Customer Reviews

Long Remember (Bantam Books #A1008)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the first fictional account of the Civil War that I read. I read it in college and it lead me to other authors such as Michael and Jeff Shaara, Allen Eckert, and James Alexander Thom. When you read this book, the resons why people believed the way they did back then make sense. The story is told very much in the way of a Tennyson poem, only less formal. It is a very gut wrenching story at times, and a tender one as well. Very few authors around today can even dream of coming close to Mr. Kantors work. Read this book and it will stay with you forever.

This novel first published way back in 1937 by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mackinlay Kantor should be a corrective to those who think the historical novel about the Civil War was born with and/or reached its apogee in Cold Mountain. While the early chapters of Long Remember seem to drag a bit, once Kantor gets the protagonist, Daniel Bale, back to his native Gettysburg, the novel takes off and exhibits many of the hallmarks of Kantor's most famous novel, Andersonville: Memorable and credible characters, arresting use of descriptive language, meticulous recreation of time and place. The incidents that Kantor uses to flesh out his tale of Gettysburg show a true craftsman at work. There is more of genuine pathos in scenes in which townspeoples' homes are turned into field hospitals than there is--for me at least--in many pages of that latter-day picaresque novel, Cold Mountain. And there is as much of the terror of war in Long Remember as in any novel written since.

This is so much more than a Civil War novel. Long Remember is the compelling story of a pacificst who returns home after a several years living in the West. Home happens to be Gettysburg Pennsylvania and the time is June 1863.

Happily, Long Remember takes it time before the armies clash. We get to know the main characters, particular our hero and the woman next door. The two fall in love. Their romance is complicated by the fact that she is married to a Union officer.

The battle of Gettysburg is retold in a unique way, its presentation here is much more meaningfull than the dry accounts of battle tactics readers usually have to endure.

I gave Long Remember four stars instead of five because I did not like the ending, However, I suspect most readers would not share my dissatisfaction.

A solemn realistic novel that is historically consistent, but I would not necessarily recommend it for the Civil War buff. It is more a great drama than a great story of history. I would compare it more to "Gone With the Wind" than, say, "The Killer Angels."

It is wonderfully written and somewhat depressing. It takes us to the unsuspecting town of Gettysburg before and through the great battle there.

I was ever so happy to see that "Long Remember" was back in print. I re-read it again after 35 years, and savored every page all over again. Kantor developed a style of telling a Civil War era tale of Gettysburg citizenry caught up in the vortex of that July battle so credible, so packed with flawless imagery that you are virtually transported back in time and disappointed that a taste of the past has come to an end. What other novel includes such an impressive bibleography as well? Few if any. Kantor did his 'home-work'..from bran poultices to the 'mmm' sound of overhead projectiles . A masterful companion piece for Sharaah's "Killer Angels" to be sure.

I was ever so happy to see that "Long Remember" was back in print. I re-read it again after 35 years, and savored every page all over again. Kantor developed a style of telling a Civil War era tale of Gettysburg citizenry caught up in the vortex of that July battle so credible, so packed with flawless imagery that you are virtually transported back in time and disappointed that a taste of the past has come to an end. What other novel includes such an impressive bibleography as well? Few if any. Kantor did his 'home-work'..from bran poultices to the distant 'thudding' of artillery batteries . A masterful companion piece for Sharaah's "Killer Angels" to be sure.

I loved this book. I found an old worn paperback in my mother's stuff when she started getting rid of things. It got my attention as a Civil War background story and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Once I started reading it I could hardly put it down. I had to wrap a rubber band around it so it wouldn't come apart before I finished it. Great character development compared to the shallow, stereotypical ones Hollywood does now. Very descriptive writing. I will always remember it. I thought it described Gettyburg pretty well, fiction or not.

This excellent books gives focus and understanding of the lives of the civilians of Gettysburg during the fateful three days of the Civil War when a march across an unprotected field near Gettysburg PA led to the beginning of the downfall of the Army of the South during the American Civil War.

The book gives clear indication the suffering during this war was not only on the part of the soldiers who fought, but also that of the citizens living through the daily atrocities. The sacrifice of these folks should also not be forgotten and this book keeps it at the forefront of our memory. Excellent reading.

This was not what I expected from reading the other reviews. I am not a Civil War "nut", but I have read a fair amount about the War - and about Gettysburg; this book is certainly unique, and fills a gap: the story of the bystanders caught up in a major Civil War battle (not talking here of the spectators at Bull Run - who went to the battlefield for the purpose of spectating). I found the narrative disjointed; of course, that's intended - to show the disjointedness of the actual experience.

Most of the actual battlefield experience is related through the somewhat non-credible artifice of the protagonist being driven to find his lover's cuckold. I was looking forward to the bystander's perception of the battlefield, but did not expect that - and it gave that aspect of the book a coloring that did not satisfy my curiosity. On the other hand - how does the author get a bystander onto the battlefield? I guess I had expected a bystander who had the battlefield taken to him, but I'm not sure that would have worked either.

Anyway - I found the book valuable, but felt I was struggling at times.

I usually do not read fiction . The name Mackinlay Kantor is the reason I purchased it. This is not what I would call historic fiction exactly. It was truly fiction with very little history. It is a story of innocence lost, forbidden love,selfishness,betrayal, and the horors of war. I was disappointed, especially after reading 'Andersonville'. I feel a litle ashamed of myself for giving this great author only 3 stars but this just was not an enjoyable read for me.