Book Review: Chenneville

Years ago, I picked up Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles on a whim. It’s one of her earlier novels, and it was set near my hometown in Missouri, so it seemed like an obvious choice. It was set during the Civil War, and I’d been a World War II historical fiction rut for a while, so I’m sure it was a welcome distraction. I don’t remember loving the book, but I’ve also never quite forgotten it. 

(Also, if the name sounds familiar, Jiles is the author of News of the World, which was later adapted for the big screen and starred Tom Hanks.) 

So, when I saw Jiles had released a new book, also set during the Civil War and featuring St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve as plot locations, I had to give it a try. 

Chenneville is set just after the Civil War and follows John Chenneville, a Union soldier who suffered a devastating head wound during the war. After about a year of recovery, he finally returns home to the St. Louis area where he learns that his beloved sister and her family, including a young nephew named for him, have been murdered. The rest of the novel follows Chenneville as he tracks the killer across the country and deep into Texas, bent on revenge and retribution. 

Jiles, who is also a poet, has a very distinct writing style. Frankly, it was one of the things that I didn’t love about Enemy Women all those years ago. You can tell she’s a poet in her novels, and sometimes her descriptions get a little verbose for my tastes. But the world would be pretty boring if everyone wrote the same way, right?

I do think that Jiles has a gift for helping us understand the motives and intentions of her characters. Readers are on the journey with John, and as you read, you really understand why he believes that tracking and killing his sister’s murderer is right and proper. You may not agree with his reasoning, but after being inside his head for so long, you’ll understand why he has come to that conclusion. 

Truth be told, Chenneville took me a while to finish. It’s not that it’s a terribly long book, and I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen next. But the journey part of the novel sometimes dragged a bit for me. I would read a little each night and feel like nothing much had progressed in the storyline when I turned off the light. 

In some ways, Chenneville reminded me of Cold Mountain, which many have described as a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey. Jiles plays with some of the same ideas here, and John meets a number of quirky and memorable characters along his journey. Some interactions seemed like dead-ends in the storyline, never really resolved or brought into focus, but maybe that was Jiles’ intention: to take us into John’s mind and let us experience his journey along with him, especially as he is still recovering from a devastating head injury. Few of us gain insight into the deeper meaning of our everyday interactions in the moment; it’s usually much later that we begin to put the pieces together and see how the storylines work together. 

I won’t ruin the ending for anyone who wants to read the book, but I will say that the conclusion felt a bit anticlimactic to me. Even so, I do think Chenneville is a novel worth checking out, especially if you like historical fiction set in the Civil War/Reconstruction era and are looking for a novel that breaks the mold a bit for the genre. 

The Bookery Rating: 📙📙📙

A bit meandering and sometimes focused on difficult situations or subject matter, but a wildly different take on Civil War era historical fiction that’s worth a look. 

As an Amazon Associate, The Bookery earns from qualifying purchases.