Helpful Score: 9
I absolutely loved this book. Don't be fooled into thinking this is all about the Civil War...it isn't. Oh sure, there are battles retold, but in a fresh way, through the memory of an old man and the eyes of the young boy he was during those times. More, this is the story of the young girl who married him, their life and times, good and bad. A wonderful, interesting read. I even bought the DVD of the movie to see how they'd handled it. Not bad, but they left out a lot.
Helpful Score: 5
So real it's hard to read at times, but you'll remember it forever.
Helpful Score: 2
I read this book decades ago but remember loving it. It's quirky and fun and authentically historic all at the same time. It was entertaining! I recently swapped for it so i could keep one here at home.
Helpful Score: 1
If you are interested in the "War for Southern Independence" you will love this book. 875 pages is a long read; it starts slow at first but gets better as it goes.
This is long, and a bit difficult to read. The language isn't hard - I'm not sure what the hold-up is, exactly. I enjoy the stories, and I loved the way Lady Marsden was described. "A woman who made paper look dirty because her skin was so white" - I think that's really cool. But a lot of the book seems like a history lesson, and I guess I just don't have the endurance for it right now.
It's definitely a book I may pick up again in the future.
It's definitely a book I may pick up again in the future.
Great movie, I'm sure the book is better.
We are able to see the south through a vast array of voices. This is a book-lover's read and one that we will eagerly read again and again. This novel spans the time from just before the Civil War until the mid-1980's. It is exuberant, raucous, comic and even, at times, bawdy.
An true story that tells of Lucy Marsden life and that of her husband, nine children, in laws, and friends.
I enjoyed it. If your a history bluff, it gives a facinating insight to the personal lives of those during the civil war. Told in a nice, flowing narrative that is easy to follow.
I enjoyed it. If your a history bluff, it gives a facinating insight to the personal lives of those during the civil war. Told in a nice, flowing narrative that is easy to follow.
This was not exactly what I was expecting. It was for sure funny in parts but it was mostly a confession for a troubled soul in the last days of a difficult life. It also shows that "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome" is not something new to war veterans. The book does not depict the life of a typical Southern Lady but it does give some keen insights to life in a typical Southern Town in the early 1900’s.
Incredible review of the true history of the Civil War from a perssonal perspective.
Barbara M. (LadyExplicate) reviewed Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All on + 111 more book reviews
A highly praised, award winning story of the oldest surviving widow of the Civil War. An absorbing piece of history from an unusual point of view.
From Library Journal
Ninety-nine year old Lucille Marsden, confined to a charity nursing home in North Carolina, is an American cousin of Joyce's Anna Livia Plurabelle. Lucy tells the story of her marriage to "Captain" Will Marsden, ostensibly the Civil War's last survivor, whom she married when she was 15 and he was more than triple her age. She also tells about her husband's experiences in the war and after, the burning of her mother-in-law's plantation by Sherman's men, and the abduction from Africa of a former Marsden slave, midwife to Lucy's nine children as well as her best friend. But this novel is less about the War Between the States than about the war between the sexes. And, like Finnegan's Wake , it's also about how history is recorded and about how lives are turned into stories. Lucy's voice casts a spell as enchanting as Scheherazade's; a first novel to be slowly savored and richly enjoyed. BOMC selection.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Ninety-nine year old Lucille Marsden, confined to a charity nursing home in North Carolina, is an American cousin of Joyce's Anna Livia Plurabelle. Lucy tells the story of her marriage to "Captain" Will Marsden, ostensibly the Civil War's last survivor, whom she married when she was 15 and he was more than triple her age. She also tells about her husband's experiences in the war and after, the burning of her mother-in-law's plantation by Sherman's men, and the abduction from Africa of a former Marsden slave, midwife to Lucy's nine children as well as her best friend. But this novel is less about the War Between the States than about the war between the sexes. And, like Finnegan's Wake , it's also about how history is recorded and about how lives are turned into stories. Lucy's voice casts a spell as enchanting as Scheherazade's; a first novel to be slowly savored and richly enjoyed. BOMC selection.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Tells the tale of Lucy Marsden, a 99 year old denizen of Falls, NC. It sprawls through some of America's history most exciting events and times--from just before the Civil War until the mid 1980s.
A decidedly different tale of life in the time of the Civil War. Very interesting if you like the social perspective of every day life from a woman's point of view.
a classic!
Great Southern book !!
99-year-old Lucy looks back on her life, from a teenage Confederate bride to the mid-1980's.
Why would I give away books I enjoyed? I never read this gift but perhaps you've read a review and find it interesting. . . .
Haven't read; got book at book sale.
