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Title: The Disagreement

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Nick Taylor

Narrator: William Dufris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-09-08

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Muro's father, believing that the Disagreement will pass, sends his son instead to Charlottesville. Jefferson's 40-year-old University of Virginia has become a haven of rogues and dilettantes, among them Muro's roommate, Braxton Baucom III, a planter's son who attempts to strike a resemblance to General "Stonewall" Jackson. Though the pair toasts lightheartedly "To our studies!" with a local corn whiskey known as "The Bumbler", the war effort soon exerts a sobering influence. Medical students like Muro are pressed into service at the Charlottesville General Hospital, where the inexperienced Dr. Muro saves the life of a Northern lieutenant, earning the scorn of his peers.

As the war progresses, Muro takes up yet another cause - winning the affections of the beguiling Miss Lorrie Wigfall. Here, too, Muro faces a cunning adversary. Just as the fighting is closing in, Muro is forced to make a choice that will shape the rest of his life.

Critic Reviews:

"A dazzling debut novel....Nick Taylor arrives on the literary scene like a cross between Stephen Crane and F. Scott Fitzgerald - with the sensibility of Charles Frazier. Seductive, authentic, and unforgettable, The Disagreement is an instant classic." (Ian Caldwell, author of Rule of Four)

Members Reviews:

Tedious at times, but worth the read

A good story worth your time primarily if you are captivated by the period (unless you graduated from UVA). The hero's stuffed-shirt personality and the author's extensive use of the vernacular can be annoying. The hero's clinical detachment serves him well as a doctor but can make him a tiresome human being. Such jarring notes as his disinterest in religion also are much more modern than nineteenth century.

Now and then I felt trapped in some period memoir, becoming confused by the passive voice and multiple parentheticals. Nevertheless, being interested in the age, I found it hard to put down for long. I did miss the bleeding and cupping, two common treatments of the time to relieve fevers which were later discarded as doing only harm. I suppose the hero would have looked pretty stupid using either one and so they were left out.

The author obviously put a great deal of work into the tale (recounted in the back pages aknowledging his grants) and so I felt a little guilty at being able to acquire it almost new for one penny plus four dollars shipping. He can thank Amazon for that. One does wonder how the classical writers ever did it, without masters degrees in fine arts, writing workshops and multiple grants.

Stilted language and not historically accurate

It appears the author wanted the dialogue to seem "civil war vintage" but it just comes across as stilted and stuffy. There are some portions and situations that just do not make sense and some that are not historically accurate. For example, in one portion he relates a character singing "The Kookaburra Song" which did not make sense to have a character in Virginia in the 1860s singing an Australian song. I checked it out and found "The Kookaburra Song" was not written until 1932. Mr. Taylor needs a better editor. Sure, it is a novel and perhaps if it were better written I might try to overlook things like this, but I just did not like it.

Great Book

Very well written and researched.