Slow reading required

If you're not accustomed to old American literature, reading "The Red Badge of Courage" make take some getting use to. I had to read it slowly to understand the book and took me over two weeks to finish despite it being deceptively thin for a novel.

It's a story of Henry Fleming, a private of the Union Army during the American Civil War. He joined the army for romantic reasons, with naive notions that the war will be fought like gentlemen. Before his first battle, he did contemplate about whether he would run if situations become dire. It was during his second battle that he felt ashamed for deserting his regiment. However, he was able to redeem himself by leading his regiment as a flag-bearer in a charge.

Written in 1893, Crane's writing style was vastly different from what I'm used to. Not to mentioned the conversations between the soldiers, using less-than-perfect English. I almost had to read word for word and re-read some of the pages. It was a bit of a struggle at first, but I managed to finish it. I might have to revisit this book to get a better grasp on the story and the protagonist though. Not 100% satisfied.