The Judas Field: A Novel of the Civil War

A moving piece of LIterature:
This completes a "trilogy" by Howard Bahr that in my opinion is more profound and moving than other more "popular" works about the Civil War. (Cold Mountain, anyone?) The Judas Field is so beautiful yet so powerful. The conclusion is completely ironic and significant. Wow. Words can't express how this book made me feel about the Civil War. This book just puts you there, in the middle of it all, and then shows you how difficult of a time people had after the conflict. I consider this to be fine literature, up there or superior to some of Faulkner's writings. (Yes, I do agree with the reviewer that said that there was a lot of bad language, but this language was always in the mouths of characters and not the narrator- the narrative voice is never overly grostesque, in fact it's the opposite- a beautiful voice of conflict, pain and endurance.) I need to reread "The Black Flower" now.

Laying the Ghosts:
A story of the search for healing of the brutal scars of battle. The fight is not over when the treaties are signed: The soldier's psyche continues the struggle for reconciliation and healing of memory. Once again, Bahr dares to go where few authors would tread exploring the battlefield of the mind as well as the terrain of the Battle of Franklin.

The terible beauty of war:
This is an excellent, well-written book that falls neatly into the era of the author's other two works "The Black Flower" and "The Year of Jubilo". We find some familiar names here, particularly Bushrod Carter, who was in the other two books. This book stands on its own, with its own characters and plot, but really the writing and the descriptions are the main focus of the work, at least for me. I have rarely, if ever, read a book that so well conveys the "terrible beauty" of war, but then goes on to show how, even when the war is over and many years have passed, that war still remains the defining moment of the lives of its participants. Their actions, for a large part, are often guided by those wartime memories, even if occasionally they are incomplete. Even if you don't like the plot, or find it thin, read this book for the poety of its language, and its sympathy for the "survivors" of a frightening war that lingers in their minds until they die, sometimes all too soon.

Best ever!:
This was the best transaction I have ever experienced buying books. Excellent communication, fast service, and the product was exactly as descibed! Perfect!

Bahr is a beautiful writer:
First and foremost, I love Bahr's poetic prose. Just beautiful. He paints beautiful images with his words like no one in today's literary world. The reason I gave this book 4 stars and not 5, is because as good as his writing is, he has trouble with plot points, which seem at times contrived (Simon Rope in The Black Flower). In The Judas Field, Lucian finding Cass and Roger during the Battle of Franklin really stretched and didn't suspend my disbelief. In my view with the "fog of war" at hand and soldiers moving in and out, dying, lines blurred, there is no way Lucian would find Cass or Roger during the battle. Impossible? No. Improbable? Yes. Bahr's writing is never contrived for me, but his plot points can be seen a mile away. In The Black Flower, once he introduced Simon Rope, you knew Rope would be the villain in the story. In The Judas Field, once Lucian and Roger followed, I knew something ominous was going to happen to one of them. Now for some other criticisms: as the reviewer of Publisher's Weekly stated and I agree with him, the uneducated characters seemed too profound in their insights at times, too wistful and polished. (The dialog on page 168.) Too poetic and insightful for Cass and Roger to speak. That was only one example. Cass' explanation of war to Alison was too well-spoken and profound of Cass' character. The other criticism I have is the flashback of the soldiering that Cass and Roger went through beginning on page 65 to 110. Although I found it quite interesting, it went on too long and brought me out of the reason why Cass accepted to find Alison's father and brother in Franklin. I thought that section went on way too long and should have been interrupted by a scene between Alison and Cass and the affection she once had for him. That would have brought the relationship back to the present and the past and solidified why Cass agreed to escort her to Franklin to find her dad and brother. The major positive I had was unlike The Black Flower, which had no battle scenes or descriptions of war, this story had plenty. Bahr does a wonderful job describing war and the effects of what war can do to the living and dying, as well as the graphic descriptions, which painted the brutal reality of what these killing fields represented. Bahr didn't hold back and I found the graphic nature to be spot on. I know some reviewers didn't care for the expletives, but I found them to be reasonably believable and not gratuitous. In sum, I think this book was a much better and stronger read than The Black Flower. I highly recommend this book to those who love the Civil War and to those who love a writer, who is a master of his craft.