The Black Flower - A Novel of the Civil War **1/2

By Howard Bahr
1997 By Picador Books / Henry Holt & Company licensed by Pan Books Ltd.
pages 267

It's been a while since I've done any writing in the blog and several weeks since I finished reading thisbook. I won't go on for ever, simply because I forgot a lot of details, though usually I like to write a lot of details so as to get all my various ideas down.

Being a Civil War book, it's violent, which is the reason many people like to read war books. It's kind of like looking at a train wreck. It horrible and grotesque, but you can't stop looking/reading. In this sense the book does not fail.

But it also seems to have a spiritual aspect that is not seen in many war books. There's a lot of dreaming and people going in and out of conscience so as to make the reality of the book a little unclear. The injured soldiers are drugged and delusional with pain. There are ghosts in this book. One of the characters, when she goes back to visit the site, senses the souls and the personalities there buried in the bushes and the trees and the ground. It's quite poetic and beautifully done at times.

So basically, the story is based an event in the war that took place at the Tennessee/ Kentucky border. A large battle was to commence there, so the officers of the Confederate ask to use a large mansion in the vicinity as a hospital. The cousin of the mansion's family is one of the major characters as she helps to tend the wounded. Not surprisingly, it's a harrowing experience for her. One of the soldiers she takes interest in.

The other main character, a soldier, is wounded in the hand. He is looking for his friend, convinced he is still alive. So he spends his time wandering around the hospital looking for him until the two main characters meet. His wound is on the hand and seems relatively minor compared to the other wounded at the 'hospital'. The two characters seem to form a bond while helping each other with their various problems.

Suprisingly enough, the battle is a very short part of the battle. All the gory stuff happens in the hospital/mansion.