Customer Reviews

A Separate Country

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4 star:		(25)
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2 star:		(6)
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I heard of General John Bell Hood's name in passing a great number of years ago when I studied the Civil War in school. To me, he was just another in a long line of names who participated in a war so ingrained in the American Experience and yet unknown to the public. But the Civil War has so many rich stories from it, and this is by far one of the best.

Robert Hicks' first book, The Widow of the South, was recommended to me on a whim and I got hooked by the narrative and story - The Battle of Franklin was a forgotten battle of the war, and the book brimmed with passion and a great story. So when I had heard of another book by Mr. Hicks, I was excited to see if lightening could strike twice.

What a tragic story this is! Perhaps tragic isn't the right word. Neither is bittersweet, but it's the best way to describe this. After the Civil War, the infamous General Hood settled down in New Orleans, and tried to move on with his life. A shell of a man from combat injuries and the horrors of war, he ends up married with 11 kids. But he failed at business, and was eventually left broke and lost his wife and oldest daughter to yellow fever and left his other children orphaned. But the tragedy doesn't end there. The past catches up with him along with an assorted cast of characters with dark secrets to try to take advantage of The General.

Mr. Hicks' strength is as a story teller. His descriptions of Reconstruction-era New Orleans is nothing short of masterful - the sights, the sounds - even the humid sticky air come through. Lesser writers would have skipped this, but the city of New Orleans becomes a character of the book itself. The characters around General Hood evolve but with a sense of mystery - it's as if you wish you were there to observe the body language of the characters in order to understand what's truly being said.

This is an amazing book about a seemingly undiscovered character in American History. I can't think of a higher praise for this book other than wanting to explore the life of General Hood further thanks to this amazing story.

Having read The Widow of the South, I looked forward to Robert Hicks's next book, A Separate Country. I didn't know specifics about John Bell Hood, the Southern General about whom A Separate Country revolves, so I was hoping to be enlightened about this man's motives and actions. And while I was somewhat enlightened, I was also disappointed; I wanted more of the actual experiences of General Hood, and less about his post-war life, however it was shaped by what he did and saw throughout the Civil War.

Robert Hicks gives us the details of John Bell Hood's death and shows us how he spent much of his time in New Orleans after the war. Hood found and married a seemingly wonderful woman, yet the fact that the novel almost begins with the deaths of both Hoods and their eldest daughter was off-putting for me. I felt as though I was working through the story rather than having it unfold naturally. I also felt the story plodded along at times, particularly so when told by Hood's wife Anna Marie. Maybe what I wanted more was depth; these characters should have been jumping out at me and yet I felt more as though I was reading someone's old diary--and not in a good way.

Still, A Separate Country has its moments, and Hood was indeed a rather tragic figure in our nation's history. Hicks gives a very credible description of New Orleans after the war, and his depiction of the horrors of yellow fever were gruesome yet riveting. It's not that I disliked A Separate Country; I just felt as though there was something I was missing from the story. Recommended to those who love Civil War fiction.

I'm a former Civil War reenactor and I have read many biographies, diaries, and historical fiction books set in the Civil War era. This account of General Hood and his wife (for in alternating chapters, she tells her story as well) is luminous and poignant, yet the regret, guilt, and anti-war sentiments seem to be laid on a bit thick for Hood. Nevertheless, it it a fascinating read and as captivating as it is heartbreaking. Though this book will surely attract many male readers who are interested in the General's life, it is really a love story and may disappoint those seeking a post war analysis of Hood's life.

The description of New Orleans life is rich and vivid, as shown everywhere from the Creole upper class great houses to the shacks and shanties of the poorest swamp dwellers.

Robert Hicks tells the story of General John Bell Hood, a Civil War general in this new novel. This novel is set in New Orleans, and uses three narrators to tell the story of Hood's life after the guns of war have quieted.

The novel is told through the voice of Hood's journals, the journals of his wife, and the perspective of a man who once tried to kill Hood, struggling to make sense of these two stories.

This is not a neat, tidy piece of historical biography. Instead, it grabs hold of details like smell, texture and tide. It takes you into the mess that life often can be - ruins made of mansions, fortunes gained and squandered, faith and penitence, sickness and maim.

It asks questions like what becomes of a man after failure on a grand scale, where lives are lost because of error? Where are the lines between fame and being a notorious, aggressive fool? What happens to that man's soul? It describes how that man finds passion, and marvels that his eleven children are born without the maiming that is inherent in his body and his soul.

This book is a wonderful work of fiction that I enjoyed heartily.

I really enjoyed Robert Hicks' "A Separate Country". This is historical fiction at it's best--through the story of General John Bell Hood and his tragic life after the Civil War, the author provides details of late 19th century life and also provides a great story of love and redemption. Primarily set in 1879 New Orleans, "A Separate Country" is propelled by the fictional diaries of General Hood and his wife, Anna, as well as the voice of Eli Griffin (a former soldier). There are three separate and distinct voices in this novel, and if there's one complaint (a small one), it's that the voices become less distinct as the novel moves forward (perhaps intentionally so?). Hicks uses Griffin and the two diaries to describe the change Gen Hood undergoes as he leaves the Confederate Army (tragically and with loss of leg and use of one arm), sets up life with wife Anna (and 11 children), and attempts to make a go at a peaceful existence. As tragic and depressing as much of the subject matter is, Hicks' novel is ultimately uplifting and encouraging. Hicks (via the "words" of Gen Hood) sums it up nicely when he says "It is an odd realization, to know that the right life is one lived without concern for worldly reputation or success, one that is subordinated to anything good." And "A Separate Country" is a mighty good novel. Highly recommended.

Like a sullen, suffocating summer's day in New Orleans, Robert Hicks' novel, "A Separate Country" seems endless.

The character of John Bell Hood, one of the great generals of the Confederacy, is a subject ripe for investigation and reader interest, a man who had lost his leg, fathered eleven children, and faced yellow fever as it descended on New Orleans.

The story is told in multiple voices , Hood's own memoir, his wife's diary, and the first-person narration of one Eli Griffin, former soldier and current iceman. The truest voice, the liveliest, is that of Anna Marie, probably because she manages to face danger with a quick and lively Scarlett O'Hara approach of the Southern woman's determination.

Both Hood and Griffin have a knack for noticing things out of the ordinary, but all these odd details serve to slow the pace of the action. Please let something HAPPEN, the reader in me kept saying, page after page after page.

This sultry book captures the era, the manners, the language, the biases. What it did not capture from me (and I was born in New Orleans!) was my interest.

Too much ado about very little for me.

I am not a huge Civil War buff, so I was unfamiliar with the story of John Bell Hood, upon whose life this book is based on. It is sometimes quite odd to read a novelization of a person's life as you frequently wonder where the truth is and where the fiction begins. Suffice to say that John Bell Hood's life was quite tragic. He was a well known, though perhaps not so well liked General, who lost a leg and the use of an arm during the war. He moves to New Orleans to rebuild his life and marries Anna Marie Hennan; over the course of the years they have eleven children. Yet General Hood is an abysmal failure at business and bankrupts his family, leaving them penniless and eventually orphaned as yellow fever ravages the city.

This was at times a very difficult book to read, for the character of General Hood is not very likeable throughout much of the book; it was at times quite difficult to see what attracted his wife to him. However over the course of the story there is redemption for the General, who begins to come to terms with the choices he has made and seeks forgiveness for some of his failings as his life comes to an end. The story succeeds mostly because of its vivid depiction of life in New Orleans after the war. There are times you can almost feel the heat and miasma of the city enveloping you; you can relish in the coolness of the ice house as the general and his acquaintances seek relief there. You can hear, see and smell the life all around you, that is how lush the descriptions are.

This story is told through journals and diaries of John Hood, Anna Marie and a former soldier Eli Griffin. Each of these voices is distinct yet at times their retelling of stories would over lap which often seemed redundant. The book is also very long and at times moves a bit too slowly, but in general I found it extremely well written, if steeped in sadness. Definitely a good read for any fan of historical fiction.

Robert Hicks elegantly writes heartbreakingly beautiful Civil War novels.
This is the first historical novel I've read which centers around a general having second thoughts about his command. Thousands of young men died following orders from General John Hood, which in retrospect seemed foolhardy. Hood spends the rest of his life trying to redeem himself.
My only concern is that there is more violence than necessary to tell his story.

Robert Hick's marvelous historic novel is told by three different voices, which all come together in the end. It's basically a true story - as far as I can tell - and is a sad study of a man - John Bell Hood, CSA - who found himself as a young general, without service, in the years after the Civil War.

Hood was born in Kentucky, attended West Point, and served in the US military, seeing service in Texas against the Comanches in the 1850's. When the South seceded from the Union in April, 1861, Hood resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Army, rising through the ranks, to become a general. He saw service in Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. He was wounded and lost most of a leg. Hood had a tangled legacy among both his contemporaries and Civil War scholars later.

After the war, Hood went to New Orleans. He was not the only former CSA general to settle there, among others were Generals Early and Beauregard. Hood met and married a belle of the city, Anna Marie Hennen and the two had eleven children in ten years, including three sets of twins. (And this in the years before IVF!) Hood did not do well financially in private life, and the family was reduced to poverty. Both Hood and his wife, along with their oldest daughter, died in 1879 in a yellow-fever epidemic.

These are all historical facts. The story told by Robert Hicks may not be completely true; I believe he invents characters, both heroes and villains, who are part of the Hoods' final days. But what characters and what a story. The city of New Orleans and its rather bizarre citizenry is on full display here.

Hicks wrote an epic of a book here. If you're a Civil War fan, you'll enjoy the book. Even if you're just looking for a great novel to read, this book fills the bill.

In 1879 in New Orleans former Confederate General John Bell Hood is dying from yellow fever. He has one death bed wish that his memoir of the past decade instead of his Evil War account be published. He asks Tennessee transplant Eli Griffin, who came to New Orleans four years earlier intending to murder the Rebel general for his defeat at Franklin, to promise he would..

After the South lost the war, Hood moved to New Orleans trying to make a go as a businessman who lost the use of an arm and had a leg amputated during the hostilities. He married Creole Anna Marie Hennen and they had eleven children together raised in abject poverty, which deletes the élan of life from her. Their relationship took another negative spin when Anna Marie's best friend is murdered and Sebastian Lemerle arrives to extort money from his former commander in order not to reveal an ugly secret he knows about Hood from their Texas days together. Others like Rintah, Beauregard and the KKK forerunner want a piece of the war hero too.

This is a deep historical thriller told mostly as an autobiographical account of a major Southern Civil war general. The story line is vivid as the audience sees a teetering New Orleans trying to rebound from the defeat, but reconstruction is hampered by racism, cheating opportunism, and overall amoral behaviour that debilitate the energy from those playing fair. Robert Hicks provides a strong look at life in a battered pandemic depressed Deep South.