If I had a “Top Ten Books of the Year” list, this one would be on it. It’s not a novel, a novella or a short story. It belongs to that tiny niche that fascinates Historical Fiction readers; let’s call it “Letters from the Front.”
This book distinguishes itself in two ways. First, it is a one-way communication. Everything we learn and understand must come from the soldier. Second, the correspondent — whom we never meet — is a well-known poet. So, we get the added bonus of learning about Walt Whitman’s poetry and personality through the eyes of a contemporary reader.
Ms. Laurie has done her research on the Civil War, and this authenticity seeps through every line. We know that in reality Whitman spent a lot of time visiting sick and injured soldiers, and wrote letters to some of them. This book is a collection from a fictitious Nat Gwynnett, a young private from Oneida County, New York, whom Whitman supposedly met in the Armory Square Hospital where the lad was recovering, not from a wound, but from a bout of diarrhea and bronchitis. (Another appeal of the work is the wealth of small details that give it such veracity. More than half the casualties in that war died of disease.)
The main power of the writing is in the characterization. This young man has the soldier’s informed naivete that allows him to accept his fate with optimism, no matter what the facts tell him. His most endearing quality is his modesty, but the elements of a rounded character seep in from around the edges constantly. He seems poorly educated, yet he does not hesitate to critique the poet’s work, and the modern reader is inspired to go back and read more of the great man’s art.
The boy’s highly personal and emotional descriptions of the experience of battle are poetry in themselves; “I feel like my soul went into hiding, left the mean dregs of me to get through.” The ending is poignant, appropriate and beautifully handled in many ways.
Highly recommended to Civil War aficionados, fans of Walt Whitman, and all those who appreciate beautiful writing.
