The Black Flower : A Novel of the Civil War

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Summary: A fitting companion to "The Killer Angels"
Review: All Civil War fans have been waiting for a work of fiction to stand alongside Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels". This is the novel that fills that spot on the bookshelf. This is a wondrous book with feelings and emotions that encompass battle, fear, longing, friendship, and love. It has the power to bring the reader to a time and culture which disappeared, and one which has been disparaged in the modern world. The reader who is not moved by the Bahr's evocative desciptions of people caught up in the surreal world of war is to be pitied. An absolutely amazing and wonderful novel, and hopefully one of many from this author.

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Summary: Stunning
Review: First I read COLD MOUNTAIN, and thought it was interesting, but passionless. When I finished it, I had endless images of walking through wet leaves. Then I read THE BLACK FLOWER and it is wonderful. Bahr is a master of his craft--he knows how to handle flashbacks, stream of consciousness, and lyricism on a level with Faulkner and Welty. The images are haunting, and perhaps the theme is the loss and waste of war, not only for the young lives lost but for the women who were forever cheated of youth and love and family, who became old women walking among the graves on Sunday afternoons. This is not about glory but death--the endless tragedy of aborted futures. Another thing Bahr has done superbly is that he has given his characters wit and uniqueness without their being grotesque. I know that comparisons are odious, but the strange and distorted country people that Frazier's hero met on his journey did not ring true. Frazier's metaphor was a disjointed and at times aimless journey, but Bahr's story is a jewel set in a time span of little more than a day, a compact yet expanded experience. My own grandfather won a Medal of Honor at the Battle of Murphreesboro, so these stories are of personal importance to me. (How was it, sir, when you were Bushrod's age? How did you survive? Why did you go in the first place?) Howard Bahr not only knows what happened, but tells us what it felt like. It doesn't get much better than this.

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Summary: Black Flower blows Cold Mountain away!
Review: As a civil war buff and native of Tennessee I am always looking for works that take us beyond the dates, times, and statistics of most books on military history. This book was one of those books for me. In addition to getting you literally inside the head of the main characters, Howard Bahr takes you on amazing side trips, such as the incredible description of a wasp crawling up a man's pants leg. Compared to this riveting work, Cold Mountain is amateurish.

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Summary: The Black Flower: A classic tale of the human condition.
Review: The Black Flower is a tremendous piece of Civil War fiction displaying the brutish nature of love and war. Bahr, being an authority, captures the essence of young men fighting for an often hated cause. We see through the eyes of Bushrod P. Carter a tale common to most who fought in this bloody skirmish at Franklin: one of friendship, love, courage, and cowardice. Not often do I read newer releases, but The Black Flower is a must have for any reader, combining suspense and drama with beauty and compassion in a concise but stark portrayal of the human heart.

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Summary: Major R.K.Cross brought the book to life
Review: I hope you all enjoyed Major R.K. Cross- he is my english professor! Mr. Howard Bahr is a very commendable man, he also has a very nice laid-back-on-the river-in-the-summer-sipping Jack-Daniels-and-lemonade drawl. He is quite inspiring.

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Summary: Bushrod could be Inman's brother (Cold Mountain)
Review: The Black Flower is the story of Bushrod, a young civil war soldier who finds himself confronted with more than he bargained for....yet forges ahead with bravery and valor. The descriptions of the Rebel takeover of a private home and turning it into an emergency hospital, leave you feeling the phanthom pain of amputations experienced by these brave young men. You will never forget these characters and what they had to endure

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Summary: Black Flower
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the ten best novels I have read in my 62 years.

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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.


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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.

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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.