What do you think?
Rate this book
Long storm
Veteran storyteller Haycox's epic masterpiece of the Civil War, set in the Oregon Territory. Long Storm is the sprawling story of valiant men and women struggling for survival in a divided land . . . of rugged riverboat captain Adam Music, fated to fight on the side of the Union, and of lovely Lily Barnes, who would risk her life for the man she loved.
369 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1973
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 12, 2011
I love going through used bookstores and looking at all the neat looking books. On one trip I found Long Storm but knew nothing about it. I had come across a first edition though, so for only a couple bucks I was excited to pick it up.
*Mild spoilers below*
I must admit though that I feel sort of awesome for being the first person to write a review for this book. But on the other hand, I also feel kind of bad because I didn't really find it all that great. The biggest issue of the book was in the dialogue. When the characters were talking to each other, I felt like I was watching a badly done Lifetime movie. The phrases were either so incredibly forced or they made no sense at all. Sometimes it seemed like the two people who were supposed to be talking to each other were actually carrying on their own conversations. It just didn't make sense, which was a new experience for me as a reader. I also didn't like how the main character (a guy) could NOT figure out his love life. He basically had two women to choose from and he went back and forth between their houses because he had no clue what he was doing. He would come into one house, have a conversation with one woman which never even made any sense, and then half a page later turn around and do the same thing at the second lady's place. This resulted in me having to read the phrase "so he picked up his cap and left the house" over and over again, about twenty times it seemed. He just kept coming and going and it drove me insane.
Along with the dialogue issue, I couldn't stand all the cliche, meaningless mumbo-jumbo the main character would say. Phrases like, "Maybe I'm wrong, I guess I'll find that out later...we always find out what's right, later." Oh my word. So melodramatic. It's like reading a John Wayne Lifetime soap opera.
I also hardly ever knew if it was day time or night time in this book. You would think that would be a good detail to include, but it was left so open that I had no idea what time of the day it was.
But after all of this, why didn't I give the book only one star instead of two? Well, I didn't detest it, and that's what I usually save the one stars for. There was some drive to finish it, and I was curious how things would work out. Now I know.
*Mild spoilers below*
I must admit though that I feel sort of awesome for being the first person to write a review for this book. But on the other hand, I also feel kind of bad because I didn't really find it all that great. The biggest issue of the book was in the dialogue. When the characters were talking to each other, I felt like I was watching a badly done Lifetime movie. The phrases were either so incredibly forced or they made no sense at all. Sometimes it seemed like the two people who were supposed to be talking to each other were actually carrying on their own conversations. It just didn't make sense, which was a new experience for me as a reader. I also didn't like how the main character (a guy) could NOT figure out his love life. He basically had two women to choose from and he went back and forth between their houses because he had no clue what he was doing. He would come into one house, have a conversation with one woman which never even made any sense, and then half a page later turn around and do the same thing at the second lady's place. This resulted in me having to read the phrase "so he picked up his cap and left the house" over and over again, about twenty times it seemed. He just kept coming and going and it drove me insane.
Along with the dialogue issue, I couldn't stand all the cliche, meaningless mumbo-jumbo the main character would say. Phrases like, "Maybe I'm wrong, I guess I'll find that out later...we always find out what's right, later." Oh my word. So melodramatic. It's like reading a John Wayne Lifetime soap opera.
I also hardly ever knew if it was day time or night time in this book. You would think that would be a good detail to include, but it was left so open that I had no idea what time of the day it was.
But after all of this, why didn't I give the book only one star instead of two? Well, I didn't detest it, and that's what I usually save the one stars for. There was some drive to finish it, and I was curious how things would work out. Now I know.
December 12, 2023
I’ve read many of Haycox’s books and there are several I love. You can tell he has Oregon roots. This tale is set in Portland during the time of the Civil War. His visceral descriptions of the land, weather, the Columbia River Gorge, and old Portland never fail to draw images in your mind. I didn’t love the continuing sense of the hopelessness of life that permeated several of the characters personalities. It made for an overly gloomy read. I prefer his work in Canyon Passage, The Earth Breakers, Alder Gulch, The Border Trumpet, and Stage to Lordsburg (from which the 2 Stagecoach movies were made). He is one of the better western writers of his time.
February 5, 2014
I enjoyed reading this fictional account of Portland during the civil war. The story had three subplots. One described the competition for the Columbia River commercial and transportation business, pitting a large wealthy business against a local one boat business vying for a share of the trade. The other subplot involved men who came to Portland to influence the locals to secede from the union--and of course there was a love story included as well. This book was written in 1947. Haycox wrote a large number of books in his rather short life and was considered part of the pulp fiction genre. He writes well and the characters were engaging.
October 15, 2015
A story of the civil war in Oregon territory: The turmoil suffered by the women as the men are off fighting the war.
A good piece of historical-fiction.
A good piece of historical-fiction.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews