The Buffalo Soldier

Chris Bohjalian is one of my current favorite authors. I really enjoyed this read and appreciated the integration of the history of Buffalo soldiers with the text. I liked the shifting character perspectives. The characters seemed multi-faceted and relatively realistic. The ten-year-old seemed a bit unrealistically mature for his age, but wasn't annoying precocious. I felt that the book's treatment of grief was very nuanced and its attention to Vermont-based geographic detail was well integrated into the plot.

Terry and Laura Sheldon's lives get turned upside-down when their twin girls die in a flash flood. Their marriage is brittle as they invite a foster child into their home. Alfred is a 10 year-old African-American boy, who has been shuffled from foster home to foster home and can't trust that he may be here to stay. Enter kind elderly neighbors next door, who teach Alfred about the Buffalo Soldiers from the Civil War who were known for the honesty and integrity which inspires the child.
The plot has several important twists that further affect them all. Beautifully written and evocative, Bohajlian deals with the question of what makes a family? Highly recommended.

This is the novel that I'd hoped Bohjalian was capable of. His earlier books had shown a fine capability with words and characters and emotions, but were hamstrung by an "Opra-esque" leaning ("Midwives", "The Law of Similars") or "Jerry Springer-ish" situation ("Tran-Sister Radio"). This is the mature work of an assured writer, dealing with a couple, Laura and Terry, who lose their two 9-year old twin daughters in a flash flood. Two years later they have taken in a ten-year old black foster child, Alfred, who has great potential but is aware that foster homes for such as him are limited in duration, and resignedly looks ahead to the next one. Terry and Laura, still wounded and grieving over their daughters, have taken different paths show more toward recovery, which threatens their marriage and Alfred's future. A well-written, powerful and mature book, sadly wry, and hopeful after a harrowing crisis near the end. show less

THE BUFFALO SOLDIER is good, as are all of Chris Bohjalian's books. But most of them go beyond good; some are even fabulous. This one is just good.

It’s a pretty simple story, really, starting with the death of Laura‘s and Terry‘s twin daughters. Their grief is immense, even after 2 years. Then they become foster parents to a 10-year-old boy, Alfred. Their neighbors give Alfred a book about the buffalo soldiers.

This story is about Laura‘s and Terry‘s marriage, their feelings for their foster son, and their foster son’s feelings for them. Saying more than that would be giving too much away.

Unlike most author's books, Bohjalian’s are both plot- and character-driven, not just one or the other. That’s why he is one of my show more favorite authors. But I expected more of this book and, so, was disappointed. Believe me, though, it really is good, especially the scene when Alfred rides the horse into the village when the weather has caused mass flooding. THE BUFFALO SOLDIER won’t be a waste of your time.

My only specific criticism of this book is it lack of quotation marks. Why do authors do that? Quotation marks make a book more readable. Therefore, not using them is a disregard for your reader. show less

In "The Buffalo Soldier", author Chris Bohjalian gives the reader two stories for the price of one: the first story being that of Terry and Laura Sheldon and their foster child Alfred, and the second being the story of George Rowe, "the buffalo soldier." Just as the circumstances and emotions surrounding the Sheldon girls' tragic deaths is a constant theme throughout the novel, so is the story of the buffalo soldiers. Perhaps it was because I listened to this novel on audio, but it is not apparent at first how the two stories are symbolically connected - and at times (again, possibly due to the audio format), the quotes from Rowe seemed to be distracting from the story itself.

The weather, the cold, and the presence of water (in all its show more forms - rain, the river, etc.) are also key symbolic elements that are an integral part of this novel. It is set in late fall and winter, so the Vermont landscape is often depicted as very cold and gloomy. Such is also the case for the marriage of Terry and Laura Sheldon following the deaths of their daughters. The reader isn't given much of a glimpse into the Sheldons' marriage prior to this incident, but understandably so, the couple deals with their emotions to their shared tragedy in separate ways. Bohjalian portrays the emotions experienced by the wife, Laura, extremely well; his portrayal of 10-year Alfred is also exceptionally well-done.

Much of the writing in "The Buffalo Soldier" is well-done. Bohjalian shines in his descriptions of the landscape, and the interactions between Laura and Alfred as well as Alfred and the retired college professor and his wife who live across the street, are beautifully brought to life. I did not care much for Terry or Phoebe, which may have been the reaction that Bohjalian hoped to arose in his readers. The story does fall short in its ending. The drama that fills the climatic scenes in the book are believable, but the resolution of the conflict in the story absolutely is not. It's wrapped up hastily (as if there was a page limit that was foisted upon the author) and too neatly - a little too "movie-of-the-week"-ish. With all the complexities that each character carries, they - and the reader - needed something more. Overall, I liked the novel and will certainly read more of Bohjalian's work as he is a talented writer. show less

probably my least favorite of his that i've so far read (out of a handful). the writing is good, as is to be expected from him, but i was uncomfortable the whole time with the idea that this black boy was going to be adopted by this white family who lost their children and give meaning to their lives again, and save them somehow.

This was a story that seems unlikely, but for that very reason tends to ring true.
We have all heard of tragedies that seem almost overwhelming in other families,
situations so dreadful that no author could imagine them.

Bohjalian does. This is a story of a family tragedy that becomes a life changing, and loving situation for a boy that starts out as a stranger and becomes a son. Twin daughters are swept away in a flood in the first pages. The town rallies to console the family in the early days, but as is true in real situation of this sort, support falls away as people realize that there is nothing that they can do to assuage the grief following such loss.

This family finds its way out of darkness into the light and in doing so, the show more lives of an elderly neighbor and a young foster child are changed along with theirs. The ending is absolutely heart stopping, and was for me, unexpected. This is a compelling read with all too real characters. It is a can't put it down book, like all of Bohjalian's books. show less