Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Tietam Cane

Lance Levens, Tietam Cane (Tucson, AZ: Fireshippress, 2014), 265 pages

At first, I disliked Tietam Cane.  The precocious twelve year old, while obviously bright, was a racist and bigoted.  He even had plans to kill the one Yankee he knew in school.  And, as a reader, you had the sense that Tietam would have carried out the deed if he had the opportunity.  Thankfully he didn’t.  However, as I read further and learned more about his upbringing, I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for him and even began to like him.  The burdens of the past laid heavily on Tietam, who nickname derived from the most vicious battle of the Civil War, Antietam.  The boy grew up without parents (who had run away to New York to be “Beatniks”), raised by his grandparents.  His grandfather was so into the Civil War that he still heard the voices of dying Confederate soldiers.  It was a heavy burden for a man to carry through life.  His father had, as a young teenager, attempted to shoot the Yankee commander of one of Sherman’s raiding parties after they had stolen the family’s food and valuable.  The Yankee commander had everyone in the family brought in at gunpoint and forced them to witness the cutting off of the boys right hand so he could no longer shoot.  The severed hand became a reminder of Yankee cruelty.  The father passed on his hate to his son and his son was not attempting to pass it on to his grandson.  Now, in 1963, Tietam is still living in the Civil War.  There are surprising twists in the last chapters of the book which allows the reader to experience an epiphany as we, like Tietam, learn that things are not as they appear.

                I was drawn to this book because I am a Southerner and although Tietam, the character, was six years older than me, some of what he experienced was my experiences.  Thankfully there are no severed hands stashed away in family basements (as far as I know), but I had a teacher in the late 60s tell about her grandfather trying hide their valuables and food from Sherman’s soldiers and being hanged for it.  His neck wasn’t broken and the as the soldiers rode away, his mother cut him down with a butcher knife and the man went through life with a terrible scar on his neck.  I don’t remember if it was the same class, but there was also a picture in a North Carolina history book that showed a late 19th Century Ku Klux Klan lynching in Moore County.  Having been born there, I looked at the photo with horror, wondering if I was related to any of those who had done such a despicable deed.   As one German philosopher taught, “The past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.”


                At the end of the book, the reader realizes that Tietam is going to be okay.  The weight of the past has been lifted.  I enjoyed this book.  It is a quick read and Levens is a gifted storyteller.   I learned about this book when Levens spoke to a writer’s group in Savannah.   

32 comments:

  1. I often have a hard time with books that have unlikable protagonists. It was a big problem for me with Blood Meridian. But I'll give this one a look.

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    1. by the end, you like Tietam but the grandfather, whom I liked better at the beginning, was seen in a different light.

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  2. Seems such a fine read, a great review indeed, thanks for that!

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    1. It is interesting--lots of ties to American history.

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  3. Stories like this take on a true horror when the social conditions of the past still pertain at the core of society. Recently the specter of civil war in the north of Ireland reared it's ugly head once more.
    How is it that the rancid racism from these islands pollute so many areas and how is it that some places like New Zealand can overcame it.

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    1. But has NZ truly overcome it? It is interesting that many of the Southerners have Scot-Irish blood. The boy in the story relieves with his granddaddy all the battles of the civil war, which keeps the "pain" alive, probably the way people in Northern Ireland or Bosnia and other trouble places keep the "pain" alive.

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  4. Replies
    1. And that's what makes him such a good character--but then we are all complex

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  5. Ah it seems this writer knows exactly how to draw a reader in, keep them and have them rooting by the end. Bravo. Best of all is this quote, , “The past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” That is so true. I also think by your description of the boy, the cover photo is perfect!

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    1. That is a good cover and the quote, FYI, is my paraphrase of Karl Marx :)

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  6. Like Charles, I have a hard time with unlikable protagonists because I want to like them. I want to root for them. I want to like the protagonist right away, but I am patient enough to see if I will start liking a character. Tietam sounds like an interesting character.

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    1. You do begin to like Tietam and after first liking Granddad, you begin to despise him even though you realize he has carried a heavy burden but it ruined his family (and you'll have to read to find out more) :)

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  7. Your descriptions about the horrors made me cringe. That's good writing - on your part and the author's.

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    1. It is not an overly horrific book, but there are some sections where it is a bit creepy (dealing with a 100 year old hand can't be any other way). The writing is good.

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  8. I'm good with unlikeable protagonists. They interest me, and if the story's well told, I have no trouble getting into those "rotten" characters. I even like to write them once in a while. The gore in the book you've mentioned would be a challenge for me, but again, if I'm in the hands of a good storyteller, I can take.

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    1. See my comments above.. The gore is limited. I think you'd enjoy the book!

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  9. I would love read this book, sounds interestig.
    Love review books!

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    1. Thanks, it would be interesting to get your take on it from Chili

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  10. Great review. This sounds like a compelling story worthy of our attention.

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    1. Thanks! It is, especially for those of us with such baggage.

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  11. I love a book that draws you in and then changes your opinions about the characters in a surprising way. This might be one such book! Thanks, sage!

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  12. Sometimes starting a book, I dislike the story or a character, but then something changes either within the story or within me to change my mind.

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    1. I think it is a credit to the author to take us from one position to another concerning a character.

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    1. It probably does have more appeal to men than women.

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  14. I like a book that makes me think and if I start out not liking it or a character and by the end really liked the way it ended, then that is a big plus. Thanks for the great review.

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  15. Hmm - interesting. And isn't it wonderful to find books that way?

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  16. Sounds like a potent read. As you say, the past weighs as a heavy burden on much of human society, even long after the events have passed from living memory. Civil War stories are still powerful just as I imagine WW2 and Vietnam stories will be for future generations.

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    1. It will be interesting to see what kind of literature comes from the losing sides of those wars. I don't really put the US on the losing side of Vietnam as we weren't in it to win and just needed to find a way out. But those in the South (who now have the economic power in Vietnam) and those in Germany, will they have a "Lost Cause" movement?

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