Landsman

At the 2007 Louisiana Book Festival,I had the pleasure of hearing Peter Melman speak about his new novel LANDSMAN and was moved by his passion for historical fiction. Of course, I bought an autographed copy. LANDSMAN focuses on the fate of a young man, Elias Abrams, the orphaned son on an indentured Jewish immigrant in New Orleans. Joining the Confederacy, Abrams tries to leave his sordid gang affiliations behind him but must return to face his past. The language is often rough and the violence unblinking. Historic details of New Orleans and the war-ravaged South are rich and evocative. And the conclusion is thoroughly satisfying. Everything Melman sets up at the beginning he pays off with dividends by the end.

In a year with new works from most major authors writing today, this debut novel remains my favorite work of the year. All the sprawl of Chabon's THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION and all the precision of McEwan's ON CHESIL BEACH in one fascinating, can't-put-it-down book. It's interesting that COLD MOUNTAIN continues to be a touchpoint for explaining this novel. It does concern a soldier in the Civil War on a journey to a woman, but where COLD MOUNTAIN (a wonderful novel, to be sure) descends into sprawl for sprawl's sake on occasion, LANDSMAN retains its locomotive-like forward thrust on every single page. Both a big-hearted romance and a taut, brutal story, this book had me riveted from the first sentence. And beyond the beautiful, pitch-perfect writing, it has one of the most disciplined narratives in recent memory. Melman keeps surprise after surprise like aces up his sleeve, and drops them onto the table one at a time up to the last thrillig page. I love this book and can't say loud enough that it should be on the bookshelf of every lover of the modern novel reading today.

This, the first offering from a wonderful new author, was considered by this reader, a masterpiece. The reviews on the cover do NOT overstate. This was a weighty, meaty, fully satisfying banquet "feast" of a read- a masterful blend of historical fiction, suspense, romance, action, war, sex, violence, remorse, desire, happiness. All were mixed and perfectly blended by way of a resplendent prose style and sprinkled with literary allusions, and served up in a lovely publication, for which you will want to reserve a place upon your book shelf and in your memory and heart for a long time.

Peter Charles Melman is a young author who has earned a Ph.d in Creative Writing. He has also earned this reviewer's respect for a well crafted, eloquently written,plot driven first novel. The Landsman in the title has two meanings. It refers to one who lives and works on the land; it also refers to a fellow Jew who comes from the same district or town in Eastern Europe. The hero of the novel is 20 year old Elias Abrams who is orphaned into poverty at a young age. His loving mother dies in one of the infamous yellow fever epidemics which has ravaged New Orleans throughout its long history. He is the bastard son of a rich and cruel landowner. He has participated in a plot to kill his father but does not do the actual deed. That sanguinary chore is left to the evil Simon Wolfe who is the head of a gang called the Cypress Stump boys. Wolfe and Abrams grew up together in the Widows and Orphans Orphanage in New Orleans. The Crescent City had a population of around 4000 Jews at the time of the Civil War. Seeking to flee from the murder charge Abrams enlists in the famed 3rd Pelican Regiment chronicled by famed historian Ed Bearss. Brutality and horrible accounts of death occur in the pages devoted to two battles in the Western Theatre: Oak Hills and Elkhorn Tavern fought on March 7, 1862. It was the most important battle during the war in which Indians participated taking scalps! During his military service Abrams is befriended by a scholarly professor who serves as an enlisted man: John Lee Carlson. He also falls in love with the New Orleans Jewess Nora Bloom whom he has never seen. He will later see Norah in New Orleans along with her prettier and older sister Josephine. Their lives will be complicated, tragic and ultimately triumphant. The book tells of the lives led by Carlson and Abrams with many an intriguing plot surprise enchanting the reader. Two repulsive characters from the old gang plague Abrams during his time in the army and back home in New Orleans. The book graphically depicts combat, prisoner of war treatment and the horrific hospital care available for Civil War soldiers. We also learn about Jewish life in the South during the nineteenth century. Melman can write and one hopes the book is sold to as a motion picture story. It is a page turner which keeps the reader engaged until the exciting and unexpected last page! The book is well worth your time and money.

Melman, Peter Charles. "Landsman: A Novel", Counterpoint Press, 2007. Expecting Justice Amos Lassen and Literary Pride I usually review only books of interest to the GLBTQ community as most of you are aware. Here is something a little different for me and for you. This is not a gay book. Every once in a while I read something that I feel like I have to talk about and Peter Melman's "Landsman" is just such a book. The fact that it is about my home area made it appealing to me--even though I consider myself an Arkansan now, I am a New Orleanian by birth and for those of you who have been to New Orleans, you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "landsman", let me explain it to you. According to "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" (as quoted in the book), the word has two definitions--it is "one who lives and works on the land" and "a fellow Jew who comes from the same district or town, especially in Eastern Europe". "Landsman" is an epic novel of the Civil War, the story of Elias Abrams, an orphaned illegitimate child of a Jewish indentured immigrant. Elias left his home in New Orleans and enlisted in the Third Louisiana Infantry. He let behind him a murder whose implications could be dire. While in the Confederate army he realizes that his life is in danger but he manages to survive his army duty using common sense, his fists and his skills at cards. Elias's life began brutally at the front but things got better when he received a letter from Nora Bloom at the suggestion of her rabbi. As they began to see each other, his past in sordid New Orleans begins to catch up with him and he realizes, yet again, that even though he has begun to find faith, he must return to New Orleans and face his past head-on. Abrams was a young Jewish thug who tried to find his way through both the Civil War and ante-bellum New Orleans. His story is the story of the Jewish Confederacy, something that has had very little written about it. Abrams tried to receive justice for a world in which he had not only lived an unjust life but had, himself, inflicted injustices upon others. As he lay pondering his state of life while in a field in Missouri, he understates why he is in the Confederate Army. In New Orleans he had lived as a thug, wandering from brothel to brothel, drinking heavily, fighting and carousing. He became an accomplice to a murder and was running fro the law and his former buddies. When he realizes how little in life he had accomplished and decides to start anew, he knew that he had to face his past and find some sort of resolution and rebellion. The narrative of this novel can only be described as stunning and sublime (even though that word is hard to apply to thugdom). The images that Melman provides became indelible upon me as I read--imagine the degradation of those who fought in the Civil War. The love story is beautiful and tender in sharp contrast to more ribald elements in the novel.