Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: As a serious Civil War reenactor I am always leery of historical fiction since I can usually find something wrong with it. But when my serious reenactor friends said I had to read this book... well, I gave it to my husband for Christmas and he read it in three days. After the disappointment of Cold Mountain, I took up The Black Flower and it was like night and day. I was right there amid the action. Having spent a great deal of time in Franklin, and at Carnton Plantation in particular, this story was all the more special to me. While Bushrod, Jack, Virgil C and Anna may be fictional characters, I have read diaries, letters and journals from their real-life counterparts; I try to portray those real-life counterparts. They are all very much alive to me on a daily basis. Mr. Bahr's use of conversation is so entertaining and many times I laughed out loud because I could just hear those people talking. I have heard those people talking, late at night, around the campfire outside my tent; I have felt their presence in the empty rooms at Carnton and the Carter House. Even if you don't live the War like I do, this book will make you feel like you're right there, whether you want to be or not. As an old English major I especially enjoyed the symbolism of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; as a sometimes sassy woman, I loved when Anna scolded General Forrest for striding into the house and up the stairs. I found young Winder McGavock most captivating --- out of the mouths of babes! So y'all better read this. You won't be at all sorry. And get your own copy so you can read it more than once! (And visit Franklin when you have the chance.)
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: Fiction just isn't my style. Why read "made up" stories when the real world of history and science is just so fascinating? In spite of my preference, I picked up The Black Flower based on the Amazon.com Recommendations AI. This book is amazing particularly for the depth of its characters. Rarely do you walk away from a work of fiction feeling that you "know" the characters. Dickens does this for me. So does Steinbeck. No modern writer has come close to this level of character development until now, and the writer's name is Howard Bahr. The Black Flower focuses on Bushrod Carter, a Confederate soldier in the Civil War at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. The book opens with the moments before battle begins, mercifully bypasses the bloody gore of the battle itself, then focuses on the aftermath. Mr. Bahr masterfully weaves the imagery of the post-battle carnage and suffering. At some point, you realize that you aren't reading words, you're creating images. You get the feeling that the author really was there. The story itself is somewhat predictable, but don't let that fool you. This is about the telling of a story more than the story itself. Experience this. It is fiction at its best.
Rating:
Summary: This one is to be kept
Review: 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)
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Story of War Off the Battlefield
Review: I just finished THE BLACK FLOWER and can strongly recommend it, beautifully written with surprises of imagination on every page. Bahr's powerfully realized prose reminded me of the great Kenneth Roberts, in his strong dialogue and the way he can bore down so many levels into the minds of the impossibly brave men who inhabit his battlefield. The books structure is really striking, three great set-pieces -- the field of battle before the battle is the first, a long stand-off in a clearing in the woods closes the book, and in the middle section a scary, scary glimpse of hell, in a southern manor house turned hospital the night after the battle. Bahr is at the top of his powers in this harrowing section. Scarlett O'Hara had a crane to carry the camera far away from her trip through the body-strewn Atlanta train yard, but there is none here and you feel you can't escape from the dark house, teeming with dying men and real danger everywhere. Bahr blends this artful imagery with real specificity when taking us into the minds of his hero and heroine. Belongs on the shelf with Crane and Remarque.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Just Classic
Review: I read Bahr's book about the same time Cold Mountain - they were both originally published at the same time, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure why Cold Mountain got all that press and attention when this book is head and shoulders above it. I still don't understand that phenomena.
Every thing about Cold Mountain was pedestrian - and I mean that in every possible sense of the word. But Black Flower unfolds with mystery and sensitivity within about a square mile area - not a lot of walking going on here. The irony of war shows up over and over - the characters that we meet here on a wintry day's battle in Tennessee come to us as flawed human beings, embraced with their flaws by the other characters and by us as we read their unfolding pain and resolution.
I have bought four copies of this book. I have my original hardback that I'm NOT giving up and three paperbacks for gifts. I have read quite a bit about the Civil War and historically, though it isn't burdensome, this book is true to its time, the geography, the battle, and details are impeccably presented - you could teach a slice of history with this book.
Though a fast read, this book is well-worth its price and will captivate and entertain you.
Rating:
Summary: Black Flower
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the ten best novels I have read in my 62 years.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful tale of a terrible battle, despite its flaws
Review: The desperate and ill-advised battle of Franklin was among the greatest and most terrible infantry charges in the Civil War, comparable to, if not greater than the much more famous Picket's Charge at Gettysburg. Unlike the charge of Gettysburg fame, the Confederates penetrated the Union line at several places, and engaged in fierce hand to hand combat that raged until after dark, when they were finally repulsed. The Black Flower tells the story of a few people who were caught up in this nearly unmatched catastrophe of war, and for the most part, tells it powerfully.
This is a novel that starts out powerfully, hits snags and looses its way a bit in the middle, and manages to get back on track for a fairly strong finish. It works best when dealing directly with the emotions and tangled thoughts of the young men about to charge into hell, across two miles of open field into an entrenched enemy, and when painting the nightmare of the battle's aftermath. It flounders somewhat when it delves into a male/female relationship that manages to be cliché despite its nightmare setting. To its credit, it avoids an unforgivable romantic ending that would have cheapened and ruined a powerful story.
Bahr wisely avoids using much description of the battle itself. The first third of the book introduces us to the protagonist, Private Bushrod Carter, and his friends as they are preparing to go into battle. Through their eyes, the author shows us how it must have been to be staring out across those two empty miles at the enemy's strongly entrench position, knowing from hard-earned experience just what such a charges as they were about to make would mean. In short, effective strokes, he fleshes out these soldiers so that the reader is drawn into caring about their fate. He then breaks off and leaves them as they begin their charge across the field, about to engage the enemy. The story then jumps to the night after the battle, and the shattered, nightmare carnage that was left in its wake. The rest of the book describes that night and the morning after. Bahr thus uses the most effective tool of any teller of tales of horror - he shows us the "monster" itself only in sideways glimpses, and leaves the rest to our imagination.
Bahr has done a masterful job of capturing the spirit and feel of an earlier era, how they spoke, and how they thought, without sacrificing readability. He paints powerful word portraits, such as this one: "Well, Bushrod thought, the dead were dead. They were gone, and took with them their faces and voices and whether they drank coffee or not and whether they believed in infant baptism or not and who they liked and who they didn't - gone with all their years and all the baggage they carried...all flown up like blackbirds into that undiscovered country from whose bourn they would not return, not today nor tomorrow, nor the next day, forever and ever, amen -." Also, he makes fine use of symbolism that is all the more powerful because he leaves it ambiguous.
The books greatest failing is in the sub-plot that revolves around Simon Rope, an evil Confederate conscript. The author tried to use this as a devise to show another aspect of the horrors of war, but he misses the mark. He fails to make the character believable, and telegraphs the climax of this sub-plot far in advance for anyone who has read enough to be familiar with how cliches play out.
Despite its flaws, this is a powerful book, and deserves a place among other great novels of the Civil War that address war as it is rather than war as romance.
Rating: 
Summary: Great writing but depressing
Review: There's no question that the author is a magnificent writer who can make you care about the characters, but then what does he do to you? He leads you down the gloomy path of despair all the way to the end of the book. I much prefer the action-packed stories of vivid battle scenes, which are, oddly enough, not nearly so depressing as this book. Far better are the books like The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and the books his son Jeff Shaara wrote after Michael's death.
Rating:
Summary: Poetry!
Review: This book is sheer poetry masquerading as a Civil War novel. No matter how gruesome the subject matter of the moment, Howard Bahr manages to take it beyond your mind and into your heart -- you understand what he's writing with your soul. His description of the army as a living breathing entity unto itself as it goes into battle, is masterful and helps those of us who have never experienced battle to have an inkling of what makes normal men able to fight and kill. The interactions involving Bushrod and the other characters who have such a strong effect on his life are beautiful and touching. The Black Flower truly brings the horrors of war and death to life, you can virtually feel the characters' pain and smell the smells that surround them. But the beauty of the writer's language pulls the reader on and on no matter what the horrors may be. You care so much about these characters that you must go on. This book will be right up there on the top of my all time list of recommended favorites. If I could give it higher rating than a ten I would.
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