I found the characters too black and white (and by this I don't mean their skin colors). They were either heroic or cowardly; upright or depraved; lovesick or hate-filled... etc. There's no depth in the characters, nor subtleties in their feelings or thinking. The villains (female and male) are not believable.

There is also far too much stereotyping. The public voices in the South are negro haters; the public voices in the North are Southerners haters...

Overall it's not well-crafted storytelling. After the first quarter of the book, I forced myself through the rest just so I could go on to other more worthy books. I don't plan to listen to Parts 2 & 3.

No I love historic fiction, but the characters need to be more real and less naïve or crazy

By the end I was hoping the characters would be killed just to put them and us out of their misery. I think the Civil War was vicious enough without having to make every antagonist crazy and a sadist. It goes on and on with even the writer having to explain why someone could hold a grudge for two generations. The characters also seem too stupid; one minute knowing the person is crazy and wants to kill them and then thinking, “But a Gentleman wouldn't stoop to such a level.”

No.

The "evil" male characters are homosexual, and the "evil" female characters have intercourse with whoever is around. It is very one dimensional and poorly written, the author has no fantasy as to the characters in the story.

North and South has been sitting in my Audible library for a couple years. I have no idea why it took me so long to listen to it, but once I finally started, I could not stop. At more than 30 hours, it's impossible to listen to it in one sitting, but I wish I could have. I stayed up well into the early morning hours on more than one occasion because I just couldn't turn it off. I found myself talking back to the narrator and yelling at my iPod because of all the dramatic twists and turns, the evil scheming, and the sheer desire for the protagonists to triumph.

I loved the attention to historical detail and the use of real historical figures as minor characters in the story line. Even the Afterword, in which the author talked about his research and the writing process, was interesting to me.

The narrator was superb, especially his voice for Orry. I could easily distinguish when Orry was speaking, even when in conversation with other South Carolina characters.

Five stars, all around. * * * * *

So disappointed. Clichéd, overbearing and sometimes downright silly. Want to read about The Civil War? Read The Killer Angels instead.

no

to many steamy relationship parts. overboard on the sexual tension.

George Main

Disappointment, I wanted to finish but couldn't put up with all the Sex

disappointment

What can I say about this book and it's author that haven't already been said?

The North and South series is fantastic. It's the story of two families intertwined by friendship, love, and marriage; separated by being "northerners" and "southerners", and ultimately by civil war.
I couldn't help but love the characters. They are well developed and intertwined, but not in such a way that would make the book confusing. John Jakes is the PG-13 version of Ken Follett - just enough to keep the story interesting, but not enough to make it pornographic. Those who have read both authors know what I'm talking about.
Its hard to imagine what life would have been like living during the civil war period. Your friends - and even some of your family - suddenly your "enemies", all because of the evil ideology of slavery, corrupted power structures, culture, and simple geography. The veins of slavery ran deep enough to turn a nation against itself, resulting in hundreds of thousands dead. It's books like this that help you see the victims on both sides.

Great book. Held my attention all the way through, so it deserves a minimum of 4 out of 5 just for that. Nothing entertains me more, than learning about different countries histories through fictional characters, set in non fictional events. And this is a great story set in the civil war, which has eluded me for some time. I'll definitely listen to the sequels to this book.

I am really enjoying this book, but I love this period in history. Interesting characters. Every so often it gets a bit slow, but it always picks up again.

I read it many years ago and the audio version brought it to life. Great listen

the feeling you are there with the characters, both in Pa and in the South

No

no