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jcgrenn_reads's review against another edition
5.0
This book is beautiful and devastating. It’s not so much character studies (though the characters are so likable and knowable) as using those characters to explore themes: violence, aging, truth, life, death. Every now and then Powers’s exploring words build to moments of complete but fleeting clarity in understanding truth and the world. And anyone who can do that or has that to share has my 5 Star recommendation.
cami19's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
greybeard49's review against another edition
5.0
A truly remarkable book. Captures historical settings brilliantly, characterisation is flawless, plotting top class - I could go on and on. First time out with Kevin Powers and hopefully not my last.
WONDERFUL !!!
WONDERFUL !!!
tstuppy's review
3.0
An interesting premise, but the resolution doesn’t feel like it pays out; underwhelming overall.
jdintr's review
5.0
I found the narrative haunting, illuminating a the borderlands of Virginia and North Carolina, and the blacks, Native Americans and others who inhabit it.
Beginning during the Civil War and extending into the 1960s, the narrative traces the life of George Seldom, born barely a year after Appomatox and cast adrift in the Great Dismal Swamp, cut off from his past. Turning from 90-year-old George, to the lives of his parents, to a "Croatan" girl that George befriends in his dying days, the narrative follows the lives of characters who are almost too good for the sacred ruins in which they find themselves--individuals of whom this corrupt nation is somehow unworthy.
I was really touched, listening to the book. Powers is a powerful poet-writer.
Beginning during the Civil War and extending into the 1960s, the narrative traces the life of George Seldom, born barely a year after Appomatox and cast adrift in the Great Dismal Swamp, cut off from his past. Turning from 90-year-old George, to the lives of his parents, to a "Croatan" girl that George befriends in his dying days, the narrative follows the lives of characters who are almost too good for the sacred ruins in which they find themselves--individuals of whom this corrupt nation is somehow unworthy.
I was really touched, listening to the book. Powers is a powerful poet-writer.
manaledi's review
3.0
It took me a long time to get into this book, but it finally grew on me as the stories started to overlap. Strong on character and setting, weak on everything else.
markeefe's review against another edition
3.0
I loved The Yellow Birds for its deeply personal and often poetic look at the horrors of war. In this novel of Civil War-era Virginia, Powers's poetic writing returns, while the tight scope of vision that guided us through Yellow Birds fans out wide––across a large cast of characters, and spanning more than a century.
For me, this storytelling strategy does not pay off. When Powers jumps from the thoughts of one character to another––sometimes several times within a single scene––he comes across as uncertain of his abilities, or untrusting of his readership. He unpacks his characters from inside and out, telling us who they are through psychological profiles, then showing us who they are through their own eyes, and then showing us again through the eyes of every other character in the room.
At other times, Powers simply seems to lose the plot, following a side character while largely (though not entirely) abandoning another character, George Seldom, whom he'd established as central to the book. I would have loved to experience the post-Civil War South through George's eyes. But Powers gives us only a few disconnected sketches of the ninety years between his birth and death (not a spoiler; we know from the start that he'll die soon).
Despite my grievances, there are many beautiful moments throughout this novel. And when Powers stays true to one character for several pages, that entire scene comes alive, and I became deeply invested. One or two of these characters (a young slave named Rawls, in particular) will likely stick with me for quite some time, as will Powers's beautiful (and sometimes beautifully gruesome) depictions of the Virginia landscape. However, what and who this story is really about remains hidden among the book's many shimmering surfaces.
For me, this storytelling strategy does not pay off. When Powers jumps from the thoughts of one character to another––sometimes several times within a single scene––he comes across as uncertain of his abilities, or untrusting of his readership. He unpacks his characters from inside and out, telling us who they are through psychological profiles, then showing us who they are through their own eyes, and then showing us again through the eyes of every other character in the room.
At other times, Powers simply seems to lose the plot, following a side character while largely (though not entirely) abandoning another character, George Seldom, whom he'd established as central to the book. I would have loved to experience the post-Civil War South through George's eyes. But Powers gives us only a few disconnected sketches of the ninety years between his birth and death (not a spoiler; we know from the start that he'll die soon).
Despite my grievances, there are many beautiful moments throughout this novel. And when Powers stays true to one character for several pages, that entire scene comes alive, and I became deeply invested. One or two of these characters (a young slave named Rawls, in particular) will likely stick with me for quite some time, as will Powers's beautiful (and sometimes beautifully gruesome) depictions of the Virginia landscape. However, what and who this story is really about remains hidden among the book's many shimmering surfaces.
jmatkinson1's review against another edition
4.0
George Seldom is an old man who decides to take some time to revisit his personal history on a road trip. He travels through the Deep South and as he does so the reader is given some of the events that have led to a country on the brink of race equality. The plantation of Beauvais is owned by a cruel master Levallois who, even before the Civil War, has recognised that industry is the way forward, not agriculture. His neighbour goes to fight in the war and Levallois usurps his land, his daughter and his life. Rawls has been in love with Nurse but both are purchased by Levallois and are subject to his mind games. Reid goes off to war a proud Confederate but returns to find that he has lost everything. Minor characters fight for what they believe is right.
This is a complex and very moving book which looks at aspects of the Civil War and the changes in society from numerous perspectives. The characters are not easy to pin down - Emily seems powerless to stop her fate but does she fight back in the worst way. Even the minor characters, the gang leader, the apprentice and the boatman are given a sympathetic perspective and the descriptions of violence are visceral in the extreme. I hadn't read Powers' first novel but know it was well received, I can see why.
This is a complex and very moving book which looks at aspects of the Civil War and the changes in society from numerous perspectives. The characters are not easy to pin down - Emily seems powerless to stop her fate but does she fight back in the worst way. Even the minor characters, the gang leader, the apprentice and the boatman are given a sympathetic perspective and the descriptions of violence are visceral in the extreme. I hadn't read Powers' first novel but know it was well received, I can see why.
callummac's review against another edition
5.0
A must read - Powers taps into a harrowing sense of fatalism that remains unparalleled. Moving and intimate.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
3.0
Visit the locations in the novel
An epic and all encompassing read. It takes place over many many years from before the Civil war in 1865 leading up to 1980s. There’s a lot of ground to cover and a lot of characters to keep track of. But this author is not afraid of a challenge.
It’s a novel of shadows – black, white and lots of shades of gray – there’s several voices all at one – speaking and trying to get their point across which is often hard to separate. But on another note, this technique does translate the confusion of war well.
The landscape, the violence, the rawness and the breathtaking passion of those who live there is amazing to read. The truth of slavery and inhumane behaviour , less so. But it’s like a sketch on a wall – too large to appreciate in its entirety and it would have been good to spend time with one character at a time for longer period.
The cruelty and hopeless of the Civil war comes through loud and clear but I I think a simpler timeline with less voices would have made even the whispers of the message a lot more powerful.