Rating: 
Summary: If you liked Cold Mountain, you'll like this.
Review: Bahr has captured the tentative hope, hardship, fear, and lingering hostility of the aftermath of the Civil War. It is June, 1865, and Gawain Harper returns from the war to Cumberland, Mississippi, where his sweetheart Morgan awaits him. But is she the same person he left years ago, and is Gawain the same man? Is Cumberland the same town? Questions like these complicate the homecoming and put Gawain's life and love in danger. As historians know, the strife of the Civil war occurred not only at places like Gettysburg and Shiloh, between North and South. It raged within just about every community in the Union and Confederacy, among brothers whose loyalties and values came to intense blows. And it didn't end with the surrenders of Lee and Johnston, as Gawain, Morgan, and the occupying Federal army learn. The book kept me in suspense to the very end, wondering if there would be peace in Cumberland, and marriage for Gawain and Morgan. Bahr's superb storytelling carries me back to a different time, as he did so well in The Black Flower. Yet, The Year of Jubilo is even better than Bahr's first novel. In fact, I rate this book among the best Civil War novels I have read, along with Frazier's Cold Mountain
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended--From a Non-History Buff
Review: I am not usually drawn to novels about the Civil War, but every once in a while, there is one that gets such good reviews, that I have to read it. After seeing all of the great reviews for The Year of Jubilo, I bought the book, but I must admit, it sat on my bookcase for a while because it was sort of intimidating. Was I really going to like it? The answer is yes. This novel has a lot to recommend for fans of Civil War fiction, and fans of well-written novels. Howard Bahr is a wonderful writer and this book, while I finished it a few days ago, is constantly on my mind. As the novel opens, we meet Gawain Harper who is returning to his home after the Civil War. He reluctantly fought for the CSA and now is anxious about what lies ahead for him in the town he grew up in. He is most concerned about Morgan, the love he left to fight in the war. The concerns he focuses on as he returns home, are not those he must deal with when he gets home. Much of his world is turned upside down. Morgan still loves him, but old alliances have crumbled and much of his town has burned down. He must make sense out of the post-war South, of his post-war life. He manages to face down fears that have haunted him since before he left for the war. This novel is well-told and thought provoking. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Novel That Lingers On A Reader's Palate
Review: I suspect that Howard Bahr took this book's title from an Old Testament precept, the "year of jubilee," in which old debts and constraints were to be forgiven, leading to the promise of a new start for all concerned. If so, you may find yourself -- at first -- wondering if there isn't a certain sense of irony to his choice of title. And yes, I believe there is: So many of this novel's characters find themselves mired in the traditions and mores of their recently-vanquished society that it's tempting to wonder how they'll ever find their way into the future. And yet, Bahr holds out the promise that they (or at least some of them) just may manage to do it. In a way, ghosts pervade this novel, in the way that so many of its characters struggle to reconcile the overlapping layers of pre- and post-Civil War society. People and places once known and perceived in a certain way have to be reevaluated in the light of the current moment. This sense of ghostliness is emphasized through a wise choice of settings and circumstance: for example, a chance encounter with a murky mirror, a murderer's nocturnal movements . . . More than one character seems to fear that he'll encounter his old self coming round the bend at any given moment. Bahr has crafted his characters with care, compassion, and, above all, affection. It is because of this that the reader comes to feel an almost personal stake in what happens to them; it also doesn't hurt that the novel's setting and its events are delineated with equal care. The characters, and their actions, tend to remain in a reader's subconscious long after the final page has been turned. Ultimately, of course, "The Year of Jubilo" serves as a parable for each of us: Clothed in the events of more than a century ago, it still serves to remind us that life -- or, at least, any life worth leading -- is a process of adapting to (and, hopefully, triumphing over) change. For the majority of us, thankfully, the catalyst for much of those changes will most likely not be so traumatic as a civil war and its resultant upheaval. We may not face the challenges of Gawain Harper or Morgan Rhea, to cite but two examples from this novel; but our own lives can be illuminated -- and enlightened -- by their actions, as by those of many others in this novel. And this illumination and enlightenment, cloaked within solid entertainment, is the ultimate mission of any good work of literature. "The Year of Jubilo" certainly qualifies in both categories. Resoundingly!
Rating: 
Summary: A Skillful Writer Finds His Voice
Review: I think great books take their time. Length is not the measure, as that should be determined by what the Author has to say. Mr. Howard Bahr had a great deal to share during, �The Year Of Jubilo�, and at just under 400 pages the work is wonderful. Perhaps I have not read as many books on The Civil War to make the following comment, however this is unlike any other novel on the period I have read. The fundamental issues are all present but they do not overwhelm the story. The Author breaks many traditionally held beliefs in to a variety of feeling, not the absolutes that are more familiar. He brings characters that either by thought or action demonstrates their ambivalence about the war and the role they played in it. The books� beginning is one of the more brutal I have read. It is not gratuitous, however it is powerful and disturbing. Imagine the experience that embodies your greatest fear, then contemplate the event taking place, and finally add to your horror that you are blind. The Author takes this one step further, but the words must be read to be appreciated. This opening sequence sets up much of the book and while arguably the books darkest passage, events stretch all along the emotional spectrum to the very end. The Author creates memorable characters with names that you could puzzle over for years and fail to guess their origin if it was not supplied. Think for a time why someone would gain the moniker, �old 111�. It was so clever and only one of many you will read. War is evil, however that evil does not extend to all those who participate in its destruction. One man serves to satisfy a Judge, a man who eventually treats the former like Sisyphus as he continually adds conditions to the granting of his consent. The town that becomes the stage for the conflict when all conflict should be gone is not populated by the Confederacy or The Union Army alone. This group the writer brings together must eventually decide as individuals what is right and wrong without the traditional stereotypical hatreds as justifications. The result is a portion of History that while brief is incredibly complex both for the events and the menagerie of characters that bring it to a conclusion. �The Year Of Jubilo� is a book I recommend without any hesitation, and one that took me far too long to pick up and read.
Rating:
Summary: Master Story Teller
Review: I'd give it 10 stars if I could! Only one other book in the last five years has been able to match the literary prose of this novel. This is a gem for lovers of words and stories!
Rating:
Summary: After the war came the fighting
Review: In The Year of Jubilo, Howard Bahr tells the story of Gawain Harper's return to his home in Cumberland, Miss. after the end of the War Between the States. Waiting for him are his father, his Aunt Vassar, while Morgan Rhea, the woman he loves, believes him dead. As he nears home, he begins meeting up with strange characters: some he knew before, others are strangers, all of them will figure in his life for the next few days. Returning home was rarely easy for Confederate soldiers. Like most, Gawain finds things much changed. His family home is run down. His father is ill. Many homes and businesses lie in ruins. And Union soldiers are camped within the town. Still, he hopes to settle back into civilian life, a life he wants to share with Morgan. However, King Solomon Gault, a self-styled officer and guerilla leader, has other plans for Cumberland and those who live in the area. For him and his followers, the war is far from over, and there are neighbors who deserve punishment at his hands. Gawain deals with Gault and his own demons as best he can and with the help of strange bedfellows. Bahr has created believable characters and events. His prose style makes for a beautiful reading experience and, although superb, never gets in the way of the story. It spans only a few days, is a quick read, and one that the reader will dwell on for a while.
Rating:
Summary: After the war came the fighting
Review: In The Year of Jubilo, Howard Bahr tells the story of Gawain Harper's return to his home in Cumberland, Miss. after the end of the War Between the States. Waiting for him are his father, his Aunt Vassar, while Morgan Rhea, the woman he loves, believes him dead. As he nears home, he begins meeting up with strange characters: some he knew before, others are strangers, all of them will figure in his life for the next few days. Returning home was rarely easy for Confederate soldiers. Like most, Gawain finds things much changed. His family home is run down. His father is ill. Many homes and businesses lie in ruins. And Union soldiers are camped within the town. Still, he hopes to settle back into civilian life, a life he wants to share with Morgan. However, King Solomon Gault, a self-styled officer and guerilla leader, has other plans for Cumberland and those who live in the area. For him and his followers, the war is far from over, and there are neighbors who deserve punishment at his hands. Gawain deals with Gault and his own demons as best he can and with the help of strange bedfellows. Bahr has created believable characters and events. His prose style makes for a beautiful reading experience and, although superb, never gets in the way of the story. It spans only a few days, is a quick read, and one that the reader will dwell on for a while.
Rating:
Summary: The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War
Review: Readers who appreciate highly literary treatments of historical events will undoubtedly appreciate The Year of Jubilo. This novel ably follows in the footsteps of - and has ties to - Howard Bahr's seminal first work, The Black Flower. Bahr does a superb job of painting the tensions which were common to the South in the wake of the Confederacy's collapse. His feel for mid-nineteenth century vocabulary and social mores is uncanny, and they lend a high degree of realism to The Year of Jubilo's plot and characters. All in all, a great read!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent story but for the writing of it . . .
Review: This book is the most recent in a group of Civil War novels I've read over the years, including books by John Jakes and the Shaaras. The Year of Jubilo had an excellent story, I thought, but I couldn't quite get around Mr. Bahr's writing style. I understand that maybe the Southern lifestyle was slower and really laid back in those days, but when it seeps into the writing of a novel, it bores me.
I gave The Year of Jubilo 3 stars because while I wanted to know what happened next, I couldn't bring myself to read past page 67 or so.
Rating:
Summary: A great follow-up novel
Review: This is the second book by Bahr tha I've read. In fact, I bought this one because I enjoyed his first novel, "The Black Flower" so much. This book is diferent the "The Black Flower", which was heavy on texture and feel. This book is every bit the equal of the first, but much more focused on plot and theme.
So, what is the theme? Its in the title. The Year of Jubilo refers to the Old Testament Hebrew tradition called the Year of Jubilee. Every 7 years, all slaves were forever released from bondage. This novel explores freedom of all sorts in a (barely) post-Civil War Alabam town. There is, obviously, the newly-won freddom of the slaves, but that is barely brushed upon in favor of deeper themes. There is freedom (or not) from the past, guilt, the entanglements of family, family honor, regional honor, friendship, obligations of social position and even love.
All of this is mostly told through two characters, Gawain Harper, a former college professor who joined the Confederate army to prove he was worthy to the father of the woman he loves and Harry Stribling, a former newspaperman who served in the Confederate cavalry during the war and is now a self-proclaimed philosopher. Bahr is not limited to these two characters, though. He has created a whole community in this book. Characters range from the Union colonel in charge of the occupying force to a former slave chaser to a smuggler.
The smuggler, King Solomon Gault, is by far the most interesting character. He has avoided the real war all together and has made himself rich by smuggling during the war. He literally sees himself as a god unto himself and he callously uses and destroys a great number of people to pump up his own sense of grandeur and freedom. He is the antagonist and all of the advances in the plot move through him and the reactions to him.
This novel has rich characters and sometimes almost poetic scene setting. It is a joy to read. I laughed out loud at parts and was surprised at the brutality and abruptness of other parts. I even read parts out loud to my wife.
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