There is no doubt that Akerman is a fantastic writer. While this one was so different from the previous book of his I read (Waiting for Eden), I can appreciate his talent. Unfortunately, this one didn't land as well for me, It was just a little too out there for me and I just never was able to find my groove with the story Ackerman was selling.

Stylishly phrased (if on the archaic side) yet dull, this alternative history sets up so many rules of existence that it leaves very little room for the fiction to breathe. Rebirth is now possible. Fine. But for how long? Forever? Do the subjects age? What about disease? The author seems not to want to develop the background, rather to play around with choices and alternative versions within the parameters he’s set up, the state of the nation stuff is hardly fresh and he book as a whole seems to center on very white, middle class preoccupation undertaken by two-dimensional characters, I was not engaged.

It’s funny to me that I can simultaneously find a book’s most pivotal moments underwhelming yet STILL consistently want to pick up the book and keep reading, but that’s what happened here. Nothing about it surprised me, yet I still liked it overall, perhaps because the writing was so impressively gorgeous. Most frustrating to me was the very casual and somewhat unbelievable approach to the concept of cryogenic revivals. I find it hard to buy that the world would be so chill about it, and as a central feature of the story, it was surprising that the author took that approach. Overall though, I was drawn to the story at the same time that I repeatedly found it anticlimactic, so I’d say…read with that in mind?

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.

Published by Knopf on May 23, 2023

Halcyon is a novel of profound questions. When does the damage of compromise outweigh the benefit of national unity? When is sacrifice a better choice than life? Can the past be corrected? Is it forgotten if we choose not to remember details we can’t accept? When life extends beyond its logic, is there any reason for it to continue? What is it that we inherit from the dead?

Halcyon is an alternate history that begins with a contemplation of alternate histories. Martin Neumann is an historian who specializes in the Civil War. He wonders what would have happened if Stonewall Jackson hadn’t been killed and the South had prevailed at Gettysburg. Yet Martin lives in a history that differs from our own. Bill Clinton was convicted of perjury for lying about Monica Lewinsky. Al Gore became the next president because the Supreme Court didn’t hand Florida to Bush. Gore didn’t lead the country into war with Iraq but, freed from distraction, tracked down and killed bin Laden. Gore pardoned Clinton and is in danger of losing the next election, a rematch with Bush.

The alternate history comes across as a thought experiment rather than a background that is integral to the plot. The point seems to be that changing a fact here and there will change history, while the forces that shape history aren’t so easily changed. Bush will eventually invade Iraq and destroy the economy, leading to Obama’s election.

Another science fiction theme is also a background element. Scientists have learned to revive “Lazarus mice” after they die, giving them a second life. Martin is renting a guest house as he writes a book about the Civil War. The guest house is owned by Robert Abelson, a retired civil rights lawyer. Although it has been kept secret from the public and even from Robert’s children, Abelson participated in a study to revive the dead. He’s a success story, a 90-year-old man who looks 50 after his resurrection.

When the news of successful resurrections breaks, Gore bases his reelection campaign on a promise to fund resurrections for people who can’t afford them. Bush questions whether the science is real and vows to ban resurrection research, echoing (in our history) his ban of federal funds for stem cell research.

Robert and Martin have long talks in the evenings before Martin learns of Robert’s resurrection. Some of their talks are about the Civil War. Martin’s book addresses Shelby Foote’s notion that America made a compromise after the war ended. In a new spirit of unity, residents of former Confederate states would pretend not to be traitors while the rest of the country would praise them for fighting with passion about a cause in which they believed. That the cause was slavery cannot be mentioned; that’s fundamental to the compromise. Martin believes the compromise was essential to reuniting the nation, a point of view that has fallen out of favor as historians have become less willing to support the celebration of the Confederacy.

To the extent that Halcyon has a plot, it begins with a movement to remove a statute of Lee at Gettysburg. Thousands of people have signed petitions. When they are delivered during a massive protest, Robert points out their legal flaws and they are rejected. The person who spearheaded the petition drive wants revenge on Robert. She sues him on dubious grounds and wants his will to be nullified so that assets distributed to his wife and children will be available to pay the judgment. The legal theory underlying the lawsuit is shaky but so is the idea of resurrection, so it’s best to let the details slide.

Martin’s long friendship with another historian — a man from Mississippi who feels the Confederacy in his bones — is jeopardized when, during a visit to Gettysburg, Martin learns that his friend agrees with removing Lee’s monument. They have a long discussion about change that forms the novel’s intellectual core. Martin eventually realizes that history is personal to his friend, that it’s part of his family history, and that removing the monument might cleanse a troubling stain.

Martin’s initial sense is that the monument is part of history and history doesn’t change. He views the monument as a natural outgrowth of Shelby’s view of post-war compromise; a means of letting the South replace the shame of insurrection with the glory of having fought the good fight. Martin comes to understand that removing the monument isn’t about change. It’s about letting go of the past. Making a fresh start might be what the nation needs. It might be what Martin needs as he struggles to write a book that is founded on a premise he begins to question.

There is, of course, more to Martin’s life. His ex-wife is a lawyer who plays a role in one of the novel’s legal battles. The book ends with another contemplation of alternate histories, a collection of “what ifs.” Martin makes decisions about where his life should go, turning a “what if” into a “why not.”

Halcyon is a collection of interesting concepts, any of which could be the foundation for a novel. A character prefers to live a life of grievance rather than forgiving a perceived transgression. A character who could choose resurrection instead chooses death to resolve a family problem. The morality of resurrection has been explored in other novels. Elliot Ackerman addresses it as a political issue that divides Bush and Gore without weighing its philosophical implications.

The strongest concept and the one most central to the story questions the immutability of the past. Historical facts don’t change but some are forgotten and the importance assigned to others fluctuates with time. Perhaps all histories are alternate histories, different versions of the past that depend on how we interpret them.

The novel ends with a surprise that really isn’t. The plot never quite takes off, but Halcyon is more a novel of ideas than a story that depends on plot development. I’m not sure most book clubs are interested in books that lack a strong plot, but Ackerman probes so many ideas that book clubs with an intellectual bent might want to put Halcyon high on their reading list.

RECOMMENDED

I love this book SO much. There is so much subtle truth in these pages. Ackerman continues to nail the human experience with his exquisite prose and his ability to bring out so many different emotions in the reader. READ THIS!

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!!

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.

“‘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.”

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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.

Thanks to the publisher for an e-galley (and finished copy) of this book. A very thought provoking alternative history, this book looks at the end of mortality as a scientific discovery.

In an alternate history, Al Gore is the president, and his administration has just revealed that it has supported a major new discovery: scientists have discovered a way to "cure" death. Martin, a history professor, finds himself questioning the implications of this discovery, including for his field and what it means for the country.. Martin works through these questions as he becomes more deeply enmeshed in the life of Robert Ableson, a once famous attorney who has rented a cabin on his estate to Martin. Martin soon finds that both Robert and the new scientific discovery are complicated in related and surprising ways that raise questions about his, Robert's, and the nation's future.

This is an interesting and thought-provoking story that explores timely themes.

I don't know what to make of this novel - is it science fiction, is it alternative history, is it a sly discussion of ethics,, politics, and other things- or is it all of the above. Set in 2004 on an estate named Halcyon, it's narrated by Martin Neumann who has retreated there to write on reconciliation during Reconstruction. His landlord, Robert Abelson, has somehow been resurrected after dying of pneumonia thanks to scientific advances made during a Gore administration (after Clinton was pushed out of office). Then George W looms. Oh and pulling down statues. There are a lot of ideas here, perhaps too many, almost as if Ackerman pulled a group of ideas together and threw them on the page. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This wasn't for me but his fans might give it a try.

Interesting. In some ways a book of ideas. This has an interesting premise and it's executed pretty well. I enjoyed the author's writing style and stayed engaged.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

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.