Llew's Reviews

Me: Are you looking at porn?
Katy: Yeah, Laura, I’m looking at naked pictures of Robert E. Lee
Me: Well, his horse was named Traveler.

The above is why I should never be allowed to write a novel on the Civil War. Thankfully, Mr. Hicks has more restraint than I do.

I didn’t realize until I had almost finished that it is based on a true story, or rather a real person. Carrie McGavock who lived in the almost minute Franklin, Tennessee where what many consider to be the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War were spent in an awful battle. Not only did she allow her house to be turned into a hospital where she tended to the injured, but after the battle she negotiated a created a resting place for approximately 1,500 dead soldiers. Hicks created this wonderful story around McGavock which translated into an enjoyable read even for a girl who isn’t entirely fond of the Civil War fiction genre. No matter how many generals had horses with frisky names.

I picked up this book with low expectations, thinking that I was only reading it so I might be able to be more in the know once Christmas season starts. However, it turned out to be delightfully interesting.

Berendt kind of skips and hops between different subjects all set in Venice: the burning and rebuilding of the opera house, the swindling of Ezra Pound’s mistress by the creating of the Ezra Pound foundation, the schism of the Save Venice society, and so forth. It was enough variation that it kept it interesting rather than seeing abrupt. Also, I learned fantastic little tidbits like the fact that rats can’t throw up. And that they also have an anisthetic of sorts in their saliva so you don’t feel a rat bite as much as you think you would, because that’s what kind of completely random conversations you have when you attend at a Venice masquerade ball. Not to negate Venice’s grandeur, but it’s akin to something I’d hear at a cookout at my Uncle Chip’s house.

You got a love a thriller that is so paranoid that the author won’t even let you know who he is.