Customer Reviews

Escape from Andersonville: A Novel of the Civil War

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

 

 

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," wrote Henry David Thoreau, and one such man is Captain Nathan Parker, Captain of the Fifth Michigan, dubbed "Parker's Rangers." And just when he thought that the insanity of war could not get any worse, he and his men are captured and sent to the dreaded Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Now, Captain Parker's situation becomes truly desperate - he must escape from Andersonville, and free his men. He finds himself making alliances with men whom he never would have considered before, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and these are indeed terribly desperate times!

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. Just when you think that it is over, or at least should be, the book actually picks up speed, with the action and suspense reaching higher and higher. Plus, I must say that I liked the development of the characters, particularly Marcel Lafarge, a man of infinite complexity and searing pain.

Yep, I really liked this book; it kept me interested all the way to the end. Now, is this book 100% historically accurate? I can't say, but I do agree that you should realize that this is fiction, rather than pure history. And, as far as fiction goes, it's great. I really enjoyed this book and do not hesitate to recommend it.

Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan have written another great book, probably their best to date.
A dedicated officer after escaping from Andersonville tries to come back and rescue his men.
Set in the turbulent last year of the Civil War, the authors have successfully mixed a not too glamorous part of our history with a "Dirty Dozen" type adventure.
They have captured the flavor of the confusing times and highlighted the honor of two different types of men.
Definitely a good read and the authors have gotten better with each book. I am looking forward to their next.

This novel of the civil war is hard to put down, but in the end it left me feeling empty. There's a whole lot of blood and hate and not much redemption here.

Everyone once in a while, I read a mass-market piece of fiction, just to remind myself about the difference between those works and quality fiction. "Escape from Andersonville" falls comfortably into the mass-market category. In short, it's terrible.

I've read a lot about the Civil War, and this book seems to be accurate. But its accuracy and its opening two sentences are the only good things that can be said about it. By sentence #3, it's a steep downhill slide.

I'm not sure where to start in my criticism. It could be ridiculous leaps from the vernacular ("sniffing through your taster") to attempts at literature ("befogged logic" and "tenacious light of a summer's day") within the same paragraph. It could be the preposterous courage and good luck of the main character, Nathan Parker, or the decisions by his soon-to-be-trusty sidekick, Marcel LaFarge. It could be absolutely wooden women -- especially the southern farm woman who glares at Parker but then presents herself to him for sex three times in a single evening, while telling him he can't whisper a word. It could be any of a dozen other flaws.

Obviously, this book wouldn't see the light of day without the tie-in to actor Gene Hackman. And I guess it's not surprising that an actor would collaborate on such an amateurish book. Being a novelist is a vanity project for him. But don't let Hackman's fancy become your burden.

And entertaining read with a feel good ending. Nothing memorable here, but an enjoyable read.

This might be fun for some people but if you're looking for either a well written novel or some interesting insights about the Civil War, save your money. This is a dumb, macho, Hollywood type fantasy with glaring inaccuracies, one dimensional characters and embarrasingly bad writing. I like Gene Hackman on the screen and seeing this I thought, "Gosh, he's also a history buff, or a writer or something." But, then, it turns out he's not.

"The brackish liquid of the Mississsipi." That's fancy writing for 'water,' apparently. Yikes.

Ok, maybe he's a history buff and is really into this but I'd like to ask him how this bizarre and poorly researched portrayal of such an incredible and important time in our history serves our understanding of history. I guess I'll just ask that if anyone did indeed enjoy this book and became interested in the story of Andersonville, please also take the time to read this book; http://www.amazon.com/Andersonville-Plume-MacKinlay-Kantor/dp/0452269563

I think this was a great read. The action is continual but interspersed with a lot of interesting reflections on the times. I particularly like the fact that the authors take no sides and don't preach. It is particularly neat that they seem to have the two main characters, Parker and Marcel, almost reverse their roles in the character arc. I have no trouble with the violence and sex in the story myself but I would not recommend it to readers younger than 16 or so. A couple smarmy reviews by Amazon customers I saw seem to have some agenda behind them. In particular, the guy who says the authors should have known that Camp Sumter (Andersonville) was for enlisted men couldn't have read the story. Anyone who actually read the book would know that the authors were fully cognizant of the fact that Andersonville was intended for enlisted personnel as they frequently refer to Captain Nathan Parker lying that he was a sergeant to allow him to stay with his men. A really well done review of the book is by Allan Barra of Salon and Wall St.Journal. I read Wake of the Perdido star by Hackman and Lenihan and enjoyed it also. I haven't read Justice for None but on the basis of this book I'm going to get it.

While Escape from Andersonville seems to be well-researched historical fiction, and an easy read, I didn't enjoy the book as well as I thought I would. This is a chapter of history of which I didn't need to know all the details. It's not a book for everyone.

An exciting glimpse into some nasty bits of U.S. history. The Civil War had much to make Americans not be proud. Andersonville was one very unproud scene. In this book history is enlivened with a well put together story line of bravory, love, duty and honor.

Love it - I think the characters were colorful and the historic contribution strong and accurate. Very happy to know Gene Hackman is writing and offering us continued great works of his art.