For the Love of Robert E. Lee [Paperback]

M.A. Harper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

In love with the long-dead Robert E. Lee, the man who tended to her great-grandmother's burned bottom during the Charleston conflagration, Garnet Laney recalls her obsession's life and family in a multilayered novel of southern history.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a promising opener--"Contrary to popular belief, I did grow up"--this first novel about a South Carolina teen coming of age in the late '60s tumbles downhill. Garnet Laney, a self-styled "beatnik poetess," has loads of what others call personality, a quick comeback for every comment and a bum gimp/gimpy refers to the whole person leg. She's self-conscious, as befits a 16-year-old, but she has attitude to burn, and the boldness to punch out a cracker who has insulted a black. She's a born Southerner, too, who can't even recall "hearing the name Robert E. Lee for the first time." And because hormones, pride and creative imagination are a heady brew at that age, she develops a potent crush on the "Saviour of the South." Soon, chapters detailing Lee's education, military success and tragic end are alternating with Garnet's first-person exploits. But Harper isn't able to make her heroine truly interesting or her predicament involving: too many bookish youngsters have expended amorous tears on dead heroes for the syndrome to be as extraordinary as it's made out to be here. The narrative has too much telling and not enough showing; ? Harper tends to overinflate the dramatic moments, such as a concerned English teacher's after-hours talk and a grandmother's bout with dementia. The internal struggle that might fascinate in a character who is less of a caricature of a tormented teen never develops momentum because Harper's language, no matter how well deployed, remains lifeless.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Coming of age in a small South Carolina town in the 1960s, Garnet Lacey experiences the usual adolescent angst and rebelliousness. An outspoken member of her high school debate team, advised by a cool, sympathetic Northern teacher, she has a crush on new kid and fellow debater Bubba. She also has a withered leg and a self-absorbed attitude. Writing a school report on Southern hero Lee, Garnet falls obsessively "in love" with the long-dead Civil War general after she discovers that her great-grandmother knew his daughter. Chapters of Lee's life are interspersed with Garnet's story, highlighting the changes wrought during the 100 years since the war. A pretty ordinary and YA-like first novel, but good for larger and regional fiction collections.
- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569470022
• ISBN-13: 978-1569470022
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,776,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an intrigue that has triggered a compulsion, February 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: For the Love of Robert E. Lee (Paperback)

Was in the authors G thru I section of my favorite used bookstore when the title of this book caught my eye. The description on the back seemed interesting, and it was certainly different from anything I had been reading, so I bought it with a, "Why not?" attitude. I absolutely love this book. I literally wept over Lee's last days in battle, and the book has kindled in me a desire to learn all about the Civil War. I am now deep into Shelby Foote's trilogy and have also purchased a dozen or so other Civil War books recommended by various experts on the net. Also, I bought two more copies of M.A. Harper's book from Amazon so that I could send one to a sister in N.C. and keep one extra to loan to friends. I am an uprooted Southerner (by choice), born the same year as the author, who identifies with so much she has written. This book has caused me to rethink so many things I had stopped thinking about, and has given me new pride in my birthplace and heritage. I may even go back to the South to wind up my days--I understand things differently, now; I no longer feel ashamed of where I'm from. I know I'm laying a lot at this book's door, but it affected me most profoundly, in many different ways. And I am always reading, I'm never without a book--I'm picky about what I'll spend my time reading, and I won't waste my time with junk. Harper's book just blew me away! I hope she keeps writing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thoughtful page turner, black humor, January 24, 2001

By 

Lloyd N. Fisher (Orlando) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For the Love of Robert E. Lee (Paperback)

I had heard about this book from somebody who had similary enjoyed the same speculative (not quite sci-fi) novels I like, and was sort of blown away by its oddity and fresh voice. Reality merges with time travel. Or is it all in the mind? What I like is the confusion of past and present, Civil War era with the 1960's. The author questions the nature of time itself, but isn't afraid to write paragraghs almost incongruously funny, especially when viewed against serious and rather tragic historical material. A strange and entertaining read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps TOO highly imaginative, August 30, 2003

By 

Jackie Tortorella - See all my reviews
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This review is from: For the Love of Robert E. Lee (Paperback)

I bought this book because I'd been told it provides remarkable insight into the humanity of Robert E. Lee. It does indeed bring him to life, but is this the real Robert E. Lee that's been resurrected? The author certainly takes complete liberty to speculate on his inner thoughts. She no doubt got a lot of it right. But...I took issue with some of her revelations. For example, she suggests in the book that Lee had at least one extramarital affair and that it was known to Mary Lee, who never quite forgave him. There is absolutely no evidence that Lee ever dallied, and to the contrary, all evidence suggests that he never did. I didn't care for this aspect of the book. The man is dead...why sully his character?

The major disappointment for me was that I imagined this was going to be a time-travel story. Since I had enjoyed Turtledove's "Guns of the South" so much, I couldn't wait to tackle this book. It was like an airplane that never got off the ground....just rolled along and along and along. It turned out to be a very unlikely story of a very neurotic and immature girl and some weird supporting characters.

Okay, now that I've bashed the book terribly, let me compliment it. It is highly imaginative. The author is obviously a capable writer, and this is a worthy effort. I just had a different expectation coming in.