Both Sides

Paul Fleischman's Bull Run tells the story of the Battle of Bull Run through a series of vignettes.  There are 16 different characters, 8 from the North and 8 from the South each of whom plays a different role in the war.  There are first time soldiers, slaves, generals, doctors, photographers, and musicians.

By having so many characters Fleischman is able to portray many different sides of the war and it's fascinating to see how a doctor responds versus how the musician or the wife respond.  This forces the reader to really examine every side and it adds a lot of depth to the novel.

However, because there are so many characters the story feels fragmented, there is no real flow.  As a lover of history I very much enjoyed the multiple perspectives; however, as a lover of narrative I was longing for more connection.

Then I read the back cover.  (I know, typically one would read the back cover first to help get a sense of what they are about to read, but I read the back cover last to see if it was an accurate rendering of the book).  There it stated this, "can be read as a novel or performed as readers' theater."  This changed everything for me.  As a readers' theater Bull Run would be amazing.  It would eliminate the need to keep flipping back wondering, "who was this person again??"   So as a stand alone novel I say so-so, but as a readers' theater I highly recommend Bull Run. 

Seeing another side...that's kids stuff.