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The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers
by Delia Falconer

The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers Cover

About This Book

ISBN13: 9781933368177
ISBN10: 1933368179
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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"Unfolding over the course of a single morning, The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers is a meditation on memory and the passage of time. But it's not as ponderous or dense as classics in this vein written by Proust, Joyce or Robert Musil....As I read The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers, I was struck by the notion of how much work must have gone into each sentence. There isn't a wasted moment anywhere, and I imagine there are legions of writers who would give their right arm to be able to express in a page what Falconer manages to do in a single phrase or turn of expression." Gerry Donaghy, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Georgia, 1898: On what may be the last day of his life, Captain Frederick Benteen — the man who saved portions of Custer's Seventh Cavalry from almost certain death at Little Bighorn — receives a letter from an ambitious boy offering to "restore" his reputation. Over the twenty-three long years since that battle, watching Custer's legend grow, Benteen has brooded silently on the past. His General has been dead for more than twenty years, killed in action, considered a hero, while the public has never forgiven Benteen for surviving. Now, at last, he begins to put down some account of those two horrific days pinned down on a ridge. What follows is an exquisite eulogy for his fellow soldiers, both alive and dead, as Benteen refuses to bow to the demands of legend.

As he begins to write, Benteen finds himself haunted by his lost companions: by Star-Gazer, who joined the army to write poems; mysterious Handsome Jack, who plays the banjo and founded the Grand Order of the Grapefruit — together they form a strange double act, a frontier Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; De Rudio, the gentle German bugler; Young Tom, who stands in his brother Custer's shadow; whimsical Pritzker trapped in dreams; and the Choir, a host of often shocking misfits who hover at the edges of the action.

As Benteen mines deeper into the past, he struggles to untangle his own story, his own worth, from the grand narrative of history. Insistently, he finds himself drawn to the fleeting memories of the "nine-tenths nothing" that make up battle — scraps of men's speech, notes from Star-Gazer's enigmatic journal, jokes, lost thoughts, moments of great beauty and casual violence. Gradually the reader realizes that what Benteen is struggling to recapture, to remember, is a different America, before it began to play out its own history as spectacle, over and over again — as anticipated by that consummate performer, Custer.

As poignant and elegaic as the writing is, it is simultaneously a very funny novel, as when Benteen recalls meeting a nun in New York: she tells him how the monks used to piss in the molten stained glass to achieve a certain milky yellow colour. After this anecdote: "That one thought changed the whole of Europe for him."

Told over the space of a single morning, The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers is about death and dying, women and war, growing old, parenthood, friendship, and soldierliness. It is about a nation's preoccupation with celebrity, and what, in the end, a life is worth.

Review:

"A sparkling gem of a book, shining as brightly as a bead of dew on prairie grass." The Weekend Australian

Review:

"The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers is an intensely quotable book....Prose like this has the elliptical quality of poetry." Sydney Morning Herald

Review:

"The brilliance of Falconers' writing...comes through in the sheer relentless and sensuous intensity of her description." Stephanie Bishop, University of Cambridge

Review:

"Falconer's style remains distinctive....The Lost Thoughts Of Soldiers is a book best read slowly because there is so much to savour in every line." The Program

Synopsis:

In 1876, Captain Frederick Benteen of Custer's 7th Cavalry survived Little Bighorn, but has never been forgiven by the public. Twenty years later, he receives a letter from an ambitious boy offering to "restore" his reputation.

Synopsis:

Georgia, 1898: On what may be the last day of his life, Captain Frederick Benteen — the man who saved Custer’s Seventh Cavalry from almost certain death at Little Bighorn — receives a letter from an ambitious boy offering to “restore” his reputation. For over 23 years Benteen has silently watched Custer’s legend grow. His General has been dead for more than 20 years, killed in action, considered a hero, while the public has never forgiven Benteen for surviving. Now, at last, he begins to put down some account of those two horrific days pinned down on a ridge. What follows is an exquisite eulogy for his fellow soldiers, both alive and dead. Funny, moving, rich in character and incident, this acclaimed novel avoids the bloody battle scenes and maudlin romance that characterize much Civil War-based fiction in favor of an unsparing and poetic story that explores what it means to be a soldier — then and now.
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About the Author

Delia Falconer holds a Ph.D. in English literature and cultural studies from the University of Melbourne. In 2003 she was a James Joyce Fellow in Dublin, Trieste, and Beijing. Falconer's essays and stories have been anthologised widely in many publications, including Best Australian Essays (1998, 1999, 2003) and Best Australian Stories (1999, 2002); Oxford Australian Love Stories; Penguin Best Australian Short Stories; and The Penguin Century of Australian Short Stories. Her work as an essayist and critic has been sought out by international journals and digests such as nest, Arts and Letters Daily, Landfall, and Courrier International.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
mjm4449, July 20, 2007 (view all comments by mjm4449)
This book is a reflecion on how events in our lives can take over everything else we may have done with our life. Benteen reflects on his relationship with Custer and the troops in his doomed calvary, his relationship with his wife, and even his relationship with frozen blocks of ice in the ice house.

The book is a celebration of the simple things in life and a reflection on how we sometimes miss the important times in our life by being too close to them.

The book is happy, sad, reflective, moody and a celebration of life lived fully. It draws you in with a story fans of the wild west know well, but keeps you reading with the humanity of life.

It is a wonderful and haunting read.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781933368177
Author:
Falconer, Delia
Publisher:
Soft Skull Press
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Little bighorn, battle of the, mont., 1876
Subject:
FICTION / Literary
Subject:
Benteen, Frederick William
Copyright:
2006
Edition Number:
1st
Publication Date:
March 28, 2006
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Pages:
151
Dimensions:
7.80x5.72x.69 in. .54 lbs.
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