Book 31 : The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara

The good news is that if I were interested in an entire book focusing on one battle during the American Civil War, this would have fulfilled that interest.

The bad news is that I don't give a fuck about the American Civil War.

I only read The Killer Angels because it was required of me to finish my Pulitzer challenge. After I finished it I read a few reviews and was shocked to find that many, many people think that it's the best book ever written.

First of all, there is little to no emotion in it. It is basically a fictionalized first person account of the battle at Gettysburg, told from numerous points of view. The fact that parts are written from Lee's POV and Chamberlain's POV, etc. should have meant that I'd be left with a sense of how it felt to be dealing with this huge battle that neither side thought they had the chance to win. Yeah, no.

I didn't give a shit about any of the characters. I didn't get any insight into their feelings or really their thoughts, beyond what they thought of the decisions in the battle (i.e., which flank to attack) and one guy's haunting images of his wife (I think she was dead? I wasn't clear on that and I really didn't care).

I also felt it would have been a unique opportunity to get into the background of what really sparked the American Civil War, but it didn't. There are a few mentions of some of the Rebels not supporting slavery and that the war wasn't about slavery to them but there's never really an explanation for their feelings.

There was one character I liked, Kilrain. He was talking to a Union man who told him that, while he was fighting them and would continue to do so, he respected the Rebel soldiers and found them to be gentleman. Kilrain went on an anti-gentleman tirade, which I enjoyed and will post below.

Overall: I just felt that this book was extremely cold and boring. Obviously it had some historical relevancy but if you're going to take the time to do this much research in order to write a fictional book, I would think you would take enough liberties to give the major players some actual personalities and feelings - otherwise why wouldn't you just write non-fiction?

This isn't about equality. There is no equality. The Great White Joker in the Sky dooms us all to stupidity or poverty from birth. No two things on earth are equal or have an equal chance, not a leaf nor a tree. There's many a man worse than me, and some better, but I don't think race or country matters a damn. What matters is justice. 'Tis why I'm here. I'll be treated as I deserve, not as my father deserved. I'm Kilrain, and I God damn all gentleman.”


3/10
YTD:
Books read : 31
Pages read : 9,254
Currently reading : Elbow Room - James Alan McPherson & Three Classic Greek Plays - Aristophanes / Sophocles