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Halcyon
From the best-selling author and National Book Award finalist, a chilling new novel that re-imagines the United States emerging from a different outcome in a pivotal presidential election.
Virginia, 2004. Gore is entering his second term as president. Our narrator, recently divorced, is living at Halcyon, the estate of renowned lawyer and World War II hero Robert Ableson. Ableson died a few years earlier. Or did he? When it becomes clear that scientists, funded by the Gore administration, have found a cure for death, more and more of life’s certainties get called into question. Is this new science a miraculous good or an insidious evil? Is Ableson a man outside of time, or is he the product of a new era? How does America’s fate hang in the balance? Stretching from Civil War battles to the toppling of Confederate monuments, from scholarly debates to intimate family secrets, Halcyon is a profound and probing novel that grapples with what history means, who is affected by it, and how the complexities of our shared future rest on layers of memory and forgetting.
Virginia, 2004. Gore is entering his second term as president. Our narrator, recently divorced, is living at Halcyon, the estate of renowned lawyer and World War II hero Robert Ableson. Ableson died a few years earlier. Or did he? When it becomes clear that scientists, funded by the Gore administration, have found a cure for death, more and more of life’s certainties get called into question. Is this new science a miraculous good or an insidious evil? Is Ableson a man outside of time, or is he the product of a new era? How does America’s fate hang in the balance? Stretching from Civil War battles to the toppling of Confederate monuments, from scholarly debates to intimate family secrets, Halcyon is a profound and probing novel that grapples with what history means, who is affected by it, and how the complexities of our shared future rest on layers of memory and forgetting.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2023
61 people are currently reading
3319 people want to read
About the author
Elliot Ackerman
19 books735 followersELLIOT ACKERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and Marine veteran who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
April 16, 2023
Imagine if you were to hear the most earth-shattering news of your life: scientists have conquered death, first in a lab study of Lazarus mice and lately in a control group of about 100 subjects who have, in effect, been resurrected.
That premise is at the center of Elliott Ackerman’s audacious new novel. Narrator Martin Neumann (a little play on words here) discovers that his landlord, the legendary Robert Ableson (perhaps another play on words?), a maverick of liberal causes, died years ago but is now a very fit and spry man in his 90s. The years have gone by and he’s not particularly “woke”, but his heart is in the right place.
The thing is, this news would shake up everything in real life. It would not be just another news story. But Elliott Ackerman who obviously is a Civil War scholar, has another angle in mind. As a historian and professor, his focus is on the great compromise –a cultural coming together of north and south following the disruptive Civil War. His interest is in determining whether nuance and compromise are even possible today, when compromise is out of favor.
For some reason I’m not sure I understand, all this is going on during a Gore administration (prosecutors found the “smoking gun” in the Lewinsky affair, Clinton was tossed out, Gore plans to pardon him, and George W., a more practiced politician, is threatening to undo all of Gore’s scientific progress). My question is whether that small but highly significant bend in history is needed. It could have easily stood by itself without revisionist history. In addition, a petition to remove a Confederate monument and the debates that follow seem to have been addressed in many public forums.
Although there is an interesting premise at work here, my belief is that the very possibility of vanquishing death (and the hustle to be one of the test subjects) would far override the theme Mr. Ackerman chooses to rest upon: how the future we must embrace must first focus on our shared history and who is affected by it. I liked the book but didn’t quite buy the premise. Big thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
That premise is at the center of Elliott Ackerman’s audacious new novel. Narrator Martin Neumann (a little play on words here) discovers that his landlord, the legendary Robert Ableson (perhaps another play on words?), a maverick of liberal causes, died years ago but is now a very fit and spry man in his 90s. The years have gone by and he’s not particularly “woke”, but his heart is in the right place.
The thing is, this news would shake up everything in real life. It would not be just another news story. But Elliott Ackerman who obviously is a Civil War scholar, has another angle in mind. As a historian and professor, his focus is on the great compromise –a cultural coming together of north and south following the disruptive Civil War. His interest is in determining whether nuance and compromise are even possible today, when compromise is out of favor.
For some reason I’m not sure I understand, all this is going on during a Gore administration (prosecutors found the “smoking gun” in the Lewinsky affair, Clinton was tossed out, Gore plans to pardon him, and George W., a more practiced politician, is threatening to undo all of Gore’s scientific progress). My question is whether that small but highly significant bend in history is needed. It could have easily stood by itself without revisionist history. In addition, a petition to remove a Confederate monument and the debates that follow seem to have been addressed in many public forums.
Although there is an interesting premise at work here, my belief is that the very possibility of vanquishing death (and the hustle to be one of the test subjects) would far override the theme Mr. Ackerman chooses to rest upon: how the future we must embrace must first focus on our shared history and who is affected by it. I liked the book but didn’t quite buy the premise. Big thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
June 14, 2023
In a clever altering of recent history, Ackerman imagines President Gore in the White House in 2004 as a champion of groundbreaking, government-backed science that can “resurrect” humans after their deaths. The narrator of this engaging, though sometimes tepid, drama is Martin Neumann, a history professor with his area of expertise in the Civil War. Neumann is on sabbatical from Virginia College while he researches for a book with a thesis arguing for the necessity of compromise throughout American history.
To settle into his work, he rents a cottage on the estate (named “Halcyon”) of legendary attorney and World War II veteran Robert Ableson. Instead of finding time and focus to immerse in his book, Neumann finds himself entangled in Ableson’s family secrets. During his stay at Halcyon, he also finds himself witnessing firsthand the activism of students and professors working for the removal of Confederate symbols, in particular a Robert E. Lee statue at Gettysburg National Military Park.
Events keep you gripped to the ethical dilemma of human “resurrection” and the unfolding machinations trying to derail the forthrightness of civil action. One of the novel’s strengths, indeed, is the compelling tension it generates with exposing and countering the false claim made by Confederate sympathizers that removing their symbols somehow erases history. Ackerman offers an unbiased narrative that never becomes didactic, yet I wished it might have been more forceful in condemning the false equivalency of Neo-Confederates and their supporters demanding their “heritage” deserves credence and legitimacy.
However, what makes Ackerman’s novel memorable and important is his ability to provide fairness in addressing heated subjects through well-drawn characters—even though I detect his underlying message pointing out the harm and injustice of compromising history in any way that somehow gives validity to the Confederate cause. Another commendable aspect of Halcyon is Ackerman’s incredibly smooth and polished prose, which shines with clarity and precision to make every word count and every scene vivid.
To settle into his work, he rents a cottage on the estate (named “Halcyon”) of legendary attorney and World War II veteran Robert Ableson. Instead of finding time and focus to immerse in his book, Neumann finds himself entangled in Ableson’s family secrets. During his stay at Halcyon, he also finds himself witnessing firsthand the activism of students and professors working for the removal of Confederate symbols, in particular a Robert E. Lee statue at Gettysburg National Military Park.
Events keep you gripped to the ethical dilemma of human “resurrection” and the unfolding machinations trying to derail the forthrightness of civil action. One of the novel’s strengths, indeed, is the compelling tension it generates with exposing and countering the false claim made by Confederate sympathizers that removing their symbols somehow erases history. Ackerman offers an unbiased narrative that never becomes didactic, yet I wished it might have been more forceful in condemning the false equivalency of Neo-Confederates and their supporters demanding their “heritage” deserves credence and legitimacy.
However, what makes Ackerman’s novel memorable and important is his ability to provide fairness in addressing heated subjects through well-drawn characters—even though I detect his underlying message pointing out the harm and injustice of compromising history in any way that somehow gives validity to the Confederate cause. Another commendable aspect of Halcyon is Ackerman’s incredibly smooth and polished prose, which shines with clarity and precision to make every word count and every scene vivid.
June 4, 2023
Yesterday afternoon, I settled into my green chair in my office to read Elliot Ackerman’s new novel, “Halcyon”. This is the second of Elliot’s books I’ve read. There is another about his experiences as a Marine officer in Afghanistan that I plan to read next.
I admit that I started reading “Halcyon” out of curiosity and some sense of obligation, but after very few pages, any trace of feeling obliged was replaced with excited determination to read on. I read last night for five hours straight!
Ever read a book where it occurs to you that you’re reading someone who possesses that seldom-sensed quality that points to greatness? I increasingly marveled at this sensation in the hours I spent riveted to “Halcyon”.
I remember feeling this way when I reread Hemingway’s short stories. I remember feeling this way when I read Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See.”
I knew Elliot Ackerman was a superb writer, but I had no idea of just how extraordinary he has become. He embeds his narratives with memorable turns of phrase and vivid details that propel me toward losing myself within the book. I’m no longer in my green Morris chair; I’m inhabiting spaces wherein the story unfolds so completely that the occasional noise or wafting aroma startles me.
“Halcyon” pivots on paradoxes and quandaries. I found myself squirming, hoping for some small respite for the characters, however temporary, but they remained suspended in a world that feels very real: a world where ambiguity overwhelms morality, a world where excitement about what’s possible overwhelms the forseeability of consequences that are beyond horrific. His world parallels our current reality when our collective breathlessness at the revelations of artificial intelligence has overwhelmed our prudence in understanding AI’s potentially disastrous potential. In “Halcyon”, clear and easy choices are unavailable. The juiciest morsels are dusted with ash, so the choice boils down to bitterness or starvation.
I love this book, and I want those among you who love the world of books to know about “Halcyon”.
I admit that I started reading “Halcyon” out of curiosity and some sense of obligation, but after very few pages, any trace of feeling obliged was replaced with excited determination to read on. I read last night for five hours straight!
Ever read a book where it occurs to you that you’re reading someone who possesses that seldom-sensed quality that points to greatness? I increasingly marveled at this sensation in the hours I spent riveted to “Halcyon”.
I remember feeling this way when I reread Hemingway’s short stories. I remember feeling this way when I read Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See.”
I knew Elliot Ackerman was a superb writer, but I had no idea of just how extraordinary he has become. He embeds his narratives with memorable turns of phrase and vivid details that propel me toward losing myself within the book. I’m no longer in my green Morris chair; I’m inhabiting spaces wherein the story unfolds so completely that the occasional noise or wafting aroma startles me.
“Halcyon” pivots on paradoxes and quandaries. I found myself squirming, hoping for some small respite for the characters, however temporary, but they remained suspended in a world that feels very real: a world where ambiguity overwhelms morality, a world where excitement about what’s possible overwhelms the forseeability of consequences that are beyond horrific. His world parallels our current reality when our collective breathlessness at the revelations of artificial intelligence has overwhelmed our prudence in understanding AI’s potentially disastrous potential. In “Halcyon”, clear and easy choices are unavailable. The juiciest morsels are dusted with ash, so the choice boils down to bitterness or starvation.
I love this book, and I want those among you who love the world of books to know about “Halcyon”.
August 7, 2023
What a strange book! I came to "Halcyon" because I'm a huge fan of Elliot Ackerman's and because I was interested in the premise of an alternate history wherein Al Gore won the 2000 election. But as I read this novel, I kept waiting for Gore to become relevant. He never did.
The peg of a Gore victory seemed totally incongruous with "Halcyon's" larger plot, which revolves around the resurrection of once-deceased World War II hero and prolific litigator Robert Ableson. The Gore administration, in Ackerman's telling, funded a scientific project that allowed death to be nullified. But Ableson, and feckless narrator Martin Neumann—a truly unlikable and endlessly infuriating fellow—are the foci here, not Gore. "Halcyon" is much more about Civil War memory and how to process American history than it is about all that could have happened had George W. Bush not been handed the presidency in 2001.
It did not make much sense to me to set that book at the turn of the millennium at all; many of the historical debates about Lost Cause iconography would clearly come to pass in the real America just a few decades later. Nor does tearing down Confederate statues seem too related to Gore's fictional resurrection plot; all they share is that both seek to rewrite history. Attempts to brand resurrection as a partisan issue—one that is supported by science-loving Democrats but loathed by Bible-wiedling Republicans—were similarly tenuous and unconvincing.
Overall, It was not clear to me why the story about Ableson and Neumann had to occur under a President Gore specifically, as opposed to under another fictional American leader. What Ackerman is attempting to convey by implying that Gore would fund such an outlandish project remains a mystery to me. Similarly, Ackerman's rapid-fire allusions to Bush and Iraq, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton toward the end of the book seemed random and desigend to meet a narrative quota rather than to enhance or explain the plot at hand. It was as though Ackerman hastily sought to tie together two or three completely separate stories that marginally dealt with reexaming America's past without much consideration for their compatibility. Still, I give "Halcyon" three stars because each one of those stories—however gauche—was, in Ackerman's trademark style, beautifully written.
The peg of a Gore victory seemed totally incongruous with "Halcyon's" larger plot, which revolves around the resurrection of once-deceased World War II hero and prolific litigator Robert Ableson. The Gore administration, in Ackerman's telling, funded a scientific project that allowed death to be nullified. But Ableson, and feckless narrator Martin Neumann—a truly unlikable and endlessly infuriating fellow—are the foci here, not Gore. "Halcyon" is much more about Civil War memory and how to process American history than it is about all that could have happened had George W. Bush not been handed the presidency in 2001.
It did not make much sense to me to set that book at the turn of the millennium at all; many of the historical debates about Lost Cause iconography would clearly come to pass in the real America just a few decades later. Nor does tearing down Confederate statues seem too related to Gore's fictional resurrection plot; all they share is that both seek to rewrite history. Attempts to brand resurrection as a partisan issue—one that is supported by science-loving Democrats but loathed by Bible-wiedling Republicans—were similarly tenuous and unconvincing.
Overall, It was not clear to me why the story about Ableson and Neumann had to occur under a President Gore specifically, as opposed to under another fictional American leader. What Ackerman is attempting to convey by implying that Gore would fund such an outlandish project remains a mystery to me. Similarly, Ackerman's rapid-fire allusions to Bush and Iraq, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton toward the end of the book seemed random and desigend to meet a narrative quota rather than to enhance or explain the plot at hand. It was as though Ackerman hastily sought to tie together two or three completely separate stories that marginally dealt with reexaming America's past without much consideration for their compatibility. Still, I give "Halcyon" three stars because each one of those stories—however gauche—was, in Ackerman's trademark style, beautifully written.
May 20, 2023
Elliot Ackerman’s new novel Halcyon (Knopf) publishes May 23. Halcyon spirals through history and alternative history, life and death, politics and anarchy until the reader thinks and rethinks what is and is not real and what does and does not have consequence, all the while turning pages to find out what happens next. The journey of Halcyon is a journey into science and philosophy as well as into complex human relationships. It is well worth the price of admission. The questions that arise echo questions that still sound in America’s own history. “Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of trees”-- Stonewall Jackson’s dying words--could be an epigraph for this unique novel.
June 29, 2023
sometimes a book is trying so hard to be A Comment On These Times that i want to float up into the void of space and escape literacy
May 21, 2023
“‘You can correct the past,’ said Susan. ‘That's what my daughter believes. You're a historian; that should make sense to you.’
And it made perfect sense, except I wasn't the type of historian who believed the past could or should be corrected.”
---------------------------
What a book! This is the type of book that's going to appeal to a very specific audience. It has some very disparate topics - biological resurrection, the Civil War, politics and some relevant social issues of today. We start off with a reimagined 2000 election in which Gore takes a seat as president, that leads to scientific funding for a group who develop a way to regenerate a person after death. Our MC, Martin, is a Civil War historian living in a cottage on a retired lawyer's property. His work is focused on the interpretation of history throughout time, he is grappling with the removal of statues and what is the best perspective to relay history. He finds himself dealing with this through the lens of his new landlord, Robert, a man who turns out to have been one of these secretly resurrected people.
If you're not a science person, don't worry, there is not a lot of text on the process. This story focuses more on the ethics and social impacts of the idea of thwarting death. I liked the unique approach of using Robert's personal history as a parallel for the reinterpretation of the Civil War. While we sometimes get minutiae of Martin's day to day, it all pulls together expertly to leave you thinking deeply about the larger ethical issues. The politics at times were a bit much for me, but I appreciated the effect the author was trying to achieve.
A little Blake Crouch meets (gonna date myself with this reference here - brace yourself) Richard Bach.
Thanks to Knopf for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.
And it made perfect sense, except I wasn't the type of historian who believed the past could or should be corrected.”
---------------------------
What a book! This is the type of book that's going to appeal to a very specific audience. It has some very disparate topics - biological resurrection, the Civil War, politics and some relevant social issues of today. We start off with a reimagined 2000 election in which Gore takes a seat as president, that leads to scientific funding for a group who develop a way to regenerate a person after death. Our MC, Martin, is a Civil War historian living in a cottage on a retired lawyer's property. His work is focused on the interpretation of history throughout time, he is grappling with the removal of statues and what is the best perspective to relay history. He finds himself dealing with this through the lens of his new landlord, Robert, a man who turns out to have been one of these secretly resurrected people.
If you're not a science person, don't worry, there is not a lot of text on the process. This story focuses more on the ethics and social impacts of the idea of thwarting death. I liked the unique approach of using Robert's personal history as a parallel for the reinterpretation of the Civil War. While we sometimes get minutiae of Martin's day to day, it all pulls together expertly to leave you thinking deeply about the larger ethical issues. The politics at times were a bit much for me, but I appreciated the effect the author was trying to achieve.
A little Blake Crouch meets (gonna date myself with this reference here - brace yourself) Richard Bach.
Thanks to Knopf for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.
May 30, 2023
Hi I’m *obsessed* with this book and I need you to read it and be obsessed with it too. Okay? Okay.
I finished this a few days ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. This book is a lot of things and doesn’t fit neatly into any one box and that’s the beauty of it.
On the surface, it’s about how life might have been different if different choices had been made. How the world might have progressed differently and how progress might have changed. But deep down it’s about grief and time and just what it means to live.
There are so many beautiful passages in this book and I highlighted throughout. This story is so poetic and the writing is just beautiful.
And did I mention this is also a story about grief? I inhaled this in a day and read the whole thing in public and definitely cried a few times. This is truly a story about what it means to be human and love other humans and how simultaneously beautiful and painful that can be.
Y’all. This book is *stunning* and I already want to read it again. (And thanks in advance to Knopf for the finished copy that’s on the way so I can do just that! And also stare at this book, lovingly, on my shelf forever <3)
Anyway. In case I haven’t said it enough, please read this book. And thank you to NetGalley & Knopf for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review! It was truly a treat!!
I finished this a few days ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. This book is a lot of things and doesn’t fit neatly into any one box and that’s the beauty of it.
On the surface, it’s about how life might have been different if different choices had been made. How the world might have progressed differently and how progress might have changed. But deep down it’s about grief and time and just what it means to live.
There are so many beautiful passages in this book and I highlighted throughout. This story is so poetic and the writing is just beautiful.
And did I mention this is also a story about grief? I inhaled this in a day and read the whole thing in public and definitely cried a few times. This is truly a story about what it means to be human and love other humans and how simultaneously beautiful and painful that can be.
Y’all. This book is *stunning* and I already want to read it again. (And thanks in advance to Knopf for the finished copy that’s on the way so I can do just that! And also stare at this book, lovingly, on my shelf forever <3)
Anyway. In case I haven’t said it enough, please read this book. And thank you to NetGalley & Knopf for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review! It was truly a treat!!
May 30, 2023
Very unsatisfactory as the author goes nowhere of interest with what could be good premises: an alternate history with a Gore presidency and the discovery of a method to bring people back from the dead. Furthermore there was never even a hint about how the resurrection process worked, which made the whole thing even less believable.
June 11, 2023
I loved the concept behind Halcyon, which focused on a slightly altered world where scientists conquered what was previously inevitable - death. Robert Ableson had died many years earlier but is now a spry man in his nineties. There were many interesting turns within the story that added color to the debate over Confederate monuments to a United States in which Al Gore had succeeded in the 2000 presidential race. This was such an original premise with excellent writing.
May 22, 2023
A thought provoking novel that reveals the conflict with how history is viewed and interpreted. Ackerman writes beautifully through the experiences of one family as they struggle with understanding the past and move into the future. I couldn’t put it down! Compelling!
May 20, 2023
Recommended.
Review posted at Tzer Island book blog:
https://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/2...
Review posted at Tzer Island book blog:
https://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/2...
August 8, 2023
I’ll come back to this with a fuller review. Suffice to say for now that this book had so much promise and potential, but in the end was simply a well written disappointment that barely manages three stars from me. Sigh.
- longer review with more comments -
This book is such a disappointment, such a waste of several interesting premises. It squeaks by with 2.5 stars simply because it is well written, by which I mean literally that the writing is generally of good quality, despite the lack of substance. The ending of the book is just shockingly, face-slappingly bad.
Be warned that there may be spoilers after this, and that I am going to go on at greater length than I usually do.
I have read and enjoyed a number of other books by this author. I heard him interviewed about this book on a podcast, and was intrigued, not by the central sci fi premise that death can be reversed, but the idea of “American compromise,” as it pertained to the Civil War, and the efforts of the United States to come back together after the shooting in that conflict ceased. In my view, the sci fi premise is really just window dressing.
The way this book frames the notion of “American compromise” is by considering the way southern apologist and non-historian Shelby Foote framed it:
“It consists of Southerners admitting freely that it's probably best that the Union wasn't divided, and the North admits, rather freely, that the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed.”
And the thing is, this notion of “compromise” is utter bullshit, one which anesthetizes the reasons for which the war was fought - as easily verified by reading the actual articles of secession - and is fundamentally designed to do one thing - allow Southerners and their descendants and fellow travelers to feel good about the actions of their ancestors and heroes.
They must not be troubled, you see, by the reasons for the war, by actual sedition and treason. No, they must be allowed a gauzy curtain to cover over the blood and institutionalized oppression on which the vaunted “Southern way of life” were founded.
The fact that this compromise is garbage can be illustrated by, for example, imagining if such a view would be accepted of, let’s say, SS or Wehrmacht soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japanese soldiers, etc. It wasn’t and wouldn’t be.
The reasons should be obvious.
Since the “compromise” at the core of the book is garbage, the book for me never comes close to getting off the ground.
The notion that knocking down monuments that glorify actual traitors and enemies “erases history” is garbage as well. There is a big difference between a plaque or a scar-like memorial and something that romanticizes and glorifies. Ask yourself - have we forgotten Hitler because we don’t have statues of him ? Okay, that’s an obvious one, granted. But why not statues of brave and talented Nazi commanders - Rommel, Kesselring, maybe Skorzeny or Pieper? After all ,they fought bravely for a cause they believed in...right ? How about Giap or Ho Chi Minh? How about Bin Laden? They all fought bravely for a cause they believed in, didn’t they?
I get it. People are complex. No one can look in the mirror and say, I am blameless, I revere all the right causes and revile all the bad ones and I am perfect. But the protagonists in this book are generally clueless at best, dangerous at worst.
Again, I gave the book three stars because the writing is too good not to, and it’s possible the book’s terrible ending is itself a commentary along the above lines, but I don’t know. Read at your own risk. It’s hard for me to recommend it.
- longer review with more comments -
This book is such a disappointment, such a waste of several interesting premises. It squeaks by with 2.5 stars simply because it is well written, by which I mean literally that the writing is generally of good quality, despite the lack of substance. The ending of the book is just shockingly, face-slappingly bad.
Be warned that there may be spoilers after this, and that I am going to go on at greater length than I usually do.
I have read and enjoyed a number of other books by this author. I heard him interviewed about this book on a podcast, and was intrigued, not by the central sci fi premise that death can be reversed, but the idea of “American compromise,” as it pertained to the Civil War, and the efforts of the United States to come back together after the shooting in that conflict ceased. In my view, the sci fi premise is really just window dressing.
The way this book frames the notion of “American compromise” is by considering the way southern apologist and non-historian Shelby Foote framed it:
“It consists of Southerners admitting freely that it's probably best that the Union wasn't divided, and the North admits, rather freely, that the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed.”
And the thing is, this notion of “compromise” is utter bullshit, one which anesthetizes the reasons for which the war was fought - as easily verified by reading the actual articles of secession - and is fundamentally designed to do one thing - allow Southerners and their descendants and fellow travelers to feel good about the actions of their ancestors and heroes.
They must not be troubled, you see, by the reasons for the war, by actual sedition and treason. No, they must be allowed a gauzy curtain to cover over the blood and institutionalized oppression on which the vaunted “Southern way of life” were founded.
The fact that this compromise is garbage can be illustrated by, for example, imagining if such a view would be accepted of, let’s say, SS or Wehrmacht soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japanese soldiers, etc. It wasn’t and wouldn’t be.
The reasons should be obvious.
Since the “compromise” at the core of the book is garbage, the book for me never comes close to getting off the ground.
The notion that knocking down monuments that glorify actual traitors and enemies “erases history” is garbage as well. There is a big difference between a plaque or a scar-like memorial and something that romanticizes and glorifies. Ask yourself - have we forgotten Hitler because we don’t have statues of him ? Okay, that’s an obvious one, granted. But why not statues of brave and talented Nazi commanders - Rommel, Kesselring, maybe Skorzeny or Pieper? After all ,they fought bravely for a cause they believed in...right ? How about Giap or Ho Chi Minh? How about Bin Laden? They all fought bravely for a cause they believed in, didn’t they?
I get it. People are complex. No one can look in the mirror and say, I am blameless, I revere all the right causes and revile all the bad ones and I am perfect. But the protagonists in this book are generally clueless at best, dangerous at worst.
Again, I gave the book three stars because the writing is too good not to, and it’s possible the book’s terrible ending is itself a commentary along the above lines, but I don’t know. Read at your own risk. It’s hard for me to recommend it.
May 16, 2023
When does compromise become hypocrisy?
Faulkner said “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
Halcyon is the stately Southern mansion owned by Robert Ableson, esteemed attorney, WW ll hero and recently dead. Ackerman brings Ableson and all around him to vibrant life. This novel manages to involve science, politics, Confederate monuments, family secrets, Civil War battles, much more and still be fun.
Faulkner said “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
Halcyon is the stately Southern mansion owned by Robert Ableson, esteemed attorney, WW ll hero and recently dead. Ackerman brings Ableson and all around him to vibrant life. This novel manages to involve science, politics, Confederate monuments, family secrets, Civil War battles, much more and still be fun.
October 12, 2024
I loved the writing style although the story was a little odd - an alternative history where Gore has become president, cryoregeneration is a reality, but decried by the public and conservatives in particular (stem cell research anyone?) and Confederate monuments are on the chopping block.
All of the puzzle pieces made for a fascinating story, but I didn’t quite follow how they fit together or what point the author was trying to make.
All of the puzzle pieces made for a fascinating story, but I didn’t quite follow how they fit together or what point the author was trying to make.
July 7, 2023
Writing itself was very good. The science stuff was too out there without any real explanation. Honestly it could’ve been written without it. The rest of the book tried to cram too many Current Discourse points into it. Hard to see this being relevant in 20 years when people have moved on to other things. There’s better ways to write about this.
May 29, 2023
Brilliant thinker of a book. This novel is about ideas more than its story, but even so, a story crafted around this many cohesive brilliant ideas is just incredible to behold. Can’t wait to talk about this one to everybody.
April 1, 2023
Very, very good and interesting read. I enjoyed the possibilities .
#GoodreadsGiveaway
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November 26, 2023
an interesting exploration of memorialization and memory, definitely made me think
July 18, 2023
Halcyon by Elliot Ackerman
Alternative history, and also a comment on what is history, and should history be edited from the perspective of the resent. Ackerman says no, but I don’t know that he makes a great case; The futuristic cryogenics is a bit spooky, but makes for an almost credible story line.
part 1: Discovery
Martin Neumann is the narrator, a Jewish American of Ukrainian Ashknazic origin is a historian, trying to write about the Civil War and the nature of American Compromise in a rented cottage adjacent to Halcyon, a home which an older couple, Mary and Robert Ableson are renovating. Mary is 20 years younger than Robert, and he appears to be 90. Robert was once a prosecutor.
There is a snow storm after Robert comes to visit Martin … The newspaper article about animal research on bringing dead cells back to live appears to be a cover story for human research on the same topic…”Lazarus work”, creating undead people.
Martin is prevailed on to visit Dr. Charles Shield at Penn’s Cancer Center, but he stops first at Gettysburg, where he is led about the filed by Lucas Harlow, another civil war scholar, who is married to a cousin, Anette, of Martin’s domineering ex, Ginny, a public defender’s office attorney, later a matrimonial lawyer. Lucas believes in forward looking history for properly judging the past. In Phils he stays at the 4 Seasons, Arch and 19th.
Book is set in an alternate era that closely parallels ours, except that Gore became president after Clinton was impeached, and then defeated W in the election, and pardoned his predecessor. The book starts in 2004. America is quite divided (as it was during the civil war.)
Charles Shield’s father is a war martyr who smothered a grenade to save Robert Ableson.
Additional characters expected to play a role: Robert’s stepsons, Doug, a New York financier, his son Bobby, a Boston Lawyer, and his daughter (their half sister), Elizabeth. Elizabeth (Boose) has multiple degrees, and almost was caught in WTC on 9/11, and hasn’t worked since.
Part 2 Disease
Robert is off to Richmond to have his death certificate annulled. His wife Mary has a life limiting growing cancer but she is keeping it unmentioned.
Robert has now been identified by the press as one if 134 reborn persons, now undead, due to Lazarus. President Gore is interviewed about this and pronounces it good.
The Registrar Suzie Templeton is Robert’s former employee, and her Personal Assistant is skeptical of Robert’s choice of words.
Issues of relevance of estates already divided and becoming undead.
Part 3 Petition
Issues of Robert’s will seem to be settled; also discussed are Gore’s pardon of Clinton, his possible reelection his hypocrisy, and monument replacement of ones no longer politically acceptable. Meanwhile Mary Ableson’s cancer progresses.
Martin Neumann attending an antiVa-Monument rally (and the petition against its continuance has 2 million signatures) has coffee with Claire, the Registrar’s assistant and her friend/room-mate Janet Templeton (Susan’s dtr, an astronomy major), who remarks on generational selfishness.
Susan Templeton accepts the petitions, but the tricky petition form designed by Ableson allows them to be invalidated… a form of cheating the will of the petitioners.
Part 4 Diagnosis
Mary is doing worse, is not interested in resurrection, and the Dr. Jones’ are involved. Robert runs off to his cemetery plot. Martin. Brings him back to Halcyon, to face Janet Templeton’s threats and Mary’s further decline.
Part 5 Accusation
Ableson encourages Susan Templeton to take up with Patrick O’Toole, a lawyer for a Pill Industry firm. After a slow start it turns out he has some tangled finances and is way too aggressive, in front of daughter Janet. So Janet blames Ableson for workplace harassment, and wants damages from his estate. Martin’s wife represents Janet; her office is on Rittenhouse Sq. The intent (revenge) is to keep the inheritance from his children so long as he remains alive (this second time). Conveniently Penn’s Cancer Center is close, and Martin describes strategy with Dr. Shields. Shields describes Ableson as having a pattern with boundaries and of getting in over his head. Shields regrets not talking Robert out of Rebirth. Martin the historian believes watching everything you care about destroyed is the very definition of a long life.
It is posited that cryoregeneration slows the aging process. Martin meets an admiring redneck at the gas station on the drive back to Halcyon.
Part 6 Inquiry
Relationship of lawsuit against Ableson to incident at the Gas Station: is compromise still possible because of shared set of beliefs and ideals. Difference between a monument as a part of history and a part of its advocates.
Mary dies and Ableson’s assistant who is suing him for sexual harassment comes to offer condolences; Martin almost is squashed by 18 wheelers after the funeral and requires help in changing his 2 flats from Lucas Harlow, who had brought Susan to the funeral. In the meantime, the election campaign is happening, and Bush wants to defund the research on Rebirth. The government Doctors Jones fear that Ableson, like one of the other participants, will commit suicide for financial benefit of his offspring, but thereby jeopardizing the program.
The Service station subplot: the gas station by the freeway with its tire repair services and its mini mart; owned by the well do do Mr. Omid, who is the one who wanted the teenager to pay for what he tried to shoplift a soda.
It turns out that Dr Shields’ father had died of complications of PTSD (Suicide) and not from laying down on a grenade.)
Part 7 Adjudication
This is a complicated chapter;
Ableson had a drink of is finest aged whiskey with Martin presages his death by arson/suicide)
Mary dies after her peonies bloom and the house title goes definitively to her daughter;
The monument petitions endorsed by Lucas Harlow (despite him being of Mississippian origin - he looks at history from the point of view of the present) are resubmitted and it is determined the monument will go.
Martin and Lucas watch the cranes disassemble it- Martin reflects over the futility of Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.
Gore loses the 2004 debate to Bush, monitored by Jim Lehrer, hands down, for being stodgy, professorial, coughing and squeaky voiced, having pardoned Clinton, etc and on the issue of supporting Cryogenic Rebirth research.
Ableson burns down Halcyon and himself.
Ableson’s death is not dissimilar to Dr Shields’ father’s death’s curated story.
Ableson admits coming back was a mistake.
The Templeton lawsuit goes away.
Martin’s book will not get finished for now.
Part 8 Halcyon
Bush is elected with less than 50% of popular vote, by the Electoral College, and abolishes the federal funding for cryoregeneration research.
Bush flubs by starting war with Iraq, failing in Katrina emergency, and in financial crisis of 2008.
Martin becomes a Jr High School Math teacher and falls for a younger French teacher, Amelie
Eight years of Obama’s presidency rushes by in this chapter.
Martin will go to France with Amelie; he visits Elizabeth at the reconstructed Halcyon, sells his Volvo, visits the empty grave of Ableson at the cemetary, and discovers that the Tesla he is riding in cant find the museum where the Virginia monument has been consigned.
At the Virginia Monument Museum, he falls asleep, awakens and sees a ghost, and misses his flight to France.
We never hear of Trump’s election!
Alternative history, and also a comment on what is history, and should history be edited from the perspective of the resent. Ackerman says no, but I don’t know that he makes a great case; The futuristic cryogenics is a bit spooky, but makes for an almost credible story line.
part 1: Discovery
Martin Neumann is the narrator, a Jewish American of Ukrainian Ashknazic origin is a historian, trying to write about the Civil War and the nature of American Compromise in a rented cottage adjacent to Halcyon, a home which an older couple, Mary and Robert Ableson are renovating. Mary is 20 years younger than Robert, and he appears to be 90. Robert was once a prosecutor.
There is a snow storm after Robert comes to visit Martin … The newspaper article about animal research on bringing dead cells back to live appears to be a cover story for human research on the same topic…”Lazarus work”, creating undead people.
Martin is prevailed on to visit Dr. Charles Shield at Penn’s Cancer Center, but he stops first at Gettysburg, where he is led about the filed by Lucas Harlow, another civil war scholar, who is married to a cousin, Anette, of Martin’s domineering ex, Ginny, a public defender’s office attorney, later a matrimonial lawyer. Lucas believes in forward looking history for properly judging the past. In Phils he stays at the 4 Seasons, Arch and 19th.
Book is set in an alternate era that closely parallels ours, except that Gore became president after Clinton was impeached, and then defeated W in the election, and pardoned his predecessor. The book starts in 2004. America is quite divided (as it was during the civil war.)
Charles Shield’s father is a war martyr who smothered a grenade to save Robert Ableson.
Additional characters expected to play a role: Robert’s stepsons, Doug, a New York financier, his son Bobby, a Boston Lawyer, and his daughter (their half sister), Elizabeth. Elizabeth (Boose) has multiple degrees, and almost was caught in WTC on 9/11, and hasn’t worked since.
Part 2 Disease
Robert is off to Richmond to have his death certificate annulled. His wife Mary has a life limiting growing cancer but she is keeping it unmentioned.
Robert has now been identified by the press as one if 134 reborn persons, now undead, due to Lazarus. President Gore is interviewed about this and pronounces it good.
The Registrar Suzie Templeton is Robert’s former employee, and her Personal Assistant is skeptical of Robert’s choice of words.
Issues of relevance of estates already divided and becoming undead.
Part 3 Petition
Issues of Robert’s will seem to be settled; also discussed are Gore’s pardon of Clinton, his possible reelection his hypocrisy, and monument replacement of ones no longer politically acceptable. Meanwhile Mary Ableson’s cancer progresses.
Martin Neumann attending an antiVa-Monument rally (and the petition against its continuance has 2 million signatures) has coffee with Claire, the Registrar’s assistant and her friend/room-mate Janet Templeton (Susan’s dtr, an astronomy major), who remarks on generational selfishness.
Susan Templeton accepts the petitions, but the tricky petition form designed by Ableson allows them to be invalidated… a form of cheating the will of the petitioners.
Part 4 Diagnosis
Mary is doing worse, is not interested in resurrection, and the Dr. Jones’ are involved. Robert runs off to his cemetery plot. Martin. Brings him back to Halcyon, to face Janet Templeton’s threats and Mary’s further decline.
Part 5 Accusation
Ableson encourages Susan Templeton to take up with Patrick O’Toole, a lawyer for a Pill Industry firm. After a slow start it turns out he has some tangled finances and is way too aggressive, in front of daughter Janet. So Janet blames Ableson for workplace harassment, and wants damages from his estate. Martin’s wife represents Janet; her office is on Rittenhouse Sq. The intent (revenge) is to keep the inheritance from his children so long as he remains alive (this second time). Conveniently Penn’s Cancer Center is close, and Martin describes strategy with Dr. Shields. Shields describes Ableson as having a pattern with boundaries and of getting in over his head. Shields regrets not talking Robert out of Rebirth. Martin the historian believes watching everything you care about destroyed is the very definition of a long life.
It is posited that cryoregeneration slows the aging process. Martin meets an admiring redneck at the gas station on the drive back to Halcyon.
Part 6 Inquiry
Relationship of lawsuit against Ableson to incident at the Gas Station: is compromise still possible because of shared set of beliefs and ideals. Difference between a monument as a part of history and a part of its advocates.
Mary dies and Ableson’s assistant who is suing him for sexual harassment comes to offer condolences; Martin almost is squashed by 18 wheelers after the funeral and requires help in changing his 2 flats from Lucas Harlow, who had brought Susan to the funeral. In the meantime, the election campaign is happening, and Bush wants to defund the research on Rebirth. The government Doctors Jones fear that Ableson, like one of the other participants, will commit suicide for financial benefit of his offspring, but thereby jeopardizing the program.
The Service station subplot: the gas station by the freeway with its tire repair services and its mini mart; owned by the well do do Mr. Omid, who is the one who wanted the teenager to pay for what he tried to shoplift a soda.
It turns out that Dr Shields’ father had died of complications of PTSD (Suicide) and not from laying down on a grenade.)
Part 7 Adjudication
This is a complicated chapter;
Ableson had a drink of is finest aged whiskey with Martin presages his death by arson/suicide)
Mary dies after her peonies bloom and the house title goes definitively to her daughter;
The monument petitions endorsed by Lucas Harlow (despite him being of Mississippian origin - he looks at history from the point of view of the present) are resubmitted and it is determined the monument will go.
Martin and Lucas watch the cranes disassemble it- Martin reflects over the futility of Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.
Gore loses the 2004 debate to Bush, monitored by Jim Lehrer, hands down, for being stodgy, professorial, coughing and squeaky voiced, having pardoned Clinton, etc and on the issue of supporting Cryogenic Rebirth research.
Ableson burns down Halcyon and himself.
Ableson’s death is not dissimilar to Dr Shields’ father’s death’s curated story.
Ableson admits coming back was a mistake.
The Templeton lawsuit goes away.
Martin’s book will not get finished for now.
Part 8 Halcyon
Bush is elected with less than 50% of popular vote, by the Electoral College, and abolishes the federal funding for cryoregeneration research.
Bush flubs by starting war with Iraq, failing in Katrina emergency, and in financial crisis of 2008.
Martin becomes a Jr High School Math teacher and falls for a younger French teacher, Amelie
Eight years of Obama’s presidency rushes by in this chapter.
Martin will go to France with Amelie; he visits Elizabeth at the reconstructed Halcyon, sells his Volvo, visits the empty grave of Ableson at the cemetary, and discovers that the Tesla he is riding in cant find the museum where the Virginia monument has been consigned.
At the Virginia Monument Museum, he falls asleep, awakens and sees a ghost, and misses his flight to France.
We never hear of Trump’s election!
May 29, 2023
A Visionary, Chilling Tale
Elliot Ackerman is one of the most intellectual and versatile writers. My favorite book is Waiting for Eden where he created a rather complex, but shorter, fictional story, which was a masterpiece.
This book rewrites our American history. The timing and setting of the novel is challenging. What is easy to grasp is the focus that our democracy is in peril. The novel occurs when America is dangerously divided and the split is threatening.
Just think , Al Gore is President after Bill Clinton resigns when he is impeached. Told to the reader in first person narration, Martin Neuman, an historian on a sabbatical, is living in a cottage on Robert Abelson’s estate. He is a well-known attorney, supporter of liberal causes and was recently brought back to life after dying from pneumonia (Lazarus treatment).
The novel opens in 2004, the country is dangerously sharply divided despite Gore’s decisions after 9/11.. George W. Bush is running against Gore planning to eliminate Gore’s resurrection research.
This is a profound perspective in attitudes and who can be on the wrong side of history. The pain is the future of democracy as we know it. It’s all very familiar to us. It is more than a visionary tale and complicated, but these facets remain scary to me and realistic.
Mr. Ackerman is a an American hero, a former White House Fellow and recipient of Silver Star, Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. He is also a brilliant, versatile writer.
My gratitude to NetGalley and Knopf for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Elliot Ackerman is one of the most intellectual and versatile writers. My favorite book is Waiting for Eden where he created a rather complex, but shorter, fictional story, which was a masterpiece.
This book rewrites our American history. The timing and setting of the novel is challenging. What is easy to grasp is the focus that our democracy is in peril. The novel occurs when America is dangerously divided and the split is threatening.
Just think , Al Gore is President after Bill Clinton resigns when he is impeached. Told to the reader in first person narration, Martin Neuman, an historian on a sabbatical, is living in a cottage on Robert Abelson’s estate. He is a well-known attorney, supporter of liberal causes and was recently brought back to life after dying from pneumonia (Lazarus treatment).
The novel opens in 2004, the country is dangerously sharply divided despite Gore’s decisions after 9/11.. George W. Bush is running against Gore planning to eliminate Gore’s resurrection research.
This is a profound perspective in attitudes and who can be on the wrong side of history. The pain is the future of democracy as we know it. It’s all very familiar to us. It is more than a visionary tale and complicated, but these facets remain scary to me and realistic.
Mr. Ackerman is a an American hero, a former White House Fellow and recipient of Silver Star, Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart. He is also a brilliant, versatile writer.
My gratitude to NetGalley and Knopf for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.
June 30, 2023
Halcyon takes us back to 2004, but not the 2004 we know. Elliot Ackerman gives us a reimagined America, one in which Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election, after Bill Clinton resigned over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. We still were attacked on 9/11, but there was no invasion of Iraq after.
Now, let me jump around here a bit, Martin, our narrator, is a history professor specializing in the Civil War, on sabbatical with plans to write a book, while staying at a guest cottage on the grounds of Halcyon in Virginia owned by retired attorney Robert and his wife Mary.
Back to Gore's America, his administration has been working on research to bring people back from the dead. Robert, is one of those people. Five years after his death, Robert gets right in the middle of current events and works to stop the removal of Confederate monuments, and also battles sexual harassment claims by a former employee.
So, a lot going on here just with Robert. We get to hear from many voices through the story. I liked the way the book brought up interesting legal questions about inheritances when the deceased is now alive again. Most interesting to me though is the posing of the question of who owns time? There are more questions than answers in this story, but I think the reason for this is so that we, the readers, can form our own thoughts on what they mean.
Now, let me jump around here a bit, Martin, our narrator, is a history professor specializing in the Civil War, on sabbatical with plans to write a book, while staying at a guest cottage on the grounds of Halcyon in Virginia owned by retired attorney Robert and his wife Mary.
Back to Gore's America, his administration has been working on research to bring people back from the dead. Robert, is one of those people. Five years after his death, Robert gets right in the middle of current events and works to stop the removal of Confederate monuments, and also battles sexual harassment claims by a former employee.
So, a lot going on here just with Robert. We get to hear from many voices through the story. I liked the way the book brought up interesting legal questions about inheritances when the deceased is now alive again. Most interesting to me though is the posing of the question of who owns time? There are more questions than answers in this story, but I think the reason for this is so that we, the readers, can form our own thoughts on what they mean.
July 5, 2025
starts off interesting but focuses too much on the least interesting parts: the setting of alternative history is a fun sandbox to begin with, and the upending of natural order via the reversal of death should have been way more explored (perhaps expanded beyond an experimental treatment for the ultra-rich?) but ultimately way more about the confederacy than I cared to hear about. the fact of the matter remains that the confederacy is not only the losing side but a frankly un-american idea, no matter how much blood was spilt by that side. the issue of removing monuments is also sort of misrepresented: it’s not that these monuments are being ground into bronzemeal. they are literally in museums for people to learn about history. no history is being erased. many just don’t care to see it (oh, you know, the losing side) celebrated so thoroughly.
the ending feels hackneyed and random, with a quick run-through of contemporary politics. fascinating to see which events (re: 9/11) are immutable unmoving facts destined to happen no matter what, while some are not. for example, the election of gore to subsequent loss to bush makes me wonder why this alternate history did not expand further… feels like there should have been more changes than were mentioned. but who can say?
i think i disagree centrally with its claims though I did enjoy the writing at the beginning.
the ending feels hackneyed and random, with a quick run-through of contemporary politics. fascinating to see which events (re: 9/11) are immutable unmoving facts destined to happen no matter what, while some are not. for example, the election of gore to subsequent loss to bush makes me wonder why this alternate history did not expand further… feels like there should have been more changes than were mentioned. but who can say?
i think i disagree centrally with its claims though I did enjoy the writing at the beginning.
November 21, 2023
Science can cure the dead under President Gore,
Alliance after bloodshed is yet reached since Civil War.
Remember Halcyon days as an idyllic chore,
only to forget the dead with whom to settle the score.
Narrator may have feinted nonchalance, but I fell into his view of the past, and the story is still full of suspense, till last moment (though I foresaw) with an open ending as a perfect closure.
Alliance after bloodshed is yet reached since Civil War.
Remember Halcyon days as an idyllic chore,
only to forget the dead with whom to settle the score.
Narrator may have feinted nonchalance, but I fell into his view of the past, and the story is still full of suspense, till last moment (though I foresaw) with an open ending as a perfect closure.
June 18, 2023
Interesting book, set in an alternative universe for no discernible reason. The background is the discovery of immortality, a point central to the plot, although the narrative concerns itself more with the demolition of a Confederate statue at Gettysburg.
The book feels like a little story told within a landscape of much larger historical events.
A fine book, as are all of Ackerman's works.
The book feels like a little story told within a landscape of much larger historical events.
A fine book, as are all of Ackerman's works.
July 5, 2023
I’m wondering how I’d missed the author until now. This clever and well-written story is filled with “what if“ scenarios that leave one considering the tiny details of circumstance that shape our lives.
July 21, 2023
4 stars because it is basically successful as a novel. That said, I think the conclusions reached here did not ring true for me. I did not feel convinced about the need to endlessly venerate the past. Mainly it felt like an act of self-soothing. I also don't think that the novel rarely turned its gaze on the real hangup of Martin or Elliot Ackerman himself. There's something more to the attachment to Confederate statues that isn't explained simply by the desire to preserve history.
July 26, 2023
Interesting theory but too much historical information for my liking
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