Meet John Trow

by Thomas Dyja

Steven Armour, though only forty, is already fighting off a midlife crisis-his once-brilliant career fizzling, his marriage going stale, his inner life taking strange, disorienting turns. Then, on an impulse, Steven joins a group of Civil War reenactors, and much to his own and everyone else's amazement, his life suddenly turns around. Assigned to portray a Connecticut private named John Trow, Steven throws himself into the weekend exercises with a zeal and confidence he never knew he possessed. He effortlessly masters the Union Army's complex drills, he bonds with the other men in his regiment, and he becomes infatuated, and then passionately obsessed with Polly Kellogg, the regiment captain's wife. Indeed, so thoroughly does Steven Armour embrace the ghostly life of Civil War Private John Trow that his own identity begins to slip through his fingers with deadly consequences.

"Chucking it all is an urge every twenty-first century American occasionally feels, or ought to. In Meet John Trow, Thomas Dyja uses that impulse to drive a novel that's part business satire, part domestic drama, part postmodern ghost story. And the whole thing works like a dream." (Kurt Anderson, bestselling author of Turn of the Century)

Genres: Fiction, Civil War

355 pages, Hardcover

First published June 3, 2002

About the author

I've written three novels and two works of non-fiction before THE THIRD COAST. I've also worked as an editor, book packager, and many years as a bookseller in Chicago, New York, and Boston. I currently live in Manhattan with my wife and daughter, who's in high school; my son is away at college.

Reviews

[Bill Davis]

Have to give this one a low rating. Almost put it down so many times and any book you have to force yourself to finish isn't good! It wasn't until page 150 that I was interested at all, and then soon after that the plot got so confused and contradictory, Dyja lost me again.

Main problems in a nutshell: a totally unsympathetic main character, Steven Armour, even as an antagonist. Dyja just never got me interested in the guy or cheering for him. I won't go into all details, but there were many. Here are just a few... Steven's wife and children were nowhere near bad enough to justify his "answer" to the family situation, which was abandoning them by being away at a Civil War village as much as he could, much less his committing mindless, relationship-free adultery. I also just could not come close to relating to the MC's new obsession of Civil War reenactment, much less his being turned on by corsets.

Lots of editing errors. Whew! I won't list them all here. And there were many out and out contradictions. I also was bothered by many inaccuracies (like a 12 year old boy in 8th grade at "grammar school" for one! and the boy acts out like he's 15); a 5 year-old girl who acts like she's anywhere from two to eight; wild turkeys that allow themselves to be seen and shot at multiple times; I could go on and on here, but won't.

Finished it, but can't say it was a good read at all.

[Clint]

This book shows a dark side of Civil War reenacting, but it's a great read if you're into the hobby.

[Cindy]

This was not what I was expecting. There was a great deal of self reflection on the part of the main character and it really leads you nowhere.

[Michael]

I liked this book -- particularly interesting is the way the author chooses to present the events, making the reader have to decide for themselves throughout most of the book if there is any sort of fantastical or paranormal act at work of if Steven is simply projecting his desire for change onto his life. Although about 3/4 of the way through I got fairly bored with the book, it's a good read.