[.ca] The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civil War (ISBN 187785350X)

From Amazon.com:
Howard Bahr compresses this moving Civil War novel into 48 hours--two short days filled with grim deaths and the prelude, at least, to a love story. First issued by a small Baltimore press in 1997,The Black Flower was nominated for four major awards, including one from the Academy of Arts and Letters, but failed to garner the attention paid to Cold Mountain. Civil War buffs will rejoice in Bahr's vivid retelling of the November 1864 Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. More to the point, The Black Flower transcends its historical fiction niche and deserves a wider audience. Confederate rifleman Bushrod Carter, the novel's protagonist, is wounded during the battle and taken to a nearby house. In this makeshift hospital, he and two childhood friends huddle together, "shivering with cold and exhaustion, ignoring the ghostly shapes still shuffling through the coiling smoke around them, calling the names of men who would never answer." Bahr has poured 20 years of research into his novel, but this haunting portrayal of suffering and death is the product not merely of historical diligence but also an impressive literary imagination. --Eugenia Trinkle

Wow!:
This Civil War novel is Red Badge of Courage meets Cold Mountain. It is a terrific account of the Battle of Franklin told through several extremely interesting and captivating characters. There are no real battle scenes. Mr. Bahr begins with the minutes before the battle commences and then jumps to the aftermath. The characters are unforgettable from the good to the bad. Mr. Bahr's writing is as memorable as the characters. It is near poetry in places, yet he also supplies terrific dialogue. After reading - then rereading - a particularly good description, I would then become rapt in the dialogue. This book captures the horrors of war. One warning, if you have a tendency to eat while reading, you might want to diet through some of the scenes. The author's descriptive powers are immense whether he portraying a piece of scenery or the battlefield hospital. Bahr shows well the realistically ugly side of war while stringing a thread of romance between a soldier and a woman and the bonds of friendship between life-long soldiers/friends through the book. This is a book to read with time on your hands so the writing can be savored. You need not be a Civil War buff to appreciate this novel.

This one is to be kept:
I may live in the South, but that doesn't mean that I know a lot about the Civil War. Though I usually like reading about gruesome battle scenes, this one made me feel for the characters. The book didn't need the battle scene; just the aftermath was enough to rethink the glorification of war and the scenes often seen in movies. Maybe because I know the author, I was able to laugh a certain parts because, to me, the words showed an inside joke. I possibly understood the book better because any part I didn't fully understand, like the mysterious rider, I was able to go to Mr. Bahr and ask. Still, if this book was something I had read a year ago instead of now, I don't think the emotions would have been any different. Powerful and thought provoking, this book is definitely not being sold back to the college bookstore.

Engrossing:
An Amazon pal recommended I read this book, and I can't wait to get to some other titles recommended by the same reader since this one was top notch, and I would have never found it. The novel has garnered some comparison to Cold Mountain and even to The Killer Angels, although I think it is a very different book than those two. It reminded me more of The Red Badge of Courage, since it is also set in a short span of days, adjacent to a battle of the Civil War, but like Crane's novella the action here is mostly introspective and confined to a few characters. There are a couple of historical figures, including a cameo by Nathan Bedford Forrest, but for the most part this novel skips the battle detail in favor of a small group of fictional characters who we come to learn very well. Bushrod Carter, the main protagonist, is a well-educated rifleman (one of the Cumberland Rifles) who is weary of the war and who can't wait to get home, but who never considers shrinking from his duty. He enters the battle of Franklin Tennessee, in 1864, with a couple of good buddies and an occasional enemy they have made over the course of the war (including one deserter who they temporarily buried alive). We see little of the battle itself, the novel instead focuses on the agonizing wait (with the Confederates knowing full well that General Hood is about to hurl them in another suicidal rush at fortified Union positions) and the battle aftermath. After the battle, Bushrod finds himself at a make-shift hospital, cared for by a sweet visiting cousin who is initially unprepared for the horrors of war dropped at her family's doorstep. Bahr skillfully builds the suspense, although certain storylines don't seem to really go anywhere. (For example, I was somewhat puzzled as to the space early in the novel devoted to the music professor, I thought he would ultimately play a bigger role in the rest of the novel. However the scene of the band heading into battle was worthwhile). I also would have preferred a little more of an account of the actual fighting, although I suppose Mr. Bahr would respond that is not the book he set out to write. In any event, the book was a rare find, a thoughtful, well-written character study full of historical detail. Civil War novels pop up as often as legal thrillers it seems, but this is one of the best I have read. Bahr apparently spent years meticulously researching this book, and reviewers with more knowledge of Franklin Tennessee than I possess indicate that he hits the mark, and that much of the novel (including the house where the second half takes place) is based upon actual people and places. If you are a fan of Civil War or historical fiction, you should pick up the Black Flower.

Disturbing:
I bought this novel after reading "Cold Mountain" and seeing Amazon.com recommendations for "The Black Flower." I therefore went into "The Black Flower" predisposed to liking it, which I certainly did at first. The introduction of the characters as they prepare for the Battle of Franklin is masterful and suspenseful. Bushrod and his two buddies from Mississipi are likeable characters, and the reader feels for them as they psyche themselves for battle. There is a little bit of wandering narrative, but the anticipation of the fighting keeps the reader attentive. Then comes a black hole where the battle took place and the reader finds himself in the aftermath of the bloody fighting. This is where the story begins to lack cohesiveness. Bushrod meets Anna in the country house requisitioned for a Confederate hospital. He is concussed and she is crochety. The reader might wonder what draws these two together when there are hundreds of other wounded soldiers to whom Anna might offer so much as a drink of water (but never does). The story disperses into other characters' viewpoints, the simpleton Nebo's and the boy Winder's, to no obvious purpose except to leave the reader impatient to get back to the main story. There is a lengthy description of a wasp making its long and arduous journey toward a lamp, only to keep bumping against the glass (symbolic of the futility of war?). There are the metaphoric refrains of the black horseman and the black flower. There is also much authorial discussion of the passing of time. I would still rate this novel higher than "Cold Mountain." There is more plot. The characters engender more compassion because they are nobly, albeit unglamorously, involved in the war (Inman in "Cold Mountain" has deserted and is finding his way home). After reading "The Black Flower," I came away with a memory of beautiful passages and a feeling of despair for the waste of human life.--Sophie Simonet, ACT OF LOVE, romantic suspense novel (Fictionwise)

A 3-Prozac Novel:
This novel, centering around Hood's petulant attack at Franklin is, at once, depressing and uplifting. The depression comes from the futility of the battle while the uplifting comes from the spirit of the American soldier and his willingness to endure despite the hardships he must encounter. This book is worth the read, if only to understand somewhat the ultimate weariness that comes from protracted hardship and war.