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    Neverhome: A Novel
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    Neverhome: A Novel
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    Neverhome: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Neverhome: A Novel

    Written by Laird Hunt

    Narrated by Mary Stuart Masterson

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE
     Inaugural winner of the Grand Prix de la Littérature Américaine
    She calls herself Ash, but that's not her real name. She is a farmer's faithful wife, but she has left her husband to don the uniform of a Union soldier in the Civil War. NEVERHOME tells the harrowing story of Ash Thompson during the battle for the South. Through bloodshed and hysteria and heartbreak, she becomes a hero, a folk legend, a madwoman and a traitor to the American cause.

    Laird Hunt's dazzling new novel throws a light on the adventurous women who chose to fight instead of stay behind. It is also a mystery story: why did Ash leave and her husband stay? Why can she not return? What will she have to go through to make it back home?

    In gorgeous prose, Hunt's rebellious young heroine fights her way through history, and back home to her husband, and finally into our hearts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateSep 9, 2014
    ISBN9781478982043
    Unavailable
    Neverhome: A Novel
    Author

    Laird Hunt

    Laird Hunt's most recent novel, Zorrie, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Hunt has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and won the Anisfield­-Wolf Award for Fiction, the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, and Italy's Bridge Award. He teaches in the Department of Literary Arts at Brown University and lives in Providence.

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    Reviews for Neverhome

    3.5/5

    130 ratings18 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Fictional account of a woman who joins the Union Army during the American Civil War disguised as a man. I suppose I was expecting something like Cold Mountain ...I was hugely disappointed by this. The story got its hooks into me on the first page and I read with a great deal of enthusiasm. At first. But even though it is not a long novel it is told at a rather agonizingly slow place and more and more questions came into my mind as I went from really like to OK to really don't like in pretty much a straight downward slope. I got angry with the direction the author chose to take the story and our main character.As folks say, your mileage may vary and this may be one of those but I couldn't buy this tale and I certainly did not like the path it took. Maybe I'll think differently later upon reflection. That happens with some stories, but I don't think it will happen with this one.
    • 3/5
      I am not sure that my review can do justice to this work. The novel is well written and points out the senselessness of war. Some reviewers have characterized this story as a 19th century Odyssey as the protagonist Constance/ Ash travels to the front lines and subsequently returns home, while her husband remains to tend to the family farm. I had difficulty discerning at times which experiences were dreams and which were actual experiences. I also believe that this work would be better received by the female reader.
    • 4/5
      I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.Constance is a farmer from Indiana who wants to see more of the world outside of her rural farm. She decides that fighting in the Civil War will give her this chance. Her husband Bartholomew would not be a good fighter and so she decides that she will make the sacrifice and march off to war instead of him. She puts on the Union uniform, wraps herself as a disguise and sets out down south where she takes on the name of Ash Thompson as she fights in the war. Ash has many interesting adventures that make her a legend among her fellow soldiers. At one point she is given the nickname “Gallant Ash” and a song is written about her. She fights alongside men and oftentimes is a better fighter than those men. She is constantly afraid that her secret will be revealed and it is amazing that throughout the entire story only a handful of people suspect her true identity.NEVERHOME is brilliantly written in Constance’s own voice. We see the horrific landscape of the civil war through her eyes. Laird Hunt even uses the correct accents and turns of phrase from someone in this era. The dream sequences that Constance has are vivid and haunting. I suspect that she had what we would call nowadays PTSD. She is so disturbed by some of the horrors she witnesses that reality and dreams blend together. The story is so interesting and captivating that I actually read it in one day. I could not wait to find out what happens to Constance and the ending was definitely a surprise. I will recommend this book to all of my fellow history teachers and their students. I would not be surprised if NEVERHOME becomes an instant American classic that all students of history will find on their reading lists
    • 4/5
      Neverhome: A Novel
      by Laird Hunt

      Thank you Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley.com for an advance e-copy of this book.

      The author, Laird Hunt, has plucked from history, a story of a woman trapped by gender and poverty. She has suffered a difficult childhood and escaped loneliness into a marriage that did not fill the unknown void troubling her mind and soul. She finds her husband to be gentle in spirit and weak physically. She loves him but it is not enough to satisfy her need to explore her own individual identity. Unable to bear children, stifled by the burden of managing the farm and yearning to find out if she is strong enough to survive on her own terms, she decides to pick up arms, disguise herself as a man and serve her country in war.

      The war is described in graphic terms; not for the squeamish. The story is voiced by Constance/Ash and reflects her strong will, quick mental reflexes and lack of formal education. The harsh life as a soldier and the constant need to falsify herself eventually leads to a mental confusion that leaves her in gender limbo.

      Captured, revealed as a woman, accused of being a traitor, tossed into a lunatic prison and betrayed by fellow soldiers and others, Constance/Ash retreats in and out of a world of dreams and reality. Skillfully escaping the prison and heading home to the farm she suffers exhaustion, starvation, and what today would be classified as PTSD. Her journey home passes through the lives of other soldiers families where she is met with kindness and patience. The reader is left wondering how much of Constance/Ash's narrative is viewed solely from a skewed perspective; what is real and what is imagined. Is there more to her story she hasn't revealed?

      Finally arriving at her farm, she observes the condition of the place and reacts instinctively and reflexively without consulting anyone there. She interprets the scene as hostile and perceives her husband in a subservient role to men who have been troublemakers in her past. Her efforts to regain control of her life lead her to her greatest failures of judgment yet.

      The story reminded me of the life and times depicted in the book and movie, Cold Mountain. There was no sugar coating the horrors of life on both sides of the Civil War. It was a worthy read and has me reflecting on several issues raised by the book long after I have finished it.
    • 3/5
      There is much to admire about Neverhome: the lyrical prose, the sensitivity to women's issues, the message of war's dehumanizing influence, etc. The basic premise is that the young Thompsons feel an obligation to fight for the Union, but since Bartholomew is "too soft" and would likely end up killed, Constance dresses as a man, takes the name of Ash, and signs up. It's a situation not unheard of, though most women disguised as male to accompany their husbands into battle. "Gallant Ash" is an expert rifleman and soon learns to kill with no remorse. There's a horrific scene in which she "disguises" as a woman and enters a cabin to bash in one man's head with a jug and shoot his companions in the head--and this is the first of many such incidents. In letters home to Bartholomew, we learn how they fell in love; and we suspect that her inability to give birth to a child caused an estrangement--a sense of personal failure--that hastened her march to war. In time, Ash's true gender is discovered, and she is confined to a mental asylum. By then, this reader had begun to wonder if there was more than the "craziness" of a woman going to war that put here there: Ash has come across as a disturbed person through a series of surrealistic dreams and conversations with her dead mother, not to mention some questionable decisions and actions. As others have mentioned, the novel's conclusion isn't the happy, expected one, but its disturbing nature is a fitting end to the bitter cruelty that Constance/Ash has suffered and caused.What I found somewhat annoying was that I never got a clear sense of exactly WHY Constance felt the need to go to war, and it didn't make a lot of sense when I started asking myself questions, like how did Bartholomew get out of being conscripted, and how he managed the farm on his own if he was such a weakling, and why his neighbors didn't question where his wife had gone. So for me, this book ended up as an interesting psychological study of one character and a devastating look at the effects of was.
    • 5/5
      NEVERHOME, by Laird Hunt.I was at that awkward 'between books' interval when I stopped in at a local bookstore, Great Lakes Book & Supply, to browse. The clerk, a retired English Teacher, pressed this book on me with a glowing recommendation. She was right and then some. NEVERHOME is perhaps one of the best novels about the Civil War that I have yet read. A first=person narrative of the experiences of one woman who served as a soldier in that war, it is Odysseus and Penelope turned hind-side to. The scenes of war and carnage are just the right mix of the real and surreal. The story of Indiana farm wife 'Ash' (aka Constance) Thompson's ordeal, told in her own bluntly beautiful words, is one that will be hard to forget. It brought to mind a couple other somewhat similar and absorbing novels - Molly Gloss's THE JUMP-OFF CREEK and Nancy Turner's THESE IS MY WORDS. The difference is that this book was written by a man. Laird Hunt credits another book as the inspiration for NEVERHOME, a collection of letters called AN UNCOMMON SOLDIER. In the end it boils down to this: Hunt has written a brooding, thoughtful and masterful novel about a little known aspect of the American Civil War, the women who put on trousers, took up arms and fought alongside the men. Whether you are a Civil War buff or just love a good read, this is one helluva book. My thanks to CJ for the recommendation. My highest recommendation.
    • 3/5
      The subject matter of this novel, women who posed as men in order to fight in the Civil War, was very intriguing. I also was impressed by the noted difference between historical accounts of war and the nitty gritty, smelly, awful, bloody side of a soldier's life. It was a good story, except much seemed unexplained to me. The end was quite gripping and creative. Nonetheless, the overall feeling I was left with was that the writing was run-of-the-mill.
    • 3/5
      "Gallant Ash" goes to war (the Civil War) - except that "he" is actually a woman, and a very brave, relentless, shrewd, and talented soldier at that. Told in the first person and in her own dialect, it's a fast read and a thoughtful and moving story.
    • 4/5
      Wow. To imagine your way into this experience/life, and then to write about like this. Wow.
    • 4/5
      Women have been in combat probably as long as there have been wars. But they used to have to disguise themselves as men in order to fight. In the Civil War alone, there are 400 some documented cases of women dressing as men and going off to fight, and sometimes die, for their cause. The reasons these women did this were as varied as the women themselves. In Laird Hunt's captivating and elegantly written novel, Neverhome, one such woman left her home and her husband to fight for the Union. Constance is the stronger spouse so she is the one who dons the uniform and marches off to war leaving Bartholomew at home to tend the farm. And so Constance becomes Ash, wife becomes soldier, woman becomes man. Narrating her own story, Constance/Ash tells of her skill with a rifle, the hard life and rough conditions that the soldiers endure even when not fighting, the horror and brutality of war, the relationships that spring up between the men, including the petty fighting, the jealousy, and the stealing, as well as the fellowship, and of her own emotional remoteness from her fellow soldiers and from the terrible events she witnesses. Ash reflects not only on her current situation but also looks back at the way her mother's life and death left an indelible mark on her own life and consciousness. The writing here is vivid and absolutely incandescent. With the novel entirely narrated in Ash's steady and sometimes seemingly emotionless voice, readers are immediately drawn into her head, wanting to understand her motivations and feelings of duty and desire, and allowing them to experience the gritty reality of the Civil War through her. She details battles from a dreamy remove, gets sent to the hell of wartime prison, and wanders through the carnage of both battlefield and makeshift field hospital. Hunt deftly renders history on these pages without falling into the anachronistic in order to draw a strong, complex woman. Ash is compelling right from the start but the seeming inconsistencies in her character in the end make her just that much more fascinating and change the reader's perception of the events of the book. The novel as a whole is quite short but it still manages to be epic in feel as it turns the convention of the quest tale on its head. Beautifully written and imagined, this is a spectacular and unusual Civil War novel, one that readers of historical fiction and of literary fiction will be so glad they've read.
    • 5/5
      On its surface this is the story of a woman who dresses as a man and goes off to fight in the Civil War, yet the haunting, poetic language elevates it beyond that. This is a story you will want to read aloud, to savor. Do not miss out on this slender little gem.
    • 4/5
      A compelling story about a young lady who decides to leave her husband during the Civil War and fight for the North hiding the fact that she is a woman. The novel chronicles her trials during the war gaining her the nickname Gallant Ash as she becomes known for the protection of another lady to the point that ballads are sung about her exploits. She eventually makes it back home where she must exert her warrior skills in defense of her homestead. A nicely done story worthy of being made into a movie if someone is so inclined.
    • 4/5
      During the heat of the Civil War, young Constance changes her name to Ash, and dressed as a man she leaves her husband Bartholomew and their home in Indiana to join the fight.I'm a little conflicted with this book. On the one hand, it was a bit slow and meandering. I noted early on that the writing could be a bit boring at times.However on the other hand it was an intriguing story line, with little bits of human observations that were spot on, and sometimes I would get the feeling that there was a deeper meaning to life hidden within the words.My final word: This was a pretty good story, but it felt a bit disjointed and superficial. For a first person narrative, I felt surprisingly detached from Constance/Ash, and much of the story felt like flashes of images and small glimpses into the person that Constance truly is, preventing me from feeling as if I really knew her. And I was especially not fond of the ending of the book. But overall it was a pretty good story. It just fell short of my expectations is all, and I think it's a book that won't linger with me for the long haul.
    • 3/5
      Ash has left her husband behind to volunteer as a soldier during the Civil War. I thought this book was interesting, mainly because Ash was a fascinating character. However, the book was a bit slow at times and some of the passages seemed to drag. Also, sometimes Ash narrated the events as if they were happening in the present, while at others, Ash narrated as if she was older and recalling her life events. This made the book seem poorly edited, as if the author or editor didn't catch these passages. Overall, not bad, but not something I would re-read.
    • 3/5
      This was a good enough story about a young wife who chooses to serve as a soldier in the Civil War while her husband stays home to care for the farm. He has an unrevealed weakness that may have been physical, but may as well have been a softness of character. Obviously that is not a problem for the wife who calls herself Ash. She is a bit of a free spirit, filled with spunk, and eventually she becomes a capable soldier. The first person style of the book gives you a taste for her character, but makes the other characters in the story very one dimensional. I found the first part of the book to be interesting. It was uncomplicated since I quickly understood that the person telling the story is a woman. The details about soldiering and fighting, along with the suspense of her possible discovery by the other soldiers, kept me following the story with anticipation. There was potential for the book to develop nicely with such a unique perspective.Later, things began to get a bit confusing and more abstract. There were some places where I thought certain things were going to happen, but the action just seemed to fizzle. It was still a good read, but I didn't find it to be particularly compelling. I found the ending relatively flat. It is the type of story that might be acclaimed by literary critics, but I was disappointed. Again, "Neverhome" is a good read about this unique look at the Civil War; it just for me, wasn't a favorite.My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating, sad story. I read this book in a day I couldn't stop reading I had to find out what happens next.It's written like an oral history you truly hear her voice in every phrase and story. At times she is an unreliable narrator but sometimes you need to lie to yourself to get through the day.This is historical fiction and Ash/Constance is a compilation of many women who dressed as men during the Civil War to go fight the war. All had different reasons and Ash’s reason was because her husband was weak he was the soft one in the family and she was wire so she decided that she was the one who is going to go off to war. As she said I was strong he was not , so it was me went to war to defend the Republic.Parts of this book are very gory because this is a no holds barred war story and you have to remember what medicine was like in those days. Plus there is no Geneva Convention so prisoners of war were treated so awfully that it’s hard for us to understand because there are rules abound prisoner treatment now. The hardest part of this book to read is when she is held prisoner, those scenes are horrific but it is what happened during the civil war.I loved the metaphor of the shave how it made you feel human again and you could forget the things you’ve seen for a few minutes.Constance/Ash kept up an inner monologue with her mother who had been gone a long time but I think these conversations with her mother helped keep her sane. But it also teaches us about Constance and why and how she became Ash the reasons go so much deeper than just her husband is the soft one.I think more men than she knew were on to her but since she was such a good soldier none of them said a word, like the Colonel I think he knew for awhile. And in her journey home she learned so much about herself and the Colonel. Speaking of her journey home, when she reached home things weren’t as she hoped there either and this ending was so heartbreaking.But as I said earlier yes this book is heartbreaking but it is also beautiful and lyrical and I feel it is a must read.4 ½ Stars
    • 5/5
      Neverhome is a war story without a battle. Ash is a soldier, and she kills without hesitation. Yet, the story is not about her battlefield experiences. Rather, it is her entire wartime experience, from her first steps away from the homestead until well after she returns home and settles back into civilian life. Yes, there are some battlefield scenes, but the battle itself is anonymous and comes to symbolize all of the major battles during the war. Ash’s location throughout the South and East purposefully remains indistinct, so that readers focus on the story and cannot let previous knowledge distract them. It is a clever method of removing the importance of the Civil War itself and narrowing the core of the story to one woman and her demons.Ash is a conundrum throughout the story and never fails to surprise readers long after they think they understand her. She is strong, capable, independent, rough, and yet there is a fragility underneath her tough exterior which tends to expose itself at the most unexpected times. That she leaves her husband to fight in the war is not a surprise since it is the premise of the novel. What is a surprise is just how much she loves her husband. For, implicit in her actions is the idea that she is running away from an untenable situation. Such is not the case. She is running, but she is ultimately running from herself rather than her husband.Readers only see Ash’s husband through her memories and via his letters. The picture that forms is a man who feels deeply and is better suited for modernity rather than the rough ways of the 1860s. He is quiet, intense, and physically weak, but he loves Ash, and she loves him. Theirs is a beautiful story of mutual adoration and genuine partnership. They fill out each other’s weaknesses perfectly. What readers see is simple and poignant.Their obvious love for each other raises many a question about why Ash leaves and remains away from home for so long. This is the crux of the story, something discovered piece by piece through reflection. Much of Ash’s story remains clouded and out of context, requiring inference on the part of the reader to fill in the many gaps left by Ash’s broken memories. What follows is a moving story of love, loss, anger , betrayal, and the long road to forgiveness Ash must undertake before she can go home.Neverhome is a beautifully written story. Each sentence is pregnant with emotion as well as the potential for jaw-dropping revelations. Ash’s story from campsite to battlefield, from home to home, and everything that occurs in-between is fascinating in its tale of life as a soldier, let alone life as a female pretending to be a man. When Ash sets out from Indiana to join the war, she knows she is setting out on a journey. That it is not the journey she expects is to a reader’s benefit as they get to know this remarkable woman during her battle for her very soul.
    • 5/5
      On the surface, Laird Hunt has written a touching tale about a woman’s love for her husband and the sacrifice she made for him. She went off to fight in the Civil War, leaving him, the weaker one, behind. Since Constance was more masculine in her demeanor and Bartholomew was more feminine, they reversed roles, and he remained at home to tend the farm. Constance Thompson became Ash Thompson and broke her husband’s heart when she left as an entirely different person.The “Ballad of Gallant Ash” could be an alternate title for this book. Constance needed to join the cause of the Union Army in order to protect her husband and challenge the pain she always carried within her heart and mind. Since her husband was not a tough enough person to go and would certainly meet his death, she donned the clothes of a man and left, hoping to return at the war’s end. Chasing her own fears in the process, she often wondered if fear would find her instead, as her mother had once predicted.The beauty of the tale is that it is narrated by Constance/Ash, a tough Indiana farmer’s wife, in a voice that is genuine and authentic as a female, but her actions are also credible in the role of a male. Since she is comfortable in the outdoors and is a competent hunter, she is able to use her wiles and her expertise with a gun to protect herself. She is more capable than most of the new recruits, so she quickly makes herself a legend-like soldier, able to do most of what is required proficiently.The tragedy of war, and what it extorts from enemy and ally alike, is so clearly drawn that when the final page is turned, the reader is almost more than a witness to the events; the reader is almost a participant. The descriptions of the battles are matter of fact, expressed in the simplest of terms, yet they put you in the thick and thin of the fray. Most of the emotion is removed, and only the clear and very concise telling of it remains, describing all of the causes and effects of particular moments in battle, each one almost more significant than the other, if that is possible.Below the surface, it is a fast, but painful read as it feels like a confession, spoken in the most uncomplicated and honest terms. The sheer simplicity of the tale, in so few words, evokes all the pain of slavery, the agony of war, the depth of lost love and lost children, the enormous sacrifice required and the devotion and loyalty war sometimes inspires in spite of the betrayal it often witnesses. It is quite remarkable in its portrayal of the Civil War. The development of the main character is superb. As her persona changes, from male to female, and back again, she remains a true representation of the female/male soldier and that masquerade that existed during the war.The tale truly acknowledges the ugliness, violence and hypocrisy of war and shows the soldiers displaying fear and mistrust, disloyalty and deceit, cruelty and shame. It also shows the devotion of those either left behind or actively fighting, to their loved ones and their country, even as it displays, loud and clear, the utter waste war leaves behind, the sheer madness and fear it produces, and the senselessness of the inflicted pain, injustice and retribution, which only lead to more heartache and tragedy in a never ending spiral.In the language of the poor farmer, without much education, with its own ungrammatical charm, it felt as if Constance/Ash was speaking directly to me. At other times it felt almost like a personal diary, a simple relating of the facts of the day, as she wrote her letters, or spoke with others. As she documented the experiences she witnessed, even when filled with horror, they almost seemed mundane. It seemed as if Ash was becoming more and more inured to the brutality of the war but also completely imbued with its horror and a need for revenge. Her need to extract retribution for the injustices done to herself and her family were eventually her tragic undoing.