Official Review: Lee's Folly by John Good
Posted: 17 Sep 2015, 15:24
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lee's Folly" by John Good.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Lee’s Folly is a historical novel by John Good. The story begins in April 1863. General Robert E. Lee is informed that the North is in possession of 46 million in gold. He sends General Jeb Stuart to steal the gold off of a train. Even though this is achieved, the gold ends up being buried in a secret location. The story fast-forwards to modern times. Earl Atwood lives in a small town in North Carolina. He is a descendant of a Confederate soldier. When Earl is looking for things to sell, he looks through an old trunk in his house and comes upon a book filled with clues leading to the gold. He enlists the help of Brian, his brother-in-law. The two set out on an exciting adventure that changes their lives forever.
The chapters are very short, and the book is separated into several parts. These parts typically alternate in time, going back and forth from the Civil War to modern day. Throughout the story, new characters and subplots are introduced to show the conflict from different perspectives. When this occurs, there are some long descriptions. In many cases, the background information could have been shortened. Even so, these side stories were really interesting and did connect to the overall plot in some way. The non-linear narrative and abundance of characters work surprisingly well. The structure keeps varying layers of the story separate but connected at the same time. It’s not difficult to keep track of the many plot threads. This was the most impressive aspect of the book.
Many of the characters speak with Southern accents that are easy to read and understand. The characters are driven by the desire to complete whatever their mission may be and at whatever cost. There is some light humor that pokes fun at conceptions about race and gender during the 19th century. This is paralleled by similar conceptions that still exist today. The characterizations of Earl and Brian’s wives were disappointing. They are presented more so as props rather than as actual people. They don’t have much dialogue (if any) and their main purpose seems to be getting kidnapped. I couldn’t tell if the author did this to make a point, or if they were simply underutilized.
There are a lot of recurring grammatical errors in the story, outside of the dialogue. This included missing punctuation, mixing up similar words, and unnecessary capitalization. Such errors became rather distracting over time.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The author took a well-known subject and impressively created a fascinating tale of his own. While I typically don’t like stories that jump around in time and between characters, these elements were well executed in Lee’s Folly. I wouldn’t recommend this book to readers who have little interest in the Civil War. I would recommend it to history buffs that are excited by the idea of treasure hunts.
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Lee's Folly
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3 out of 4 stars
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Lee’s Folly is a historical novel by John Good. The story begins in April 1863. General Robert E. Lee is informed that the North is in possession of 46 million in gold. He sends General Jeb Stuart to steal the gold off of a train. Even though this is achieved, the gold ends up being buried in a secret location. The story fast-forwards to modern times. Earl Atwood lives in a small town in North Carolina. He is a descendant of a Confederate soldier. When Earl is looking for things to sell, he looks through an old trunk in his house and comes upon a book filled with clues leading to the gold. He enlists the help of Brian, his brother-in-law. The two set out on an exciting adventure that changes their lives forever.
The chapters are very short, and the book is separated into several parts. These parts typically alternate in time, going back and forth from the Civil War to modern day. Throughout the story, new characters and subplots are introduced to show the conflict from different perspectives. When this occurs, there are some long descriptions. In many cases, the background information could have been shortened. Even so, these side stories were really interesting and did connect to the overall plot in some way. The non-linear narrative and abundance of characters work surprisingly well. The structure keeps varying layers of the story separate but connected at the same time. It’s not difficult to keep track of the many plot threads. This was the most impressive aspect of the book.
Many of the characters speak with Southern accents that are easy to read and understand. The characters are driven by the desire to complete whatever their mission may be and at whatever cost. There is some light humor that pokes fun at conceptions about race and gender during the 19th century. This is paralleled by similar conceptions that still exist today. The characterizations of Earl and Brian’s wives were disappointing. They are presented more so as props rather than as actual people. They don’t have much dialogue (if any) and their main purpose seems to be getting kidnapped. I couldn’t tell if the author did this to make a point, or if they were simply underutilized.
There are a lot of recurring grammatical errors in the story, outside of the dialogue. This included missing punctuation, mixing up similar words, and unnecessary capitalization. Such errors became rather distracting over time.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The author took a well-known subject and impressively created a fascinating tale of his own. While I typically don’t like stories that jump around in time and between characters, these elements were well executed in Lee’s Folly. I wouldn’t recommend this book to readers who have little interest in the Civil War. I would recommend it to history buffs that are excited by the idea of treasure hunts.
******
Lee's Folly
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Tanaya's review? Post a comment saying so!
I just saw the El Dorado Exhibit at the museum and it's put me in the mood of reading related novels or ones to do with gold. This will sit in the maybe pile though.