A Still Small Voice

by John Reed

Book Overview

A spellbinding novel of love and war from "a young writer of great promise." -- Paul Auster Written with a storyteller's grace and a poet's touch, John Reed's powerful first novel is a true adventure... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385334052
• ISBN13: 9780385334051
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

WOW!!! WHAT A BOOK!!!

This book is written so beautifully that at some points I found myself reading pages over and over again just for the simple beauty of the words! This book is about love, loss and the hardships and the simple pleasures of life just before and after the Civil War. It is a poetic, funny, sad and romantic story about enduring love and how it haunts us. At times I did become a little frustrated with all the "horse talk" however, the "horse talk" does set the mood so one feels they are sitting on a old farm house porch in Kentucky staring at the horses grazing on the blue grass of that beautiful state! I recommend this book to readers who are tired of the same old historical romance books that grace the shelves of every bargain department store! READ THIS BOOK!! YOU WILL BE CAPTIVATED BY IT!!!

A lovely, tender tale that unfolds in your soul and mind

Yes, it's about the Civil War and how it touches the folks of a small Kentucky town. But this story wouldn't interest me with just that description--I cherish a tale that engages me so fully that hours after finishing the last page I'm still thinking about the characters and their world. And that's just what "A Still Small Voice" offers to readers.This is not simply a book for female readers, although it's written from a young woman's point of view. Men will enjoy the book for the same reasons any reader will--insightful character development; descriptions that, while detailed, are so delicately offered that they never overwhelm; and a story line that engages the reader instantly.I began reading this book on Dec. 24 and it kept "calling" to me from my bedroom throughout Christmas Day until I gave in under the pretense of taking a holiday nap and returned to its pages. While I treasure holiday time spent with my family, I still don't regret the time spent on Christmas reading this book. It just added to the day's delights!

Bucks the Trend

Teaching sociology and history at the undergraduate level has made me scornful of most historical fiction. So when I caught my wife crying from reading "A Still Small Voice", I picked it up a day later to commence my usual demolition job. I was perplexed to find that this novel is nonetheless constructed with utter credibility. From flora to horse raising to the baking of bread, dialect, and fine details of religious practice; from the games played by children to the settings on the table, I found no anachronisms or blunders. I'm no judge of novels----don't like em', but I've never come across one so altogether real. Five stars for accuracy.

VITAL AMERICAN NOVEL

As a woman, as a southerner, & as a passionate reader of both hhistory & fiction, I cannot praise this remarkable book enough. Is it really truly possible that man wrote this utterly convincing civil war novel, set in Kentucky and feelingly told in the feminine first person, and a New Yorker at that? What a feat of empathy, to recreate the passions & true fabric of a bygone American experience so that it springs alive like a great movie. This is an ennobling book which should be read by every American who wants to understand our past & our inner possibilities.

Simply, a Masterpiece

Great language and great dreams fill this wondrous book. An artful treatment of the Civil War as through the eyes of a young woman. A better novel this year I have not read. Or seen, for that matter. The many illustrations are perfect.