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redmatto wrote on 06/22/2012:

This is brutal, gory, and totally disgusting. Not just the Civil War setting, but also the central relationship is very disturbing. It is one of the most vile and twisted novels that I have read. NOTHING to recommend here.

Joseph wrote on 04/09/2012:

It’s rare that I blind-purchase a book without doing a little bit of research beforehand, but I did that recently with the novel Purgatory, written by Jeff Mann and published in January. It caught my eye because it was listed on TLA’s website as a gay romance set during the Civil War. Historical gay romances are difficult to come by, and the few that ARE published tend to be Harlequin-esque “slash” fiction, often poorly written (usually by women, I’m afraid). That this was written by a gay man gave me hope that this might be the historical gay romance I’ve long been looking for: a gay Cold Mountain meets The Red Badge of Courage.

Well, yes, it’s that, but it turned out to be much different than I anticipated, exceeding my expectations, yet discomfiting me at the same time. Marvelously written, it challenged my ideas of what a romance – gay or straight – should be like, truly demonstrating that love can come in many forms.

The set-up: it’s March of 1865, the war is coming to a close, and a band of Confederate soldiers are retreating into the Appalachians in order to circle around the Yankees and come to the aid of the besieged Confederate army at Petersburg. During a skirmish with Union soldiers, a young, tall, strapping Pennsylvania farm boy, Drew Conrad, is taken prisoner, a situation that alarms Rebel soldier Ian Campbell: the platoon’s leader, known as Sarge, is his uncle, an embittered man who takes his vengeance out by torturing Yankee prisoners to death, but slowly, leaving Ian to care for them until they die. Ian is instantly attracted to Drew, but finds his emotions and desires in conflict, not just for falling for an enemy, but also by discovering he enjoys seeing this beautiful young man whipped and beaten.

Had I done my usual pre-purchase research, I would’ve discovered that Mann has written stories and novels that deal with S&M/B&D; but had I done that, I also likely would not have purchased the novel, since I’ve never been inclined towards these practices. And while I doubt I’ll ever get into that, I cannot deny that this novel was an exceptional work, startling and violent, but also achingly romantic and even spiritual.

Smartly, Mann eases the reader into the scenario by recreating the world of the Civil War soldier, his daily grind, his exhaustion from the war and its attendant struggles, with strong realism. He also takes care to develop the character of Ian, a small, wiry, but intellectual West Virginian who’s equally at home with both poetry and a musket, creating an empathetic character to narrate the story; though we see Drew through Ian’s eyes, his character, too, is strongly developed through the novel, providing the reader with a couple well worth rooting for. He also creates a palpable tension, suspense as to whether Drew, or even Ian, will survive this ordeal; sure, the villains – the tyrannical Sarge and the rat-faced George – are classic mustache-twirlers, but they are effective obstacles to our heroes.

The Bible, Shakespeare, Whitman and other literary forebears weave their way into the narrative, adding further depth to the material, as morality, hypocrisy, justice, honesty, self-awareness all combine together to create novel that’s gripping, original, daring and likely to become a cult classic.