The Disagreement

I truly loved this novel. The story unfolded with a calm, and yet perfectly stimulating, pace that allowed me to develop an authentic sense of relatedness with John. It was personal - and the themes were timeless - friendship, coming of age, love, & war - allowing me to not only understand the emotion owned by the narrator, but also harness a bigger picture of this historical period. The author makes it easy for a reader to mentally transport to a different era, but simultanously draw similarities to current political arenas or even to one's own life (navigating obstacles and searching for identity). This fascinating blend of characters and circumstance kept me reading and wanting to learn more. Congratulations on this lovely debut novel - I can't wait to read more from Nick Taylor!

Nick Taylor's debut is a rare find--a compelling tale of the civil war from the civilian perspective. John Muro arrives at the University of Virginia to begin his medical studies sure of his convictions and beliefs--and as the war wages on he begins to question the fervor he first felt upon hearing news of secession. By focusing on the home front, the female characters are just as prominent (and engaging) as their male counterparts---thank you, Mr. Taylor. At its core, this book tells the universal story of a boy struggling to define himself--in school, in love, and in life. I've already recommended this book to several of my friends--and think it will be especially attractive to any UVA alums as an opportunity to be transported back to linger in the pavilion gardens, encounter Muro's raucous classmates, and learn more about the Charlottesville of the 1860s.

Accomplishments like this are rare, and rarer indeed from a debut novelist. I cracked open The Disagreement to understand more about the events of the war by learning more about the real people caught up within them. But the novel was so much more than that. Taylor's detailed, pitch-perfect descriptions of everything from the complexities of people's emotions to the kind of foliage that can grow out of red Virginia clay transported me. I felt like I was sitting next to Muro as he courted Lorrie from his seat at the table; my heart raced as the doctors tried desperately to soothe anguished soldiers while armed only with simple salves made from the local foliage. Taylor's debut is an atmospheric and deeply moving step back in time. Reading it, you'll have the opportunity to witness two equally compelling transformations - Muro's, from boy to man, and, the country's, from the shame of slavery to the daring of freedom.

This book is a great read. At its core, the story is a timeless one that will resonate with any reader. The author has clearly done his research into Civil War and Virginia history to pull off such an authentic voice and story. I felt completely transported from start to finish. I appreciate any story that captures my attention so wholly but also love feeling that I've learned a bit from the experience. I always find that fiction shows me history in a way that non-fiction is never quite able to match. As an alum of the University of Virginia, I loved the familiar setting. It's the first work of fiction I've read that takes place at the university itself and I'd recommend it to anyone who's attended UVA for that reason alone.

The Disagreement reminds us what fiction does that other forms, history, reportage, journalism, don't: it captures the complexities of an individual's experience of life in all its particular, interior density. This novel, set in a medical hospital in Charlottesville during the Civil War, manages, like the best novels, to be many things at once: historical and absolutely relevant to contemporary life; a story about youth and coming of age that is fully grown-up in the interpersonal intricacies it considers; a voice driven narrative (the novel takes the form of a gentleman's autobiography) that manages to expose the numerous social layers surrounding the character and to cast the personal predicaments in the hard light of social collapse and destruction. There is much to admire here, including the seemingly effortless speed with which the novel unfolds, building along the way a world as dense and complex as novels that linger over a single day. This is a beautiful book from a writer I look forward to reading more of soon.