- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (Feb 25 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375725466
- ISBN-13: 978-0375725463
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.3 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #502,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
There are certain plots that possess inherent drama, and the saving of a lost child is one of them. In The Buffalo Soldier, Chris Bohjalian--who showed such flair for drama in the bestselling Oprah's Book Club® pick Midwives--gives us the story of 10-year-old Alfred, an African American foster child who is taken in by Terry and Laura Sheldon, a white couple whose twin daughters have drowned. Another child is also about to come on the scene: Terry has an affair, and the young woman becomes pregnant. Bohjalian takes his sweet time exploring these relationships, but he also writes scenes with the same tautness that made Midwives a page-turner. The result is a novel that's both readable and exhaustively fleshed out. As Alfred settles into the Sheldons' lives, we actually come to believe in the unlikely little family the three of them forge. Bohjalian narrates his story from the perspective of each of his principal characters, a method that can be tiresome, but here is made fresh by the author's clear vision: these people, you feel, are real to him. --Claire Dederer
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
The capricious ways of nature frame this eighth novel by the popular Bohjalian (Midwives; Trans-Sister Radio). Several years after the devastating loss of their nine-year-old twin daughters in a flood, Vermont residents Laura and Terry Sheldon decide to adopt a child. When a state agency grants them a taciturn 10-year-old African-American boy on a foster-parent trial basis, they acquiesce, albeit with some reluctance. The trial is no less unsettling for the child, Alfred, who has already endured separations and is aware of his solitary status in the small, white town. What will save the boy, and lend poignancy to the novel, is a growing friendship with an elderly neighbor, Paul, a retired teacher, who accepts him without preconditions. He gives the boy a book about a post-Civil War western black cavalry unit, the Buffalo Soldiers, and a cap with a picture of their buffalo symbol and then invites the boy to learn to ride his horse. Alfred, moved by the book, responds to Paul and begins to break out of his isolation. Bohjalian writes honestly and often movingly, but his characters do not escape stereotyping. Terry, a uniformed state trooper, is all tough policeman when he catches Alfred arranging a hidden stash of food. He angrily accuses him of thievery, insensitive to Alfred's fear that he may be rejected and need to escape. Laura, an unhappy, colorless character, is only lent dignity by her growing love for the boy and a willingness to understand him. In an echo of the book's opening scene, another natural disaster brings the novel to a handy but credibility-straining conclusion. Bohjalian's facile handling of both plot and narrative makes for fast reading, but fans may conclude that the result feels rushed and cursory. 13-city author tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A solid story with a strong heart.,
This review is from: The Buffalo Soldier (Audio Cassette)
Firstly I'd like to commend the reader of this eight audio cassette version, Ms. Alison Fraser, for having done as superb a narration I've yet heard on an audio version of any book. Secondly, the story itself has little to do with "The Buffalo Soldiers" story itself, yet the author, even by mentioning them very little in comparison with the rest of the story, manages to incorporate the essence of "The Buffalo Soldiers" themselves so that without it, I don't think this book could make it. Beginning with the tragic deaths of two little girls and the effect their deaths has on their family, Laura, their mother and Terry, their father, and intricately weaving in the story of a young, black, foster child, this story manages to capture and tug at your heart quite strongly. Terry is a "tough guy" state trooper you have to be careful not to dislike, but by tape 2 I was transfixed, listening more and more each day, needing outcomes. The author's message seems clear, triumph over tragedy, victory despite adversity, harsh realities we ignore when we could help, yet this tender story of Alfred, a ten year old black child, says so much more. Chris Bohjalian speaks to prejudice, to nightmares, to heartaches, to love and to spirit in the harsh settings of today and during the Buffalo Soldier's time as well. The story is brilliantly crafted and excellently told. This one, well, you might, perhaps, come to believe in your dreams again.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An absorbing, literary read,
By J. N Sandell "So many books, so little time" (Maplewood, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Buffalo Soldier: A Novel (Paperback)
It always amazes me that this very wonderful storyteller can create such a literary novel, while at the same time making it easy enough to read so that you'd become totally engrossed in it and want to take it on vacation with you. I have read two books by Bohjalian before: MIDWIVES and TRANS-SISTER RADIO and I LOVED them. The only reason I gave this book four stars was because I felt that it was lacking some of the pizzaz of the afore-mentioned novels. Mr. Bohjalian certainly has a knack for telling a story not about the events that happen in people's lives but about the actual people and what they are thinking and feeling and what thier perceptions are. Two years after thier twin daughters die tragically in a flood, Laura and Terry Sheldon become Foster parents for a ten-year-old, African-American boy named Alfred. Alfred has been shuffled around from foster home to foster home for years;he has some very real pain of his own and is struggling to fit in in a racist town in Vermont. Meanwhile, Terry and Laura are still trying to claw their way back from the dark depths of thier grief and face a very real threat to thier marriage:infedelity. Alfred struggles to know where he fits in and very cautiously befriends Paul and Emily Hebert, the Sheldon's elderly neighboors who help keep a watchful eye on what's going on. This book gives its reader a good, healthy dose of morality as well as good old-fashioned hope and love and the posibility of redemption.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Story,
By "wednesdayworthwhile" (Sanford, ME) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Buffalo Soldier: A Novel (Paperback)
The Buffalo Soldier was an easy, solid read. It's the story of a young African American foster child, Alfred, who after being shuffled around from home to home, lands at the Sheldon residence. Although Terry, a Vermont State Trooper, and Laura, director of an animal shelter, appear at first glance to be perfectly qualified foster parents, the case isn't quite so true. The drowning of the Sheldon twins two years earlier has left Laura in a fog of depression resulting in marital deterioration. Will the arrival of Alfred help to resolve their issues or will it worsen their situation? And what about Alfred? Follow him in his journey of adjusting to a predominantly white town, prejudice, and an unlikely friendship that inspires him to overcome through the study of the true Buffalo Soldiers. I commend Bohjalian for his very real depiction of foster children and their behavior. Alfred must exist in every foster child. What I liked about this novel is that it's a very likely, possible account of the challenges a marriage is faced with after the death of a child. The topic of prejudice and friendship seal the deal on a captivating storyline.
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