Ulysses: A Biographical Novel of U.S. Grant [Hardcover]

Robert Skimin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994

A biographical novel, based on the private and public life of Ulysses S. Grant--from West Point to the Civil War to the White House--presents a sweeping look at nineteenth-century America. By the author of Apache Autumn.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Historical novelist Skimin (whose Chikara won the Ohiana Book Award in 1984) divides this uneven but generally successful life of Ulysses S. Grant into three parts: Grant's West Point beginnings and early forays in the Mexican War, which established him as a soldier to be reckoned with; his illustrious career as a Union general; his political career, including two terms as president. While the dialogue and characterizations of Grant's colleagues, wife and family are sometimes pedestrian, Skimin keeps events moving briskly and sketches background details of the developing strains in Grant's personality. Though he adds little to existing accounts of the Civil War years, his depiction is absorbing, and the Mexican material is valuable because of its relative obscurity. The narrative really comes alive in considering Grant's later decades, however; the tales of his difficulties during Reconstruction are replete with compelling historical detail, and the final chapters, dealing with the cancer-riddled Grant's attempts to finish his biography under the tutelage of Samuel Clemens, are heart-wrenching.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312113609
• ISBN-13: 978-0312113605
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,726,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For over 25 years, I've written compelling novels, mostly historical and played on the world's stage, have made bestseller lists around the globe. Some of my book's avid readers consider one or another of my works among the best they've ever read. A literary agent once said, "He may not be a literary darling, but he's one hell of a storyteller!"
Lately, I have created a children's book series which develops the
entire history of America wrapped around its heroes.

My thanks in this endeavor to Nacho Garcia the extraordinary illustrator and Josph Lorentzen who helps with all matters technical.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grant..An Amazing Life., June 6, 1998

By 

Steve Basic (Oradell, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ulysses: A Biographical Novel of U.S. Grant (Hardcover)

Robert Skimin's novel on the incredible life of Ulysses S. Grant is a fascinating read. Mr. Skimin has faithfully told Ulys's story from his early days at the hallowed grounds of West Point; his activities in the Mexican War; his struggles in pre-Civil War America; and his triumphs during that most turbulent time in our history. Grant in Skimin's eyes is neither smart or dumb...he is an everyman, trying to do what he feels is the right course he should follow. Skimin aptly illustrates Grant's struggle with the bottle...a lifelong battle that Ulysses sometimes won and sometimes lost. Many of us who have awoke with the effects of a night of drinking still fresh in our body, can appreciate Mr. Skimin's accurate description of the torment Grant went through. The major asset of the book deals with General Grant's long-standing friendship and partnership with John Rawlins....He describes their relationship in a very familial way...as that of two "brothers", who have found each other in Galena, Illinois just before the war, and who shared the highs and the lows of four years of brutal war that they shared together. Ulysses is a very interesting fictional account of this great man, U.S. Grant... For those of you who enjoy great historical fiction, you can not go wrong with Mr.Skimin's work....One can only hope for a companion novel on the life of W.T. Sherman!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The dialogue sinks it, May 23, 2004

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ulysses: A Biographical Novel of U.S. Grant (Hardcover)

I'm not much of a fan of historical fiction, but for some strange reason, Ulysses Grant has become the poster boy of this genre in the past decade. Robert Skimin's novel is quite a good fictional treatment of Grant, though there are some serious weaknesses. The most glaring problem is that he has limited ability to write believable dialogue, and this is a dialogue-heavy book. There seems to have been no attempt to take the reader back to the 19th century and most of the words sound like they came out the mouths of the Brady Bunch. When Ulysses Grant starts sounding like Sam the butcher (Alice the Brady maid's boyfriend,) it's time to put it to bed.

It's almost certain that in the aftermath of "zestful and wild lovemaking" (Skimin's description), Grant's wife did not say, "Ulys, do you think me and the kids could hang around awhile?" Ah hem... you get my drift about the dialogue sounding corny and overly modern. This is a serious weakness. Another oddity is that Skimin places way too much emphasis on Grant's drinking. The author himself has had an alcohol problem in the past (as he freely admits), as well as a bout with throat cancer, another similarity he shares with his subject. Did Grant drink too much on occasion? Certainly, but the focus on the booze here gets a little much. It's also described in detail which becomes physically nauseating.

The book gets worse as it goes along. The best portions are Grant's courtship and the early years of his marriage. The Civil War sections are average, and the conclusion is nothing special. Inexplicably, Skimin has Grant going on a bender in 1884, something that I guarantee you did not happen. But, alas, this is fiction.

There are several very good descriptions of Grant with his wife; the author really understands this intense relationship. I especially like the scene from 1849 where Julia announced to her husband that she is pregnant. This is the most believable scene in the entire book! I'd love to give a better review of the book, because I like Skimin and some elements of his style, but the dialogue sinks this one. Still, if you're into Grant, you'd enjoy reading it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Uneven and not very interesting, September 10, 2004

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ulysses: A Biographical Novel of U.S. Grant (Hardcover)

This is one of those books that's frustrating, because there's a good book in here trying to get out, but it's trapped and can't escape. Robert Skimin tries to get it out, but he fails, and the result is a very uneven and uninteresting effort that's mostly boring, and in addition there are parts where you wonder about the historicity.

The author credits William S. McFeely's biography of U.S. Grant for illuminating the subject's life, so you'd expect the book to follow McFeely closely, and to a great extent it does. This creates several problems for me. First, since McFeely's book was so readable, why read something like this in addition? You get McFeely's information, somewhat compressed, with some lame love scenes and some supposed insight into Grant's thoughts at various times. Most of this has to be supposition, so its value is dubious at best. In addition, there are several scenes where the actual incident is relatively well-known, and Skimin recounts it in a fashion that bears no resemblance to what we know of reality. The example that stuck out for me was his version of Grant meeting Lee in Mexico, which has no bearing on the actual event.

As a result, I can't recommend this book. It's at times vaguely interesting, but I didn't enjoy it that much, and the author does only a mediocre job with his history.