I think that Shaara effectively captured the essence of the real battle in The Killer Angels. The last section I read was about Pickett's Charge which was the most significant event in the Battle of Gettysburg and provided myself, the reader, with a nice sense of closure. Overall, I was really impressed with the style of writing and the formatting of the novel. The chapters following officers and soldiers from both sides gave the book an interesting point of view, knowing what both sides do not. I was very satisfied with the way Shaara portrayed the characters throughout the novel, and developing them as the story went on. Although he strayed from some facts, Shaara illustrated this battle with creativity and interpreted historical facts to create personalities and full characters for his novel.
My view of this historical event has definitely been altered due to this book. At first I was skeptical because I thought that a 350 pages of Civil War was going to bore me, and at some parts it was close to it, but Shaara impressed me with this. I would say that along with a historical fiction novel, comes a good amount of research given that you are not an expert on the event. I think that this was my biggest concern in the beginning of this book because many times I had to look up events, facts, and generals/soldiers of armies.
This was a really good book, although it was a little dry at points brought valuable information and a good sense of the battle. If you are a history buff I would definitely recommend this to you, if not I would say still give it a go.
It seems like you didn't enjoy this novel as a whole. I think that if you had to look up events, facts, and generals/soldiers, it shouldn't have been a book that you read because you didn't have enough prior knowledge. I think that author is at fault because of this too because he didn't give you enough information to know these things. Shaara seems like he didn't make the book as best as it could be, and you thought the book was pretty boring. But, the way the book is laid out sounds interesting, with each side narrating a different part of the book. I think that I wouldn't read this book because I think you didn't enjoy it that much.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked your book to some extent! It's definitely understandable that you felt skeptical about reading of a seemingly boring topic. I can also relate to you in the sense that doing outside research can be quite annoying when trying to enjoy a fictional novel. It seems like you felt as though the knowledge you acquired from your book was meaningful, so that's always good. I find it interesting that Josh said that it seemed as though you didn't enjoy the novel... you said "This was a really good book". I hope Josh is wrong and you did enjoy it!
ReplyDelete