Review of The McCoys Before The Feud
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Leslie Mercer
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- Latest Review: The McCoys Before The Feud by Thomas McCoy
Review of The McCoys Before The Feud
[Following is a volunteer review of "The McCoys Before The Feud" by Thomas McCoy.]
In the book The McCoys: Before the Feud Thomas A. McCoy blends historical facts with imagination to craft a tale that centers around Thomas McCoy and other members of this well-known family. Taking place right after the end of the civil war, Thomas obtains information on the locations of various illegal stashes of money and goods confiscated from the South. To secure his own future, and to strike back for the South, Thomas and his family decided to try to steal these items.
Though a work of fiction, I did learn some very interesting details about Civil War History. In the author's note at the end of the book, Thomas McCoy explains how there were orders given to seize and sell Southern goods and property to help fund the cost of the war. There was also corruption in the ranks of the Northern command, and some of the leaders did hide away goods for themselves. He also goes into detail how the actual McCoy family did become aware of these hidden stashes, though he leaves it unsaid if his family did truly pull off a successful raid upon them.
Now we come to the problems with this book. One of the most glaring issues in the first half is the author's over-use of commas and semicolons. This creates some of the longest sentences I have ever read. Sentences that could easily be broken up into two, three, and even four separate ones. I never realized how important having those slight, automatic pauses your mind makes when it sees a period were. You notice when they are not present, and the noticing impacts the overall 'flow' of the book. I will give the author some credit, as this issue slightly improves in the second half of the book. The other issue is how many characters' names are given. There is one point early in the book where about 20 different names are listed, no matter how much or little this character contributes to the plot. This makes it very difficult to identify the side relevant plot characters and I honestly just gave up. I understood later why the author chose to do this. All the names he listed were real family members who participated in the Civil War, and there was a list of these family members at the end of the book. I am sure he wanted to include as many of them as possible in the story to be properly honored, but this could have been accomplished with the previously mentioned list.
One of the largest weaknesses in this book's story is how everything goes right for the main character and his family. He has no difficulty getting the supplies he needs, obtaining his information, organizing the raids, or with anything else he does. This takes out any suspense, excitement or realism from the book, and by the end I was cheering for the other side just so something would not go the McCoy family's way. Also, the overall all story lacks the depth needed to make it an engaging read. The author only offers a glimpse of the characters' thoughts, feelings or motivations, which is a shame because there is so much that could be used. The characters just lived through a very bloody and nasty war. The entire South was devastated by it and many families, the McCoy's included, had members on both sides of the conflict. I feel that if the author went back and reworked his story with all this in mind, he could create a truly great novel.
Overall, I rate this book a 1 out of 4. The overly long sentences in the first half make it very difficult to read, and the second half becomes boring once the reader realizes nothing bad will truly happen to the main characters.
Due to the previously noted issues with this book, I am unable to recommended it to anyone. I cannot even recommend it to history buffs, as the most interesting pieces of historical information are in the author’s note and not in the book itself.
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The McCoys Before The Feud
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In the book The McCoys: Before the Feud Thomas A. McCoy blends historical facts with imagination to craft a tale that centers around Thomas McCoy and other members of this well-known family. Taking place right after the end of the civil war, Thomas obtains information on the locations of various illegal stashes of money and goods confiscated from the South. To secure his own future, and to strike back for the South, Thomas and his family decided to try to steal these items.
Though a work of fiction, I did learn some very interesting details about Civil War History. In the author's note at the end of the book, Thomas McCoy explains how there were orders given to seize and sell Southern goods and property to help fund the cost of the war. There was also corruption in the ranks of the Northern command, and some of the leaders did hide away goods for themselves. He also goes into detail how the actual McCoy family did become aware of these hidden stashes, though he leaves it unsaid if his family did truly pull off a successful raid upon them.
Now we come to the problems with this book. One of the most glaring issues in the first half is the author's over-use of commas and semicolons. This creates some of the longest sentences I have ever read. Sentences that could easily be broken up into two, three, and even four separate ones. I never realized how important having those slight, automatic pauses your mind makes when it sees a period were. You notice when they are not present, and the noticing impacts the overall 'flow' of the book. I will give the author some credit, as this issue slightly improves in the second half of the book. The other issue is how many characters' names are given. There is one point early in the book where about 20 different names are listed, no matter how much or little this character contributes to the plot. This makes it very difficult to identify the side relevant plot characters and I honestly just gave up. I understood later why the author chose to do this. All the names he listed were real family members who participated in the Civil War, and there was a list of these family members at the end of the book. I am sure he wanted to include as many of them as possible in the story to be properly honored, but this could have been accomplished with the previously mentioned list.
One of the largest weaknesses in this book's story is how everything goes right for the main character and his family. He has no difficulty getting the supplies he needs, obtaining his information, organizing the raids, or with anything else he does. This takes out any suspense, excitement or realism from the book, and by the end I was cheering for the other side just so something would not go the McCoy family's way. Also, the overall all story lacks the depth needed to make it an engaging read. The author only offers a glimpse of the characters' thoughts, feelings or motivations, which is a shame because there is so much that could be used. The characters just lived through a very bloody and nasty war. The entire South was devastated by it and many families, the McCoy's included, had members on both sides of the conflict. I feel that if the author went back and reworked his story with all this in mind, he could create a truly great novel.
Overall, I rate this book a 1 out of 4. The overly long sentences in the first half make it very difficult to read, and the second half becomes boring once the reader realizes nothing bad will truly happen to the main characters.
Due to the previously noted issues with this book, I am unable to recommended it to anyone. I cannot even recommend it to history buffs, as the most interesting pieces of historical information are in the author’s note and not in the book itself.
******
The McCoys Before The Feud
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The McCoys Before The Feud by Thomas McCoy
