Neverhome

Hunt uses a first-person narrative here to fictionalize women disguising themselves as men to fight in the American Civil War. The narrator is, of course, one of these and, in this case, leaves a husband behind to fight for the United States. Her laconic vernacular is a credit to Hunt and makes for brisk story-telling. It keeps tidy a story that sprawls over months and then years.The narrative covers her time in the army and what follows. She acquits herself admirably as a soldier. But when her fighting ends, she must suffer a long and sometimes brutal journey home. Numerous reviewers have aptly called this a reworking of Homer’s Odyssey; the mythology is evident throughout.As her journey winds down, her admissions begin to call into question her own reliability as a narrator. Still, others bear witness to her heroism. So, like so many, she is complicated, having moments both good and bad. Her apotheosis, so to speak, comes early when a simple, noble act becomes fodder for a song that takes on a life of its own and is sung, like an epic poem, by soldiers who have never met “Gallant Ash.” But her failures come later and who can say if they don’t somehow call down the divine wrath which so often transpires as tragedy?Hunt neatly flips the myth in the obvious way but mirrors it in another, leaving the aftermath of the war more disorienting than the war itself. Regardless, Hunt has written a nice book here that is well worth the time.

this must be one of the most visceral accounts of the meaning of being a soldier of war that I ever read. It is not long on bloody detail or of gore. Without hyperbole, this account renders the story of how a human being is turned into a soldier. While Ash is in fact a woman, the story is not really a story of feminism. Ash had gone to war instead of her husband because she was strong while he was not. One of them had to serve the Union, so she dressed as a man and left. But long before Ash wandered far from Ohio, she had left herself. In training and drilling for her new role, by the time she said good bye, her husband no longer saw her for herself.Ash remembers the first man she killed in combat. Then little by little she only remembers a litany of orders, followed by her, and blurred to an inhuman machinery. The story of any soldier is whether home can exist again after the world has changed to a universe of killing. The lyrical prose and beautiful writing flows without a touch of flowery hyping. Each minute that she describes can be felt viscerally, and this makes this novel essential in the understanding of the way people come to declare a war and go off to kill.

Neverhome is a beautifully written novel with a strong heroine at its heart. The story is told by Ash Thompson, who goes off to fight in the Civil War in the place of her husband. One of the most poetic and lovely first sentences begins the book, and is a statement at the core of the story: "I was strong and he was not, so it was me went to war to defend the Republic." As the story progresses, nearer the end, when Ash reminisces about her husband, she recalls him as wearing French perfume, so it seems almost as if their gender roles were somehow reversed, which seemed to satisfy them both and did not appear strange to either of them. It apparently suited them both. This book has such wonderful prose, that alone would make it worth reading, even if there were not such a meaningful story to be told about an important piece of American history and a different way of telling about the role of women soldiers who fought in that war. Ash sees the war in all its horror and is braver and more skilled at fighting than many of the men who fight beside her. There is no weakness to her and she never considers revealing herself to elicit pity or special considerations. She fights as a man, but uses her gender as necessary as a weapon and to her best advantage. A wonderful book that I will not soon forget!

No book review. However, I paid for a new book and received a used one.

The story seemed a little farfetched until I Googled the history of women serving as soldiers in the Civil War. It happened a fair amount, and one can understand how the times would allow someone to go undetected for a long time. I did find the 1860s country language that the book was written in to be a little hard to understand at times.

I found this book very interesting. The author graciously agreed to attend our Book Club and gave us some very insightful information about how the book was written and published. That he could write the book through the voice of Ash, a very strong woman, says a lot about his ability to let his characters develop without too much control from him. I would highly recommend this book.....

Neverhome is the story of one of the perhaps 400 women who chose to wear uniforms and fight alongside the men of the blue or gray. It features Ash Thompson, whose motivations are explored through her own eyes and are never simplified or co-opted by the male author. Absorbing and fast moving, the words clearly bring the horrors of war and the beauty of the land into stark juxtaposition. I would recommend this book to anyone with a feminist bent, to high schoolers learning about the Civil War, to anyone who has ever been mystified by this brutal and uncanny war. A welcome addition to my extensive collection of books.

Neverhome presents a side of the Civil War with which I was not familiar. The reader is on the ground with the soldiers, experiencing the war with its boredom, terror, and confusion as they must have. Hunt's language is what elevates this slim volume above most contemporary literature. While our narrator is not a highly educated woman, she manages to create what can only be called poetry to describe her experiences. As she writes, she becomes more skilled at conveying what she sees. I could not recommend this book more highly.

A good and interesting read - the unusual story of a young, very characterful housewife who, with her husband's agreement, leaves him to look after their farm home in Virginia, whilst she joins the Yankee army to fight in the civil war. So she's from the wrong state and is the wrong gender but is a crack shot and very strong and, for the most part, passes as male. The first half is a relatively straightforward adventure story with heroic feats and derring-do but the second half becomes much darker and psychologocally, for my taste, more interesting.

I was so glad that I bought this book when I had a day off as I couldn't put it down! It is one of the best books I have read in a while, the main character is insightful and interesting and the cast of incidental characters that Ash meets on the journey home are fascinating. I agree with the other reviews that compare it to Cold Mountain it certainly has that sense of the whole world turned on its head and the desire to return home. I could see this becoming a film in its own right.

I bought this book based on a review, it’s a well written book about love, courage in the face of war during the American i is War. People are well observed as are the relationships left behind and the ones made on the road. Would recommend.

What a book this is. I read a review when it came out, but have only just read it. Poetry-like prose, a rich, genuine historical feel and a compelling story make this one of the best books I have read this year. Highly recommended.Ben Kane, author of Eagles at War and the Spartacus novels.

Thought very well written , beautiful use of language . A good story and very unusual setting . Interesting insight into American civil war . Haunting story not easily forgotten.