Book Review: The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

The Widow of the South

By Robert Hicks

Reviewed by Tom Carrico

(Blogger Note: This review was previously published in LAMLight, the physician newsletter of the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine and was referenced in a previous blog post book review of Devil's Dream by Madison Smartt Bell.)

      Just when you think there could be no more untold stories of the American Civil War, along comes a gem of a book: Robert Hicks’ The Widow of the South.  This book is set in Franklin, Tennessee, the sight of a brutal battle five months before Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.  The Battle of Franklin has been described by some as the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War.  Confederate General John Bell Hood decides to attack well entrenched Unions troops led by Major General John Schofield in an attempt to recapture Nashville.  Over the protests of other officers, including Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, General Hood orders an ill-advised open field uphill infantry charge reminiscent of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.  This leaves thousands of dead soldiers and many more severely wounded.  The battle descriptions are very vivid and well told. (Indeed they are the equal of Charles Frazier’s descriptions of the Battle of the Crater in “Cold Mountain”.)  This novel is much more than a war story, however.  It is the narrative of war’s effects on the country, the soldiers and the citizens who are swept up in its enormity.

      

     The main character of the book is Carrie McGavock.  She is the mistress of a failing plantation known as Carnton (interestingly enough, from the Gaelic for “place of the dead”).  We meet her pre-battle as she suffers from severe melancholy, having never emotionally recovered from the premature death of three of her children from various fevers.  Her husband John is a dysfunctional gentleman farmer who has never adapted to the “changes” brought on by the War and cannot deal with Carrie’s depression.  He has invested heavily in “the Cause” and suffers financial defeat and loss of his lifestyle and livelihood. 

     The mansion at Carnton is commandeered as a Confederate field hospital by General Forrest and Carrie springs to life in her new role.  The hundreds of wounded and dying soldiers who arrive on her doorstep following the Battle of Franklin enable her to find a purpose for her life beyond grieving her losses.  One particular soldier catcher her eye.  He is Sergeant Zachariah Cashwell from Arkansas.  He somehow survives the charge up the hill as a color bearer, only to be taken prisoner and then shot while trying to escape.  He has a potentially mortal thigh wound but is saved when Carrie triages him to the front of the surgery line and a high leg amputation is performed.  Zachariah is initially resentful of his survival and Carrie’s role in it, preferring death over life as a crippled amputee.  Their relationship grows from one of anger and distrust to one of mutual respect and admiration and finally, love.  This continues until Zachariah is well enough to be taken away from Carnton as a prisoner of war. 

     The rest of the book relates the story of Franklin after the War.  The town is repaired, train lines are extended, freed slaves become small business owners and farms are reclaimed, however there lingers much despair and bitterness over personal losses suffered during the War.  One citizen who owns the land which was the Franklin battlefield decides to plow over the field, disrespecting the final resting place of thousands of Confederate soldiers.  Carrie fights a verbal and political battle over this decision.  Finally, Carrie and John and a corps of volunteers exhume all of the bodies and re-bury them in the Carnton garden adjacent to the graves of the dead McGavock children.  Carrie catalogues the identity and location of each body.   She then dedicates the remainder of her long life to the maintenance of this cemetery and communication with each of the families involved, hence, obtaining the title of “The Widow of the South”.   The inevitable late-life reunion with Zachariah Cashwell is poignant and brings this novel to a satisfying conclusion.

     This book is made even more remarkable by the secondary characters who are wonderful in their own rights.  These include Mattie, Carrie’s slave (a childhood “gift” from her father) and Mattie's son Theopolis.  Mattie is the “heart” of Carnton, organizing and basically running the household for the inept McGavocks.  The dilemma of the freed slaves is played out by these characters who have never known another life.  Mattie decides to stay at Carnton with Carrie following the War and receives criticism from other former slaves including her own son.  Theopolis opts to move to town and becomes a very successful cobbler. 

     This is a novel of war for sure, but it is much more.  It is a story of grief and despair, hope and faith and discovery of life’s purpose.  Trying times forge character and cement relationships which last a lifetime. 

     This is a work of fiction, but the characters of Carrie and John McGavock as well as  Mattie and Theopolis are real.  Carnton exists and survives today with its adjacent cemetery thanks to the work of a non-profit organization.  The author is a Board member of this organization and his passion for and dedication to this project shines through on every page.  This is a startlingly good story which is incredibly well told.

Movie Review: "J. Edgar", Directed by Clint Eastwood

“J. Edgar”

Directed by Clint Eastwood

This two hour and forty minute movie covers the entire career of J. Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Leonardo DiCaprio does an excellent job portraying this complex man.  The story begins with J. Edgar working for the Attorney General Mitchell Palmer (which pre-dated the existence of the F.B.I.)  When extremists detonate numerous bombs, including one at the home of Attorney General Palmer, Hoover was involved in the investigation.  The next Attorney General, Harlan Stone, tasked Hoover with running a new Bureau of Investigation.  He was given total control and wide ranging powers.  The movie follows his career as the new F.B.I. tries to control “enemies within”: first gangsters, then Communists and mobsters.  Hoover was relentless in his pursuit of anyone or any group he perceived as working against his country.  He kept private files which he often used to blackmail celebrities and politicians (most notably John F. Kennedy).  There is an extended segment about midway through the movie dealing with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932.  Using forensic techniques new to the time, Hoover and the F.B.I. eventually arrested a German immigrant named Bruno Richard Hauptman.  Hauptman was tried, convicted and executed for the crime, although doubts still exist as to his guilt.

The movie also tries to sort out Hoover’s private life.  He was deeply emotionally dependent on his mother, was awkward at best around women and found his only satisfying relationship with his second in command, Clyde Tolson.  They worked closely and also dined and vacationed together frequently.  The movie briefly mentions a relationship between Hoover and actress Dorothy Lamour, but focuses mainly on the presumed homosexual relationship with Tolson.

This movie is fairly slow moving, especially given the subject matter.  The movie is ambitious but tries to do too much.  A life and a career as complex as these just isn’t easily summarized.  The movie lacks focus, at once trying to illustrate Hoover’s relentless pursuit of any perceived “subversive” and his abuse of powers while also trying to show the audience enough psychological background to explain his tortured personal life.  It also helps to have some knowledge of the politics of the times.  In the movie confrontations in Bobby Kennedy’s office (who, as Attorney General was Hoover’s boss) are portrayed which don’t make much sense without knowledge of Hoover’s hatred of and ongoing battles with the Kennedys.   It is very well acted, especially by Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, Judi Dench as his mother Annie and Naomi Watts as his longtime personal assistant Helen Gandy.  I enjoyed the movie despite its flaws.

Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

The End of Everything

By Megan Abbott

(Blogger Note: This review was published in the November, 2011 edition of LAMLight, the physician newsletter of the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine.)

This is a “missing girl” novel that packs a punch.  There are countless excellent books with this theme, so what makes this one special?  Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones was told from the point of view of the deceased victim.  Jodie Picoult’s House Rules had a main character who was autistic.  Stewart O’Nan’s Songs for the Missing focused on the tsunami effect that a child’s disappearance has on the victim’s family and community.  So what sets The End of Everything apart from a crowded field of books with basically the same premise?

The End of Everything is set in the mid-1980s in an unnamed but stereotypical Midwest town.  The missing girl in Megan Abbott’s novel is Evie Verver, a typically energetic thirteen year old who is just beginning to exit the awkwardness of middle school and enter into the vague mysteries of high school.  The story is told by Lizzie Hood, Evie’s best friend and next door neighbor.  They are avid field hockey players who are in awe of Evie’s older sister Dusty, the star of the high school team who has boys following her around like puppy dogs and also is the apple of her Dad’s eyes.  Mr. Verver is a dapper middle aged man who wallows in “what could have beens.”  He sits in his basement with the girls drinking beer and playing old vinyl phonograph records from his youth.  Mrs. Verver is largely absent, prone to bouts of melancholy and staying mostly in her bedroom. 

One afternoon after practice Lizzie’s Mom picks her up from school to shop at the mall for an eighth grade graduation dress.  This leaves Evie alone at the field to walk home by herself.  She does not come home and the Ververs contact the police.  There are no clues regarding Evie’s disappearance and the family and community enter a state of panic.  Mr. Verver in particular turns into a chain-smoking ball of nerves.  Lizzie becomes the focus of the police investigation as she slowly recalls details of the day of Evie’s disappearance and then fragments of odd conversations over the previous weeks.  The key piece of evidence is Lizzie’s report of a black car circling the school the day of Evie’s disappearance.  She identifies the car from photographs and the investigation then shifts to a local insurance agent whose office is on the route the girls usually take when they walk to school.  This man is the same age as Mr. Verver, is married and has a son who attends the same high school as Dusty (and owns the black car identified by Lizzie.)  There is evidence (again supplied by Lizzie) that Mr. Shaw, the insurance agent, was stalking Evie (or was it Dusty?) before he snatched her.  Lizzie gains celebrity status amongst her peers as everyone begs her for more details.  An odd codependent relationship develops between Lizzie and Evie’s father.

Questions mount up faster than answers.  Where are Mr. Shaw and his black sedan?  Is Evie alive or dead?   What’s up with Mr. Verver?  Is he just a cool Dad or is he as guilty as Mr. Shaw?  Underlying this whole story is a sexual tension that is undeniable and understated.  Nothing is ever explicitly revealed, but the implications are that there was a lot of weirdness behind the Verver’s closed doors.   Was Evie an innocent victim or did she conveniently use Mr. Shaw as an escape from something worse?  Does Lizzie know more than she is telling, letting some information conveniently slip out but hiding the most damaging?

The resolution of this story is incomplete.  The author leaves a lot of unanswered questions.  There is a tidy climax to the story, however, which actually opens even more questions. 

This is an extremely well-written book.  It takes a worn out theme and spins new life into it.  The characters are superbly developed, mainly by the striking descriptions of their actions:

               

            “There’s a throb in my chest when I see him.   Mr. Verver is back and he is pulling the nozzle trigger on the garden hose, spraying the dry thatch of flowers, the frail brown shrubs.  There’s a beer bottle by his feet, foamed to the top, and two more empty ones, shuddering slightly on the windowsill next to a small speaker gushing restless tales of lost love and the loneliness of the road.”

                

              The novel evokes Middle America in a time when there was still innocence on the surface, when lurid details weren’t exploited for headlines and certain things were held closely secret by families.  This book has a certain “creepiness” to it that rivals the best of horror writers such as Stephen King.  In the style of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, what isn’t shown or told is much more disturbing than what is. 

This is an outstanding novel which stands as an equal to the aforementioned novels.  It is fast paced and very entertaining.  It is hard to put down.  I recommend it highly.  The End of Everything is available in hardcover from Little Brown and Company and in e-book formats.