Pelican Road: A Novel
By Howard Bahr
Macadam Cage: May 9, 2008
Howard Bahr is a train man. Pelican Road, Howard’s first non-Civil War fiction, is a literary train novel. This is the only serious railroad fiction that I know of.
Pelican Road is the train route from Meridian, MS to New Orleans. Set around 1940, Howard captures the personalities; the way folks lived; their meanness and their cares; their moments of good fortune and their unfortunate times.
Through the eyes of the people in this era, we learn about the ways of the railroad: the trains themselves and their workings; train jobs and their responsibilities; the real-life characteristics of railroad men; and insight into the joys and hardships of the railroad life.
I especially like the way Howard worked WWI (“Doughboy War”) into this novel. Dealing with flashbacks gives Howard’s Civil War fiction fans just enough. Pelican Road extends Howard’s fiction into a new, broader era offering insight into the 2nd generation, post-Civil War life.
My favorite aspect of this fine novel laid in Howard’s ability to relate the sheer power and force of the train itself and the way the machine is revered in language.
There is no doubt, in his heart, Howard is truly a railroad man.
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