It took me about five tries to get through the first volume. After I did, volumes two and three were like a fine novel, where knowing the ending didn’t detract from the experience.
After having read the Narrative twice, I thought it would be nice to listen to the audiobook and have my son listen as well. The narrator's pronounced Yankee accent made it impossible to listen to. I can't figure out why the publishers picked that guy. Shelby Foote had a great voice and they could have had him read it while he was alive. A Brit would have been much better than the dude they picked.
It has been along time since I read the trilogy. I may restart it soon. Yes, it was like reading a novel. I loved the beautiful prose. The climax of the battle of Chancellorsville as depicted by Foote is beautiful and thrilling.
I just finished the 3-volume biography of Churchill that was started by William Manchester and finished by Paul Reid. In volume one, we learned that Churchill loved the historical writing of Thomas Babington Macauley. The distinguishing thing about Macauley was the beauty of his language (he also wrote poetry). Churchill memorized large stretches of Macauley's writing, and it is no accident that Churchill himself emulated Macauley by becoming one of the most eloquent writers of his time. I think Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy is an American version of the type of eloquent and thrilling history as written by Macauley and Churchill.
Too many historians are great historians and lousy writers. I wish more had the novelist's touch that Foote brought to his trilogy.