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Lädt ... The House on Tenafly Road (2013)von Adrienne Morris
Keine Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. I wouldn't say this was one of the more uplifting books i've read, and yet i let myself get immersed into the lives of the characters, the Weldons and the Mculloughs, as you will too. There is just something about them that is so imperfectly real that it keeps you going thru all 600 + pages. Well, that and the details of military life and society during the post Civil War era .... The picture on the cover? A needle used for injections...and in this case, morphine. Many of the soldiers who lived, were addicts or alcoholics thru no fault of their own....a sad but true medical statement of the times. And.... its lasting influence is felt throughout the book. Zeige 3 von 3 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zur ReiheTenafly Road Series (Book One) Hat die (nicht zu einer Reihe gehörende) FortsetzungPrestigeträchtige Auswahlen
When Civil War veteran and morphine-addicted John Weldon marries into the comfortably suburban McCullough family on the eve of Reconstruction and the Indian Wars, life gets complicated. How will Weldon be able to hide his addiction from the family he resents and admires, keep his standing in the army and find the strength to survive the tragedies that come with loving others? The House on Tenafly Road is a rich, layered story about finding family where you least expect it and having the courage to do what's right by the people who love you. John Weldon spends a lifetime journeying across the frontier only to find that he already has a home. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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John Weldon is a brave and honorable man, but he knows himself so little. The reader can see that he has the potential to be a true hero, and the girl of his dreams, Katherine McCullough, certainly sees him this way. John comforts others with his impressive knowledge of scripture, but he has lost his own faith.
Believing himself to be undeserving--a weak man for having become addicted to the drug given him by the Army doctor--, he secretly feeds his addiction to morphine. Perhaps John is a classic anti-hero because although the reader watches John’s world crumble around him because of his addiction, the reader desperately wants John to succeed. For the most part, John demonstrates loyalty, courage, and compassion for others, although he is not so generous with himself.
Rather than the main characters building a life in New Jersey, John’s army career soon leads the young family to the wilds of the Arizona Territory. Katherine can no longer be the suburban lady she was raised to be, but must toughen up as an officer’s wife in the most far-flung post she can imagine. John and Katherine raise their two children in a tiny, unadorned cabin. I live in present-day air-conditioned Arizona, and it was exciting to read of the relentless heat, the flora and fauna, and of course, the U.S. Army’s relationship with the native tribes of the region.
The novel is long, but John’s path to redemption is plagued with very realistic setbacks and mistakes, and I hung on to every word, eager to get to the next plot development. In a book this rich and layered, various threads repeatedly surface. For example, as makes sense for a serious book of American history, Morris examines the issue of race—specifically Native American images through the eyes of well-read east coast citizens, through the military, and through John Weldon himself. She doesn’t shy away from controversial topics, such as Weldon’s Indian mother’s alcoholism. Her touch is so deft that while she made my heart break at seeing atrocities against the Apaches through the eyes of the appalled and far-removed Americans back in New Jersey, she also showed me the results of two cultures slamming into one another.
Underlying all lies John’s nasty little secret—the addiction he keeps from his wife. I hadn’t realized that morphine addiction among returning Civil War soldiers was a problem until I read this book and decided to Google it. It’s estimated that a half million men became morphine addicts thanks to their service to our divided country. There were no rehabs and no 12-step programs in those days. Perhaps the only hope that an addict could have would be his faith, and above all, The House on Tenafly Road is about faith. Morris so skillfully weaves questions of faith and love in this epic tale that it isn’t until the end of the book that all stills and clarity emerges.
One final note: the version I read still had some typos and mechanical errors, but the revision has cleaned up these problems, at least according to a spot check that I made, so I chose to give the book 5 stars. ( )