Rating: 
Summary: Characters Make It
Review: This is the sequel to Mr. Bahr's Black Flower, although it is not necessary to read the Black Flower first. The main character was in the former work and there are a few mentions of the battle.
This is the story of a Confederate veteran returning to his home town which has been partially burned out and is now occupied by Federal soldiers. He returns to court his old love interest - the daughter of a judge who had forced him to enlist. Additionally, a leader of an outlaw Confederate guerilla group is mounting a campaign to retake the town. That outlaw band had burned out the home of the judge's daughter (Love interest's sister) and hanged his son-in-law. The outlaw's return causes conflict with the main characters and the Federals, leaving Confederate veterans fighting side by side with the federals in the brief skirmish.
The book takes a hard look at the difficulties encountered by a returning veteran to a town on the losing side; the difficulties the town has in coping with its demolished and occupied state and those who do not want to say die; and, the outlaw who wants the South to rise again under his leadership.
The view is a raw and disturbing one. The characters are very memorable.
Mr. Bahr's writing is unique. At times it is near poetic. Also at times, the writing itself captures the raw emotion running through the book. Unlike Black Flower, however, at times the wording became a bit cumbersome and the writing got in the way.
Still, a book recommended. If there is one word to describe the book, it would be "haunting". The story-line, the characters, the emotion, all are haunting and will stick with the reader long after.
Rating:
Summary: Harry S. is so cool!!
Review: You can smell the gunpowder(sort of). This provides you with an excellent snapshot of the post-civil war south. You've got free slaves, ex-rebles, a crazy grave digger and an ex slave catcher. The story is extremly solid but it does tend to go into the descriptive narative just a little too much. You will like this book if you like an above par civil war novel. In other words this book is not in the same leauge as "North and South". The only reason I don't give 5 stars is because of the ending, I didn't get it.
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