Reviews for A Separate Country

The average rating for A Separate Country based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-08 00:00:00 Matthew Delaney This book, written by Robert Hicks, is a fictional account of one of the Confederacy's most controversial generals.... John Bell Hood. Hood was promoted by Robert E. Lee to the rank of major general after the Battle of Antietam. He suffered a crippling injury to his left arm at the battle of Gettysburg and lost his right leg at the Battle of Chicamauga. Hood became controversial because some felt that his aggressiveness in battle led to his making very reckless decisions which ended up killing thousands of Confederate soldiers. Robert Hick's story begins after the war has ended. General Hood journeyed to New Orleans to try to begin his post-military life and figure out how to earn a living. As I discovered in his novel, Widow of the South, Hicks does a marvelous job of drawing you into the setting and the time period. His descriptions of Reconstruction era New Orleans made me feel like I was actually there... the oppressive heat and wilting humidity, poverty, restlessness and unrest between the races, the political corruption and even the mysticism of the Catholic Church... all of this set the scene for this fascinating fictional account of the life of General John Hood. General Hood was a complex man.... he was filled with guilt over many of what he saw as reckless decisions he had made which led to the death of thousands during the war. Yet, he was arrogant also and seemed to feel slighted when he wasn't treated with the respect he felt he deserved as general and war hero. Hicks tells the general's story through letters written from the vantage point of Hood's wife, Anna Marie Hennen and through writings by Hood himself, in a fictional manuscript he wrote, telling his own story. It became clear through his story that there was a constant battle raging inside General Hood... between his belief that he needed to feel some humility and that arrogance which had made him such a military heavyweight. No matter what your opinion on the Civil war, this fictional account based on the real life of General John Hood was ultimately one of redemption and atonement. Despite all of his failings (personal and professional), Hood managed to learn to put aside his arrogance and become more of the man he wanted to be. Through the love, compassion and acceptance of his wife, Anna Marie, he tried to make some restitution for the wrongs he had done. Perhaps that is never truly possible, but I cannot help but admire a person for trying. I think, in the end, General John Hood, was simply an imperfect human being.... not always good and not always bad... simply a person like every other person with failings and strengths. General John Hood, his wife Anna Marie and his oldest daughter Lydia died during an outbreak of yellow fever... 10 other children were left orphaned. Once again, Robert Hicks has written a superb piece of historical fiction. I very much enjoy reading about this time period and Mr. Hicks really knows how to bring it to life.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-04-05 00:00:00 Brock Smith I really tried to like this book, or even to finish it, but I just had to give up when I realized after struggling through about half of it that I was unconsciously skimming. I picked it up, having read Hicks excellent Widow of the South. Unfortunately, rather than a similar book with characters you grew to know and fascinating historical detail, it was a tedious, slogging through the self-flagellating "journals" of John Bell Hood and his wife Anna Marie. I never got to know either character apart from the fact that they felt guilty about practically everything. This book could have been about any two people in the New Orleans of this era, yet even as a story about the city it failed. Hicks notes at the end (where I skipped to) that the idea for the book came about after the whole Katrina situation in New Orleans, and I think this explains a great deal as to why the book felt so tortured. He was so eager to set a book in historical New Orleans that he just forced it. I had planned on giving this book two stars, because I thought maybe I was being unfair due to my disappointment - then I realized I gave New Moon two stars - and as bad as that was, it was at least readable and entertaining.