Member Reviews

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  • Rated 3 stars

  “I read this in high school and so did not get it. I thought I liked it, but I bombed the AR test.”

  Alizabeth S wrote this review Sunday, August 17 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “I always try to read a few of the classics each year. This one I found to be difficult. It took me almost three weeks to finish the last two chapters. It was not that the language was hard to understand, as I read it was like pulling teeth. There was nothing interesting about any of the characters, and the main character's point-of-view kept changing, which made reading confusing. Although it got praise in it's day, and it is always on the list of must read in schools around the country, or maybe not, I would deffinitly NOT recommend this as a must read.”

  NYwriter06 wrote this review Friday, April 25 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “I had to read this in school and was surprised to find that I liked it.”

  Jennifer the Forgetful Faerie Queen wrote this review Sunday, April 6 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “I listened to (rather than read) this novel on tape. I don't recall the name of the narrator, but he did a marvelous job. The visual landscape the narrator (and Stephen Crane) created reminded me of a Cezanne painting.”

  Jim H wrote this review Monday, February 25 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Although I usually love the old style of classic writing, this book was a tough read for me. It's one I always meant to read, but never quite did. Now I know why. It is soooo impersonal, always refering to the men (yep, there are NO women in this book, except for "the youth's" family mentioned in the first chapter.) All others are referred to as "the stranger" or "the tall man" or "the lanky man". But at least the ending was a bit better...the North won, and now I can mark it off my list, Classics I Should Read.”

  Shareeb wrote this review Monday, February 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “One young enlisted man's experiences as he struggles to gain his 'red badge of courage'. An excellent, universal classic of war and youth, but a bit dry for my tastes. The Civil War just isn't my cup of tea.”

  Molly O wrote this review Saturday, January 26 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “It took me three tries before I could read this book. I simply despised the main character until I was about half way through the book. As he changed, so did my love of the book, in fact I had to go back and read the beginning again.
  The story not of a hero in war, but of a man-child. This story shows how war changes a man, but not just war, the mettle of the man himself is refined, even as through fire and against his will. This is not a romantic story, but full of the horrors of war, and especially the kind of battles that our Civil War was.”

  LeeLee wrote this review Thursday, January 3 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “I wonder if Red Badge was the first war novel to focus on a foot soldier's maturation rather than on his military adventures.”

  HooHah wrote this review Tuesday, December 4 2007. ( reply | permalink )