Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Gods and Generals
Book Review: Awful, awful, awful
Summary: 1 Stars
I showed up for the premier in my Iron Brigade uniform. There was a guy in a full reb uniform there, too. We begrudgingly acknowledged each other. The movie was awful, long and boooring! I finally walked out of it and met the reb in the lobby. We became friends agreeing how bad this clunker really is. Save your time and money and skip this horrible movieBook Review: Bad Storytelling
Summary: 2 Stars
As someone who would read almost anything related to the Civil War, I was very disappointed by this book. I read and loved The Killer Angels because that book gave such a sincere look into the lives of the generals. But Gods and General's attempt was much too heavy handed. The book is overly sentimental, and badly written. The generals all seem to be suffering from acute martyr complexes. At some point, the writer seems to have forgotten that these were real people with (at least some) pedestrian human concerns. Instead, he seems to focus on the dying and martyring part alone. The generals no longer seemed real... they were too noble, even their flaws seem more idealistic heroic than human. And their triumph and failures read more like a Greek tragedy than a novel concerned with historical accuracy. Additionally, the writer seems to have missed on that day where elementary writing classes emphasized the importance of "show not tell". There is no need to infer the meaning of his character's motivations--Jeff Shaara bashes his message through with a hammer.
I think what disappointed me the most was the underlying story in there that was struggling to get out. The book covers a fascinated time populated by extraordinary people. Their actions spoke volumes for their character, there really was no need to force the issue by overtly explaining and filling their every decision with melodrama.
Book Review: Beautifully Written Masterpiece
Summary: 4 Stars
Acturate and detailed story of the times preceding Gettysburg. If you want to learn about the Civil War, I can't think of a better book! I'm in 8th grade, and I had to read it. It was cool man! I was really mad about having to read such a big book, but that's because it goes into so much detail! I hardly wanted to put it down. Read it!Book Review: Best Prequel
Summary: 5 Stars
Not generally a fan of prequel's, but this was terrific. Best trilogy I've ever read!!!Book Review: Bringing history alive
Summary: 4 Stars
Generally, I am very critical of what is called historical fiction. I have often found that facts are being misrepresented in order to make the story more exciting to the reader. And thus, I rather read through pages of pages of somewhat boring data and facts than to allow myself to get the wrong viewpoint of something or someone. So, when I decided to go on a Civil War road trip a couple month ago, I bought a guidebook to all the memorial sites open to the public and I also remembered that years ago, I bought "Gods and Generals", but never actually read it.
I read both books at the same time and found them to be very complimentary. The facts that were depicted in the guidebook left me with the curiosity to learn more about specific characters and places. "Gods and Generals" satisfied this curiosity. Shaara has the wonderful ability to bring facts to life. Written from several viewpoints, "Gods and Generals" depicts the events of various pre-Gettysburg battles. Engaging and entertaining, the book proved to be a real page-turner. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of people's life, their religious beliefs, the weapons they used, the interactions they had with each other and the landscapes where the battles took place. The book offer s a true insight into the emotional decisions people had to make when they country became divided and how difficult it was to take up arms against friends, acquaintances and former classmates from West Point. I very much enjoyed that the story was told from various angles, may that be the viewpoint of General Lee or General Hancook. Explanations and graphical depictions of various strategies were helpful in understanding the decisions made by the Generals and gave a wonderful insight in how battles were fought back then.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Civil War; someone who is not just interested in the facts of the war, but also in the difficulties and sorrows that the war brought upon the people who fought in it. This is also very good book for younger readers or anyone who is going to visit the many battlefields that are accessible by the public.