The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War

This is the second book by Bahr tha I've read. In fact, I bought this one because I enjoyed his first novel, "The Black Flower" so much. This book is diferent the "The Black Flower", which was heavy on texture and feel. This book is every bit the equal of the first, but much more focused on plot and theme. So, what is the theme? Its in the title. The Year of Jubilo refers to the Old Testament Hebrew tradition called the Year of Jubilee. Every 7 years, all slaves were forever released from bondage. This novel explores freedom of all sorts in a (barely) post-Civil War Alabam town. There is, obviously, the newly-won freddom of the slaves, but that is barely brushed upon in favor of deeper themes. There is freedom (or not) from the past, guilt, the entanglements of family, family honor, regional honor, friendship, obligations of social position and even love. All of this is mostly told through two characters, Gawain Harper, a former college professor who joined the Confederate army to prove he was worthy to the father of the woman he loves and Harry Stribling, a former newspaperman who served in the Confederate cavalry during the war and is now a self-proclaimed philosopher. Bahr is not limited to these two characters, though. He has created a whole community in this book. Characters range from the Union colonel in charge of the occupying force to a former slave chaser to a smuggler. The smuggler, King Solomon Gault, is by far the most interesting character. He has avoided the real war all together and has made himself rich by smuggling during the war. He literally sees himself as a god unto himself and he callously uses and destroys a great number of people to pump up his own sense of grandeur and freedom. He is the antagonist and all of the advances in the plot move through him and the reactions to him. This novel has rich characters and sometimes almost poetic scene setting. It is a joy to read. I laughed out loud at parts and was surprised at the brutality and abruptness of other parts. I even read parts out loud to my wife.

I am not usually drawn to novels about the Civil War, but every once in a while, there is one that gets such good reviews, that I have to read it. After seeing all of the great reviews for The Year of Jubilo, I bought the book, but I must admit, it sat on my bookcase for a while because it was sort of intimidating. Was I really going to like it? The answer is yes. This novel has a lot to recommend for fans of Civil War fiction, and fans of well-written novels. Howard Bahr is a wonderful writer and this book, while I finished it a few days ago, is constantly on my mind. As the novel opens, we meet Gawain Harper who is returning to his home after the Civil War. He reluctantly fought for the CSA and now is anxious about what lies ahead for him in the town he grew up in. He is most concerned about Morgan, the love he left to fight in the war. The concerns he focuses on as he returns home, are not those he must deal with when he gets home. Much of his world is turned upside down. Morgan still loves him, but old alliances have crumbled and much of his town has burned down. He must make sense out of the post-war South, of his post-war life. He manages to face down fears that have haunted him since before he left for the war. This novel is well-told and thought provoking. I highly recommend it.

The Year of Jubilo should be read by everyone with an interest in the Civil War and by those who love historical fiction. Howard Bahr has written a book filled with distinctive characters (Stribling, Old One Eleven, Gault, Gawain Harper and so on) and with some of the most beautiful and lyrical prose imaginable. Indeed, a central theme of this excellent book is transitions: from war to peace, from the violence of battle to the day-to-day rhythmns of normal life. For example, he underlines this theme by contrasting, on the one hand, violence of every form with a beautful and lyrical description of the transition from night to day: "When a summer morning came, it drew the night out of houses where people lived. . . . [S]tand in the yeard of a house flung open, at the moment when day was established at last, and you could feel the night leave through the windows like an exhalation of breath. You could smell the night as it passed you, see if almost, as you might see a blackbird rise from the grass." Bahr is a writer who obviously cherishes and mulls over every word. The result is a real triumph for him and a gift to those who love the light touch and the beautifully rendered phrase.Bahr brings new life to the civil war novel. This will sit right next to Cold Mountain.

A book that once opened is hard to put down. An engaging read from the first page to the last. Filled with some of the most interesting and off-the-wall characters you will ever meet. Gives a vivid portrait of the time just after the Civil War, and of the place, a small town in the South, ravaged by war. Gawain Harper, a literature teacher at a girl's school in Cumberland Mississippi, is shamed by his lady love, Morgan Rhea, into joining the Confederate Army. He survives the war and on his way home in June 1865, he meets Captain Henry Stribling, an unusual man of many talents and past professions. When they reach Gawain's home, things have changed considerably and much of the town has been destroyed. The town is now occupied by Union Troops commanded by a tired Lt. Colonel Burduck with many problems, assisted by his no-nonsense Provost, Captain von Arnim. They are trying to keep the peace and help restore order. Morgan has written of Gawain as long dead and has trouble accepting his return. Her home has been burned and she now lives with a demented cousin along with her once powerful father, Judge Rhea, and her younger brother. While most of the people of Cumberland are struggling to return to normalcy, there is one evil man, the self appointed Captain Soloman Gault, leader of raiders, misfits, and murderers during the war, determined to stir things up and cause as much trouble as possible. Unfortunately, he has many willing accomplices. Gawain's newfound friend Henry Stribling has a talent for sticking a finger in a hornet's nest and stirring things around until something happens. Now that the stage is set, to say anything more would spoil the fun. Get a copy of this book and be prepared to not do anything but read for several hours.

Readers who appreciate highly literary treatments of historical events will undoubtedly appreciate The Year of Jubilo. This novel ably follows in the footsteps of - and has ties to - Howard Bahr's seminal first work, The Black Flower. Bahr does a superb job of painting the tensions which were common to the South in the wake of the Confederacy's collapse. His feel for mid-nineteenth century vocabulary and social mores is uncanny, and they lend a high degree of realism to The Year of Jubilo's plot and characters. All in all, a great read!