I've had this book since the summer of seventh or eighth grade. It was supposed to be one of the books that we read for Pre-AP classes but instead we read something different. What we read instead was The Pearl  (7th grade) and something that I no longer remember because the details are fuzzy at this point.

I'm a complete history buff but this book was painful for me to read. I'm not sure if you would throw it into the realm of historical fiction or more into it being a period piece. Which I question whether there is a difference between the two as I wrote that sentence. 

The book starts just prior to Ft. Sumter and ends towards the end or just after the war. It follows the story of Jethro and his family who live in the southern most portion of the north. The kind of place that you read about being torn apart by Northern sons going off to fight for the South and eventually finding themselves pointing a gun at a friend, neighbor or even worse their own family on the other side of the battlefield dressed in blue. 

The language of the book is what I found the most difficult to handle. The dialect was rough for me to read. After a few chapters I was able to read it easier but it still made it difficult because I couldn't hear it in my head. That may sound stupid but there's always a running movie in my head to go along with the book. Actually any book that I have a hard time visualizing is usually one that I have a hard time comprehending.

There is an innocence to the characters as they try to decipher what is right and wrong. Old wounds are brought to the surface at every turn of the novel. Things go from bad to worse after Jethro's brothers leave and his father suffers a heart attack. We seem to forget that the people who can hurt us the most are the ones we view as being most like us or even those closest to us. 

A beloved teacher answers the call to war ends up injured and nearly dying. A brother leaves the battlefield becoming a fugitive because he feels that life on the lam is better than losing his life in a cause he no longer believes in. 

The more I think about this the more I realize that this is what we are dealing with today. We latch onto causes and start fighting for them but what we don't realize is that these battles we join are actually part of the war. You should consider that this may not be one quick and done battle but just a skirmish along the way to a full on war. I know that I personally may latch onto a cause but quickly find that I shouldn't have, that I had no intention of being a part of this for the long haul. This is starting to feel a little preachy so I think I'm gonna shut it down for the night.

love ya!