⋙ Download Gratis Lincoln Dreams A Novel Connie Willis 9780553270259 Books

Lincoln Dreams A Novel Connie Willis 9780553270259 Books

Download As PDF : Lincoln Dreams A Novel Connie Willis 9780553270259 Books

Lincoln Dreams A Novel Connie Willis 9780553270259 Books

This is some of her earliest work, I think. Her other novels are fantastic. She is one of the most awarded Sci Fi authors! We use to chat when I was in grad school at the local coffee shop. Great author, and great person. The research she does for all of her novels is astounding. I use this now for some of my students in American Literature class, instead of Great Gatsby.

It really captures the period and a lot of the feelings today about the period.

The Civil War really does haunt a lot of our dreams.


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Lincoln Dreams A Novel Connie Willis 9780553270259 Books Reviews

Willis is one of the few speculative fiction writers who could tackle a topic as sweeping, complex, and multifaceted as the War Between the States and get away with it. She not only gets away with it, she parallels the development of the war in her characters' actions and in the process, exposes some of the emotional truth underlying the conflict in ways that no historian could.
I was reminded of that W.B. Yeats line - "A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love" -- after finishing this sleeper of a book. I don't mean sleep-inducing. Far, far from it. I mean this story creeps up on you until you find yourself caught in the middle of all the turbulence and tension without quite knowing why or how you got there. And I'll say this, although there's the whiff of a spoiler involved in saying it I have never been so blindsided, disoriented and at the same time re-oriented and breathtakingly moved by a book's last line as I was by this one. I was shell-shocked for days, along with being appreciative of a writer who can pull off such sleight-of-hand, then put the last critical keystone in place with such a sadly perfect -- and perfectly sad -- ending.
I am not a civil war buff so this book caught me unawares. I read it because of a totally different book by Connie Harris that I loved. Lincoln's Dreams begins as a romance that probably isn't going to work because the heroine is dreaming life-like dreams most nights about the horrors of the Civil War. The man she meets who wants to rescue her from this frightening and debilitating state is an historian who works for a novelist who is going to write a book on Lincoln, hence the title.

However, this historian start to recognize the dreams of his young woman as being legitimate "retellings" of events from the eyes of Robert E. Lee. Wow. Now this is very original. Score one for the author.

The novel is set in D.C., an easy drive to Lee's home in Arlington and to many civil war battle fields, where the heroine is drawn. She feels compelled to save Lee from the tortures of his dreams but we know that isn't doable.

Through the dreams, I became more intimate, and intimate is really the correct word, with the sorrowful state of the foot soldiers fighting at the end of the Civil War. They are anguished, desperate, underfed, underclothed and destined to die while losing, and we see all this through the heart rending guilt and powerlessness of their General, Lee.

What moved me so beautifully was the tone of the novel, which is perfect. Subdued, tender, hesitant, gentle, as the book unfolds we are lifted from our worlds into the world of the heroine's dreams.

I highly recommend Lincoln's Dreams. It works on many levels. We come to know a bit about Lincoln's son and even more about Lee's famous horse, and the story pivots around these while it unfolds as a quiet romance.
Connie Willis makes a practice of engaging history buffs, and here it is again. Research shows, and the theme incorporates it into the storyline perfectly. Questions are served up and then answers pursued. What did Lincoln's reported dreams mean? Did they have anything to do with the reality of his time in the White House and the nation's events? Was anyone else of significance dreaming at the same time, and if so, so what? Does it matter today? Is today "today?" If you have a Civil War interest and a bit of background reading about some of its principals, this will interest you (unless you already know all the answers). It's novel length, and worth the examination.
This is a deep, disturbing novel, with a failed romance at its core. Willis loves the past and her research is impelling. There are a few images that may spoil your sleep, but they are true to the history and the novel as a whole is not horror. SPOILER ALERT throughout the novel, you're led to believe this is a ghost story, but it isn't. It's straight-up realist fiction. And that's the ironic surprise ending.
As a fan of The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, I was delighted to find this little gem tucked away in Willis' back list. Bonus points for the fact that I am also a lover of Lincoln trivia. The story, which is ignited by Lincoln's dream of his death, leads us in other disturbing directions. Jeff, a research assistant to an historical novelist finds himself babysitting a young, attractive woman, Annie, who has disturbing dreams while her erstwhile boyfriend and sleep researcher, Richard, visits his boss. The young woman is a bundle of nerves and destroys an African violet while speaking to Jeff in what appears to be a fugue state. She speaks of dreams, the topic of his boss's latest obsession. However, they are not Lincoln's dreams, but Robert E Lee's dreams. Intrigued by her beauty and wistful sadness, Jeff takes it upon himself to rescue Annie from Richard's drugging attempts and whisks her away to Virginia. Before long it becomes apparent that this is a dreadful mistake. Her dreams, sleep-walking, and angst increase among the Civil War Battlefields as she relives each battle in terrible detail up to and including the surrender to Grant from the long-dead Lee's dreams. This is not a story for the faint of heart. Unlike the Doomsday Book, which is in a distant past none of the living recall, this book revives an old American wound and brings the horror of our civil war to life in a deeply personal way, the invasion of Annie's sleep. No spoilers from me. If you love Willis and you love Civil War history, this is a book that will interrupt your sleep and squeeze your heart with pain.
This is some of her earliest work, I think. Her other novels are fantastic. She is one of the most awarded Sci Fi authors! We use to chat when I was in grad school at the local coffee shop. Great author, and great person. The research she does for all of her novels is astounding. I use this now for some of my students in American Literature class, instead of Great Gatsby.

It really captures the period and a lot of the feelings today about the period.

The Civil War really does haunt a lot of our dreams.