either but will admit that it was technically well written, as is this book.

I read this book because I like history and the American Revolution. I think that Morgan did a great job describing everything...and I mean everything, but I still had so many questions at the end of the book. For example, how did John finally find himself free of Tartlton? And by the way...what a wimp John was....If you like Morgan's work and like his style, buy this book. If not, go to the library and borrow it. Buy a book by William Martin instead...great author!

Clearly, Morgan is a skilled writer. His simple, naturalistic approach to description transports the reader to a more primitive mindset which is essential to understanding the plight and situations of the characters in Brave Enemies. The story unfolds at a good pace in most cases, but falls flat in others. Much of the traveling that takes place seems monotonous and of little significance because, what little action does occur, isn't of much consequence to the outcome of the story. These sections were a struggle to tread through. Also, much of the description of "feeling" by Josie (the main character), seemed forced. It seemed that every thing that touched her, or otherwise affected her, produced a feeling that transcended through her very being. The descriptive feelings worked in some cases, but, like the constant traveling, seemed redundant in others. Otherwise, the plot, characters, and subject matter was great. Josie and John are well developed characters making their way through the southern, frontier campaign of the Revolutionary War. The reader is provided a glimpse into the lives of two types of people that are rarely discussed when the topic of the Revolutionary War is broached; young women and religious figures. All in all, Brave Enemies is worth the time.