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3.5 

Halcyon

By Elliot Ackerman
Halcyon by Elliot Ackerman digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

A daring new novel, at once timely and timeless, set around an American family and the ever-shifting sands of history and memory and legacy that define them (“An expert juggling act.” —Stephen Markley, New York Times Book Review)

Martin Neumann, recently divorced, is living at Halcyon, the Virginia estate of renowned lawyer, family patriarch, and World War II hero Robert Ableson. It’s 2004, and Gore is entering his second term as president, when news breaks that scientists have discovered a cure for death. Suddenly, Martin is forced to question everything he thought he understood about the world around him. Who is Ableson, really? Why has Martin been drawn into the Ablesons’ most closely guarded family secrets? Is this new science a miraculous good or an insidious evil?

From pivotal elections to crumbling marriages, from the Civil War to the Battle of Saipan, 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 the dual foundations of remembering and forgetting.

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10 Reviews

3.5
Red Angry Face“The gimmicks of Halcyon (scientists figured out how to revive frozen people in the early 2000s, Gore beat Bush in 2000) are not the problem with this book. I was interested to see where the author would take them. His choice to set the book in the Virginia piedmont, surrounded by Civil War history, was interesting, too. Shelby Foote’s cameo was a highlight, that actually serves a real purpose. My issue was the heavy-handedness of the social justice being tied in with the potential for eternal life. Yes, death has a purpose—but one got the sense that Ackerman played it too safe with the implications out of fear of an audience backlash. There was so much more here—all of the characters should have been brasher, more profane, and frankly more violent. In the end, the book, while thought provoking, ended with a whimper.”
BelievableUnpredictableUnsatisfying endingMagicalThought-provokingOriginal
Thumbs Up
Sexual assaultBelievableChange and growMultilayeredAddictiveUnsatisfying endingRealisticThought-provokingDescriptiveOriginal
Slightly Smiling Face“As a historian and teacher, living in the South but not from the South, this book felt like it was written just for me. I so, so loved it. Instant favorites list for me.”
Beautifully-written
“Halcyon intrigued me with its alternate reality premise: Clinton is impeached so Gore becomes president and eeks out a win over Bush in 2000 as an incumbent. In actuality, this element is a minor backdrop to a far-reaching story touching on Confederate monuments, sexual harassment in the workplace, trauma, divorce, and begs the question "If we could bring ourselves back from the dead, should we?" It's compelling and thoughtful while maintaining a quick pace. Each of the topics discussed are done so with respect and nuance, creating an introspective reading experience. I sometimes felt the alternative history element was utilized mainly to speed up the polarization and progressive ideas that became more relevant in the mid-2010s. It was a unique sci-fi lit fic that deserves the hype.”

About Elliot Ackerman

ELLIOT 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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