The Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
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Book Reviews of The Killer Angels
Book Review: surprising review
Summary: 5 Stars
Many years ago I entered my favorite Chicago bookstore, Abraham Lincoln Bookstore, shocked to find a large display of a new book The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. My personal grudge against Mike Shaara goes back to 1964 when we were both at Florida State University. What is my reason for relating all this? If I can change my attitude toward the author, anyone can give him a second chance. It still hurts me to give five stars to this work. But the following reasons make it necessary:
1. The book is very well written. Mike had many choices how to work the story. I probably would have made it unreadable by including too many characters. Mead was barely mentioned. John Hood could have been played up more considering his importance later in the war, but it didn't belong in this work.
2. I disagree with not only Mike but many professional historians that the Battle of Gettysburg is overrated. Considering this I'm surprised at how well the author related this story. I have no problem with the historic content of this book or the later movie.
3. The characterization in the book and the movie is superb. This is fiction, but excellently done fiction. If I had not been curious about this work I probably would never have picked it up. I am glad I did read it and even glad I saw the movie.
Book Review: War is a scary and sometimes boring...
Summary: 2 Stars
I usually don't stray away from romance novels but this book was required to be read for a class. This book is about the Gettysburg 3 day war. Now war isn't exciting to me. Especially when all they talk about is their attack and how it will come out. The first part is about coming into the town and introducing the characters. Their are so many characters in the beginning. I couldn't keep up with them all. It was very boring...I really just wanted to yawn and fall asleep. I began to question why do we have to read this book. So, I got to the second part and it got a little more interesting but still all about the plan and attack. And there was so many directions in the book and maps. So, I really couldn't imagine the battle. The 3rd day is how the attack fails and they have to retreat. This book is like reading a history book instead the characters are talking in their point of view.
I really dislike this book. It's probably because there was no romance and it was just boring. Some parts were interesting but again some parts were not neccesary. I really have no interest for war and battle books. I reccommend this book for people who like history and war novels. But for a romance novel reader it is very boring. That's just my opinion.
Book Review: Patience will be a rewarded.
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this novel, absolutely loved it--but I'm not sure why. Like a lot of people have said, it IS slow-going, and the first half or so of it involves troop movements and the ruminations of various characters. Structurally, it's also sometimes unwieldy, especially its clumsy prologue that tells you straight out who the principal characters will be. Yet . . . the story works, and I think it's because of the character development, esp. Shaara's descriptions of Lee, Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain. Shaara takes his time developing these 3 principals, and by the time the story gets underway midway through the novel, you know them intimately in a way that's rare in fiction. And since you know them, you care about them on a deep level, and you just want to see what'll happen--even though the conclusion (the South's rout by the North) is foregone. So . . . my advice for reading this novel: read 20 pages of it. If it doesn't get you within the first 20 pages, it never will. But, if you're like me, you'll love the first 20 pages and their deceptively simple but beautiful prose and their well-defined characters. It's a beautiful novel. (One particular moment was very effective: Chamberlain's defense of Little Round Top. Wow! What a scene!)Book Review: High School Students Opinion
Summary: 5 Stars
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is one of the greatest and most enthralling historical fiction books I have ever read. Michael Shaara spent seven years researching and writing this fantastic novel about the Battle of Gettysburg. At first he was turned down by publishers for two years until he was finally published. His book later won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
As a high school level reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At first, it started off slow for one with the limited patience of a teenager, but quickly captures you. The detailed way Shaara describes the characters and scenes really gives the reader a feeling as if one was there. However, I would not recommend this to a reader that does not enjoy historical fiction. Most of the students in my class would not have an interest in this.
Overall Shaara paints a masterpiece recreating one of the key battles in the Civil War. He tells the story of this epic battle from both sides, the Union and Confederates. The book is so captivating that at one point in the story I was leaping with joy when my favorite character held off an enemy charge. If one would like to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg, this is the book to make it come alive.
Book Review: Beautifully written and a joy to read
Summary: 5 Stars
One of two books read in my entire lifetime that I consider a masterpiece.
This book's language is sweet, smooth-flowing, stunning in its simplicity and focus. The Battle of Gettysburg is well documented and has been written about since July 4, 1863..... but to someone unversed in warfare and battlefields, it brought home the bravery, certainty and uncertainty, fear, foolishness, conflicts, nobility, and humanity of the men struggling to survive the 3 days in Pennsylvania that turned the tide of the war.
I loved the structure of the novel - alternating chapters among the key figures of the war - Lee, Chamberlain, Longstreet, Buford, Armistead, The Spy, Freemantle. I appreciated the maps, the brief biographical notes at the beginning of the novel and the afterward describing the principal characters lives after the war.
I want to learn more about Longstreet and Chamberlain particularly and want to see Gettysburg.
I'm not sure I could have appreciated this book at any earlier time in my life so am grateful that I've read it now.