11.19.2006
Canaan / Donald McCaig / W.W. Norton / Mar. 07
Book the first:
I read the Advance of Canaan. It took me a while to pick this one up, for a number of reasons. Reason 1 - the title. I thought this book was going to draw a lot of religious correlations. Reason 2 - the cover image. I know, I know... not supposed to judge a book by its cover... but who doesn't, really? The image is one of pioneers, indians, trains. Without picking it up to check out the back of it, I thought it was probably a history.
As it turns out, it is a historical novel - that is, fiction. I often like these because they do a good job of getting me interested in the actual history of a time period. Many of them try to be true to fact while using characters to show the impact of the times on the people living in them. My personal interest certainly lies more in that direction. One could certainly infer religious correlations, especially in the expansion to the west, but the author leaves it to you to do so (whew!)
Now, about the book. It opens using the perspective of a religious convert - an Indian named She Goes Before - who is about to watch her own father be hung for a crime he had not committed. The novel weaves in and out of her perspective, along with the perspectives of some freed slaves, of some soldiers (some of whom are also freed slaves), of a carpetbagger, and of a genteel southern family completely displaced by the economic (and lifestyle) changes of being on the losing side of the Civil War.
It is very good. I found it a little confusing to remember who was who among the large cast of characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It offers insight into the many differing forces of the era and the inevitable clash of interests therein. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the time period directly following the Civil War, or to someone interested in the clash between the so-called "Manifest Destiny" and Indians, and to anyone who just enjoys well-written characters. I found the situations these characters are put into, and their choices as they go along, to be genuine. My favorites are She Goes Before and her eventual husband, Ratcliffe / Plenty Cuts.
-issa
I read the Advance of Canaan. It took me a while to pick this one up, for a number of reasons. Reason 1 - the title. I thought this book was going to draw a lot of religious correlations. Reason 2 - the cover image. I know, I know... not supposed to judge a book by its cover... but who doesn't, really? The image is one of pioneers, indians, trains. Without picking it up to check out the back of it, I thought it was probably a history.
As it turns out, it is a historical novel - that is, fiction. I often like these because they do a good job of getting me interested in the actual history of a time period. Many of them try to be true to fact while using characters to show the impact of the times on the people living in them. My personal interest certainly lies more in that direction. One could certainly infer religious correlations, especially in the expansion to the west, but the author leaves it to you to do so (whew!)
Now, about the book. It opens using the perspective of a religious convert - an Indian named She Goes Before - who is about to watch her own father be hung for a crime he had not committed. The novel weaves in and out of her perspective, along with the perspectives of some freed slaves, of some soldiers (some of whom are also freed slaves), of a carpetbagger, and of a genteel southern family completely displaced by the economic (and lifestyle) changes of being on the losing side of the Civil War.
It is very good. I found it a little confusing to remember who was who among the large cast of characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It offers insight into the many differing forces of the era and the inevitable clash of interests therein. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the time period directly following the Civil War, or to someone interested in the clash between the so-called "Manifest Destiny" and Indians, and to anyone who just enjoys well-written characters. I found the situations these characters are put into, and their choices as they go along, to be genuine. My favorites are She Goes Before and her eventual husband, Ratcliffe / Plenty Cuts.
-issa
Labels: review
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