Review of Three Brothers from Virginia
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- Storm+
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Review of Three Brothers from Virginia
Three Brothers from Virginia by Andy Lazris (predictably) tells the story of three brothers: Matt, Paul, and Luke. Set shortly before the American Civil War, this novel chronicles the brothers' lives as they are given control of their deceased father's extremely prosperous farm. Although one brother, Matt, is clearly the son of a white man, the skin tone of his two brothers reveals that their mother was African American; specifically, she was their father's slave. However, despite their forbidden genealogy, the brothers seem to be living a charmed life in a self-made Eden… until the powers controlling their small town intervene and begin methodically destroying all of their future plans. Simultaneously, the United States plunges into a bloody and brutal war over the institution of slavery, and the brothers find themselves trapped in the middle of it. Will they be able to survive, let alone thrive as they once hoped? Read the novel and find out.
This book had a lot of positive qualities. For instance, I very much enjoyed the depth given to the main characters and their loved ones. Each character had their own unique and interesting voice, as well as a thought process that the author was able to skillfully reveal to his readers. Although I found myself wishing that the antagonists were a bit more well-developed at times, I still felt that their presence added to the impact of the narrative as a whole. This novel was engaging and entertaining from start to finish, and the overall plot flowed easily, drawing readers deeper into the story with each new page.
However, Three Brothers from Virginia also had a few flaws. For example, there was very little balance between the exposition and dialogue. Instead, throughout the novel, the author revealed a tendency to write long stretches of exposition followed by dialogue (or vice versa) rather than a mixture of both. Unfortunately, this made the narrative drag in places, a problem that was exacerbated by the length of the novel. Although the plot itself was interesting enough to make readers want to keep reading, a better balance of exposition and dialogue would have made the remainder of the novel flow more smoothly. There were also several spelling and punctuation errors that will need to be fixed before the next edition of this novel is printed.
In the end, I decided to rate Three Brothers from Virginia by Andy Lazris 4 out of 5 stars. While I did very much enjoy reading this novel and wanted to rate it higher, there were several improvements that still need to be made before it will be worthy of a higher rating.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in historical fiction and/or the impacts of the American Civil War. I would also recommend this to anyone who likes vibrant and complex characters. However, I would not recommend this novel to younger readers or anyone who might be triggered by mentions of racially motivated violence, racism, or rape.
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Three Brothers from Virginia
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- Mercy Sos Christopher
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It is very nice, the three brothers will get along well, despite their different colors. It shows that there is no racial discrimination. This is a well-written review! Well done!