This satirical novel is the story of Huck Finn and his adventures down the Mississippi River on a raft trying to escape his drunken father. It is the sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and one of the first novels to be written in the local vernacular. How about this from Jim, the slave: “I tuck out en shin down de hill, en ‘spec to steal a skift ‘long de sho’ som’ers ‘bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumble-down cooper-shop on de bank to wait for everybody to go ‘way. Well, I wuz dah all night. Dey wuz somebody roun’ all de time.”? Is that great or what? I've never seen so many words go red for misspellings on Google as I did writing this review. The language does slow the reader down, but conveys all the local color of the mid-1850s.
I loved this book because Twain made me feel like I was in the milieu of the South living on a Mississippian river raft. I could actually feel the heat of the day! He did an absolutely great job of recreating the atmosphere of the South before things became chaotic and uncontrollable; in another words, this novel is set just prior to the Civil War. This is the second novel that I’ve read recently pertaining to this time period in the South, and quite frankly, I’m stunned by the Southerner’s cavalier attitude towards the suffering of their slaves. Yet, Mark Twain made this novel jocular; I guess that’s all part of his satirical style of writing. This version of the novel has 148 illustrations and is a reproduction of the original 1885 masterpiece now published by Piccadilly Books, LTD.
Does the adage “boys will be boys” mean it is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys, or does it mean Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn? I think the latter. This novel is the continuing saga of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, two 13-14 year old rascals. This story opens with Huck now living with the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson. Huck has a considerable amount of money in trust with Judge Thatcher, garnered from Injun Joe in the previous book. Huck’s drunken Pap wants that money and somehow gets control of Huck’s guardianship and leaves with Huck to a cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River. There, Huck is constantly abused, so he fakes his death and heads down river in a canoe. He gets to Jackson’s Island (between Missouri and Illinois) and discovers that Miss Watson’s slave, Jim, is there on the run from Miss Watson because he found out that she was going to sell him for $800. Huck learns that the folks back home think either Jim or Pap killed him. They set off on a raft for incredible adventures. Jim wants his freedom, and Huck wants to get away from Pap.
On Huck’s journeys, he faces many difficult circumstances and makes harrowing escapes. The first is in a shore village where he meets the Granderfords feuding with the Shepherdsons. The ensuing big shootout causes Huck to make egress to the river again. Huck, now back with Jim, meets two incredible grifters on the run from a mob of angry townspeople. They hitch a ride with Huck and Jim on the raft. The scams they pull off with Huck are hilarious! One of these swindlers says he is the rightful Duke of Bridgewater, and the other claims to be the exiled and rightful King of France. I will not tell you anything else, but the plot thickens, and the real fun reading begins at this point in the novel (chapter XIX, page 100).
According to an article from Wikipedia: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism”. The problem is as I read the novel, I was not convinced one way or the other whether Twain was being real or satirical. I guess it’s too late to ask him. Wikipedia also states: “To highlight the hypocrisy required to condone slavery within an ostensibly moral system, Twain has Huck's father enslave him, isolate him, and beat him. When Huck escapes – which anyone would agree was the right thing to do – he then immediately encounters Jim "illegally" doing the same thing”. Later in Twain’s career, he became the harbinger of satirical comedy, but was he the future Will Rogers or Don Rickles? Regardless of my confusion, I have to recommend this novel as it is considered one of the Great American Novels.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: How is this novel rated by other great writers? Well, Ernest Hemingway said: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” Norman Mailer said: "The mark of how good 'Huckleberry Finn' has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page, awkward here, sensational there - absolutely the equal of one of those rare incredible first novels that come along once or twice in a decade." The reader would have to admit this is high praise from two credentialed authors. Some of Twain’s quotes include: "When in doubt, tell the truth."; "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."; "Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts."; "Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can.", and my personal favorite is: "I have been an author for 20 years and an ass for 55." However you look at Mark Twain, one has to admit that he was a remarkable human being.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Uncle Tom's Cabin
On 1/10/1776, Thomas Paine published a 48 page pamphlet titled Common Sense, which was an argument for freedom from British rule. In 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin as an argument for the freedom of all slaves in the United States. Both books ignited a firestorm of debate. Stowe’s book sold over 300,000 copies in its first year. Only a year previous, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 prohibiting aiding and abetting escaping slaves. President Millard Fillmore and Congress passed that law as a compromise between the North and the South to avoid hostilities. What were they thinking? Luckily, many Northerners didn’t heed the law, especially the Quakers. Stowe met President Lincoln at the White House in 1862. He called her “the little woman who started this great war.” According to Stowe the characters were drawn from real life, and the incidents described are real. That’s explosive information because this book was (and still is) an emotional time bomb in disguise. She was asked many times whether the narrative was a true one, and her general answer was “The separate incidents that compose the narrative are, to a very great extent, authentic, occurring, many of them, either under her own observation, or that of her personal friends. She or her friends have observed characters the counterpart of almost all that are here introduced; and many of the sayings are word for word as heard herself, or reported to her.”
The character Uncle Tom is probably one of the most enduring of all time in the world of literature. Who could forget this honest, loyal, and pious Christian slave, who is so maltreated? Stowe fashions Uncle Tom’s trials and tribulations to that of Jesus Christ. Who can overlook the angelic and tragic life of little Eva, the daughter of the kindly white estate owner, Augustine St. Clare? The slave Eliza carrying her baby across the Ohio River, dashing over ice chunks while being pursued by slave catchers is a documented fact. The slaves Cassy and Emmeline are two of the best side characters that I’ve come across covering all genres of writing. Then we have the most infamous and scurrilous character of all time, Simon Legree, the hated owner of a cotton plantation in New Orleans. The empathy and revulsion that the reader experiences reading this novel are monumental.
As Uncle Tom passes from one slave owner to next, the reader hopes for the best. The slave owners see nothing wrong with breaking families up at auction, ripping away a child from its mother, and selling the crying child to a different plantation! Woe is me! Yet the slaves held on to the hope that Jesus Christ would save them. According to Stowe, she believed that the slaves would eventually be “no longer despised and trodden down...” because to paraphrase ”of their gentleness, affection, and facility of forgiveness”. Even the kind owners of the slaves did them wrong by not protecting them from unforeseen factors. If a considerate owner suddenly died without preparing freedom papers for his slaves, his widow would auction the slaves off to pay the estate’s debts, thus breaking up families again. This happens many times in this saddest of sad novels. On page 475, Stowe writes “We have walked with our humble friend (Uncle Tom) thus far in the valley of slavery; first through flowery fields of ease and indulgence, then through heart-breaking separations from all that man holds dear.” Uncle Tom was sold the first time because the estate owner, Mr. Selby was heavily in debt, and Tom was his most valuable asset. So his reward for loyalty is to be sold away from his wife and children! Woe is me!
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brilliant novel is actually two stories in one. You already know about the trials of Uncle Tom. The parallel story is that of Eliza, her baby, and her husband George Harris, a mulatto slave from a neighboring estate. Eliza is also on the estate of the troubled Shelbys and finds out that Mr. Shelby has sold her baby to the despicable slave trader, Dan Haley. That evening she tells Uncle Tom that she is fleeing to Canada! Meanwhile, her husband on a different estate has had enough of abuse and also heads for Canada. Their adventures occupy many chapters and the final result is most rewarding to the reader. Uncle Tom didn’t try to escape because Eliza also heard Mr. Shelby say that if he couldn’t sell Tom, he would have to sell all the other slaves instead. That’s something our hero, Uncle Tom, wouldn’t abide. So poor Uncle Tom is separated from his wife Aunt Chloe, his two sons, and his baby! Woe is me! Will he ever see them again? I’m not going to tell you. This is the most meaningful novel that I’ve ever read. Do yourself a favor and read this piece of American history. It is an awesome event!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Gradesaver says: “Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but…” Folks you must read this novel. According to America’s Story: “Harriet Beecher Stowe cared deeply about human rights. Her family was active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad was a system formed by a group of people who were against slavery. These people helped escaped slaves secretly reach the North.) For 18 years she observed a slave-holding community in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from where she lived in Cincinnati. She didn't like what she saw.” Was she a great lady, or what? Her last book was The Poor Life published in 1890. She died in Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 85. God Bless her.
The character Uncle Tom is probably one of the most enduring of all time in the world of literature. Who could forget this honest, loyal, and pious Christian slave, who is so maltreated? Stowe fashions Uncle Tom’s trials and tribulations to that of Jesus Christ. Who can overlook the angelic and tragic life of little Eva, the daughter of the kindly white estate owner, Augustine St. Clare? The slave Eliza carrying her baby across the Ohio River, dashing over ice chunks while being pursued by slave catchers is a documented fact. The slaves Cassy and Emmeline are two of the best side characters that I’ve come across covering all genres of writing. Then we have the most infamous and scurrilous character of all time, Simon Legree, the hated owner of a cotton plantation in New Orleans. The empathy and revulsion that the reader experiences reading this novel are monumental.
As Uncle Tom passes from one slave owner to next, the reader hopes for the best. The slave owners see nothing wrong with breaking families up at auction, ripping away a child from its mother, and selling the crying child to a different plantation! Woe is me! Yet the slaves held on to the hope that Jesus Christ would save them. According to Stowe, she believed that the slaves would eventually be “no longer despised and trodden down...” because to paraphrase ”of their gentleness, affection, and facility of forgiveness”. Even the kind owners of the slaves did them wrong by not protecting them from unforeseen factors. If a considerate owner suddenly died without preparing freedom papers for his slaves, his widow would auction the slaves off to pay the estate’s debts, thus breaking up families again. This happens many times in this saddest of sad novels. On page 475, Stowe writes “We have walked with our humble friend (Uncle Tom) thus far in the valley of slavery; first through flowery fields of ease and indulgence, then through heart-breaking separations from all that man holds dear.” Uncle Tom was sold the first time because the estate owner, Mr. Selby was heavily in debt, and Tom was his most valuable asset. So his reward for loyalty is to be sold away from his wife and children! Woe is me!
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brilliant novel is actually two stories in one. You already know about the trials of Uncle Tom. The parallel story is that of Eliza, her baby, and her husband George Harris, a mulatto slave from a neighboring estate. Eliza is also on the estate of the troubled Shelbys and finds out that Mr. Shelby has sold her baby to the despicable slave trader, Dan Haley. That evening she tells Uncle Tom that she is fleeing to Canada! Meanwhile, her husband on a different estate has had enough of abuse and also heads for Canada. Their adventures occupy many chapters and the final result is most rewarding to the reader. Uncle Tom didn’t try to escape because Eliza also heard Mr. Shelby say that if he couldn’t sell Tom, he would have to sell all the other slaves instead. That’s something our hero, Uncle Tom, wouldn’t abide. So poor Uncle Tom is separated from his wife Aunt Chloe, his two sons, and his baby! Woe is me! Will he ever see them again? I’m not going to tell you. This is the most meaningful novel that I’ve ever read. Do yourself a favor and read this piece of American history. It is an awesome event!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Gradesaver says: “Even today, with literature constantly crossing more lines and becoming more shocking, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin remains one of the most scandalous, controversial, and powerful literary works ever spilled onto a set of blank pages. Not only does this novel examine the attitudes of white nineteenth-century society toward slavery, but…” Folks you must read this novel. According to America’s Story: “Harriet Beecher Stowe cared deeply about human rights. Her family was active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad was a system formed by a group of people who were against slavery. These people helped escaped slaves secretly reach the North.) For 18 years she observed a slave-holding community in Kentucky just across the Ohio River from where she lived in Cincinnati. She didn't like what she saw.” Was she a great lady, or what? Her last book was The Poor Life published in 1890. She died in Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 85. God Bless her.
Monday, November 26, 2012
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
Walter Van Tilburg Clark wrote this classic western in 1940 that challenges previous westerns by tearing down the usual cliches. This novel is the forerunner of my favorite westerns: Shane
( 1949 ) and High Noon
( 1952 ). While Shane studies greed and High Noon cowardice, The Ox- Bow Incident analyzes many emotions, including regret, sorrow and remorse. It rivals To Kill a Mockingbird for themes covered in one book. According to CliffsNotes, the reviewers loved this bellwether novel: “The Initial response of the critics to The Ox-Bow Incident was that here, at last, was the classic western cowboy novel: His motive for writing The Ox-bow Incident was largely personal. He wanted to recreate, for his own psychological satisfaction, a nineteenth-century American West in its true dimensions, and to see what kind of story would grow out of that”. This is the story of an incident that happened in 1885 Nevada.
The novel begins with our narrator, Art Croft, and his cowpoke friend, Gil Carter, riding into the town of Bridger’s Wells. They go into Canby’s saloon to drink and play cards. Would they have gone anywhere else? During the card game, Gil gets into a fight with a cowboy named Farnley, who accuses Gil of cheating. At the same time, a young cowboy rides into town and tells everybody that a cowhand named Kinkaid has been shot in the head and cattle rustled at Drew’s Ranch. This incites the crowd since rustling has become an epidemic for the town’s ranches. Farnley, a rancher named Bartlett, and Major Tetley (an ex-Confederate officer) incite the crowd into forming a lynch mob. A preacher named Osgood and a store owner named Davies try to talk the crowd out of pursuing the perpetrators. Judge Tyler warns the mob of legal action against them, but his words go unheeded. Off they go looking for rustlers with no real idea of what actually happened at Drew’s Ranch. This is a disaster in the making. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I will tell you that it is sad drama! If you are into reading classics, then put this excellent novel on your list.
Without using descriptive writing, Mr. Clark has somehow bewitched the reader with plenty of empathy for the characters. How did he do that? There were at least 30 characters in this novel, and I felt like I knew all of them. Even minor characters are clear in the mind of the reader: Sparks ,the ex-slave; Butch Mapes, the bully deputy; Ma, the boarding house owner and Monty Smith, the town drunk. The University Writing Center states:”Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry”. Well done, Mr. Clark! This is a novel that leaves the reader with a taste of incongruity for the mob and feeling of agitation for the sitting ducks.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Clark was born in East Orland, Maine, but was raised in Nevada where his father was president of the University of Nevada. The Ox-Bow Incident is considered the first modern western. When writing, Clark went into a self imposed isolation and was known to have thrown completed manuscripts into the fireplace and start all over again. Nevada Magazine states that later in his career: “Clark continued to write, but published very little post-1950. There are 600 handwritten pages of a manuscript entitled Dam, which may be a rewrite of Water. He attempted a final project, a Western trilogy: Admission Day, Way Stations, and Man in The Hole. Three simultaneous projects was a new way of working for Clark. Each had a wire-bound notebook hopefully titled and some chapter outlines and character studies inside”. Clark’s thoughts on his epic western was as follows: “True law, the code of justice, the essence of our sensations of right and wrong, is the conscience of society. It has taken thousands of years to develop, and it is the greatest, the most distinguishing quality which has developed with mankind...If we can touch God at all, where do we touch him save in the conscience? And what is the conscience of any man save his little fragment of the conscience of all men in all time?” Clark was known to be a very eccentric man; as a professor at the University of Montana in the 1950's, he would wear the same clothes for every day of the term! Why he didn't publish much after his four books is still a mystery. His last published book (1950) was The Watchful Gods And Other Stories, and yet he didn't die till 21 years later. Very strange!
The novel begins with our narrator, Art Croft, and his cowpoke friend, Gil Carter, riding into the town of Bridger’s Wells. They go into Canby’s saloon to drink and play cards. Would they have gone anywhere else? During the card game, Gil gets into a fight with a cowboy named Farnley, who accuses Gil of cheating. At the same time, a young cowboy rides into town and tells everybody that a cowhand named Kinkaid has been shot in the head and cattle rustled at Drew’s Ranch. This incites the crowd since rustling has become an epidemic for the town’s ranches. Farnley, a rancher named Bartlett, and Major Tetley (an ex-Confederate officer) incite the crowd into forming a lynch mob. A preacher named Osgood and a store owner named Davies try to talk the crowd out of pursuing the perpetrators. Judge Tyler warns the mob of legal action against them, but his words go unheeded. Off they go looking for rustlers with no real idea of what actually happened at Drew’s Ranch. This is a disaster in the making. I’m not going to tell you what happens, but I will tell you that it is sad drama! If you are into reading classics, then put this excellent novel on your list.
Without using descriptive writing, Mr. Clark has somehow bewitched the reader with plenty of empathy for the characters. How did he do that? There were at least 30 characters in this novel, and I felt like I knew all of them. Even minor characters are clear in the mind of the reader: Sparks ,the ex-slave; Butch Mapes, the bully deputy; Ma, the boarding house owner and Monty Smith, the town drunk. The University Writing Center states:”Characters are the most important component of any narrative. Without them, there would be no story. Character development is an important skill to master because characters are important parts of any creative writing from books and short stories, from biographies and autobiographies, to poetry”. Well done, Mr. Clark! This is a novel that leaves the reader with a taste of incongruity for the mob and feeling of agitation for the sitting ducks.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Clark was born in East Orland, Maine, but was raised in Nevada where his father was president of the University of Nevada. The Ox-Bow Incident is considered the first modern western. When writing, Clark went into a self imposed isolation and was known to have thrown completed manuscripts into the fireplace and start all over again. Nevada Magazine states that later in his career: “Clark continued to write, but published very little post-1950. There are 600 handwritten pages of a manuscript entitled Dam, which may be a rewrite of Water. He attempted a final project, a Western trilogy: Admission Day, Way Stations, and Man in The Hole. Three simultaneous projects was a new way of working for Clark. Each had a wire-bound notebook hopefully titled and some chapter outlines and character studies inside”. Clark’s thoughts on his epic western was as follows: “True law, the code of justice, the essence of our sensations of right and wrong, is the conscience of society. It has taken thousands of years to develop, and it is the greatest, the most distinguishing quality which has developed with mankind...If we can touch God at all, where do we touch him save in the conscience? And what is the conscience of any man save his little fragment of the conscience of all men in all time?” Clark was known to be a very eccentric man; as a professor at the University of Montana in the 1950's, he would wear the same clothes for every day of the term! Why he didn't publish much after his four books is still a mystery. His last published book (1950) was The Watchful Gods And Other Stories, and yet he didn't die till 21 years later. Very strange!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
The House of the Seven Gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the reader a lesson in descriptive writing in this 1851 American Gothic novel. The purpose of descriptive writing is to completely describe every person, place, and thing so that the reader clearly sees it in his mind. This is why the writers of the 1850s were accused of being paid by the word. How about his initial description of Judge Pyncheon: "It was the portly, and, had it possessed the advantage of a little more height, would have been the stately figure of a man considerably in the decline of life, dressed in a black suit of some thin stuff, resembling broadcloth as closely as possible. A gold-headed cane, of rare oriental wood added materially..." Okay, no use continuing with the description; you get what I'm saying. This kind of writing along with the use of archaic words is the reason it is so tough to get through these classic novels. Try reading Herman Mellville's Moby Dick (1851). I'm not saying that I didn't like Hawthorne's book; I loved it as I loved The Scarlet Letter
(1850), and I'm sure I will love The Marble Faun
(1860) when I get around to reading it. In a preface by the author, he calls this book a Romance! But it really is what scholars now call a Dark Romance. Yes, I would agree that this book is very dark and gloomy!
Hawthorne takes the reader on a emotional ride. In the 1600s, the greedy puritan Colonel Pyncheon has Matthew Maule hanged for witchcraft so that he can obtain Matthew's land on which to build The House of the Seven Gables. Before Maule is hanged, he casts a curse upon the Pyncheon Family uttering, "God hath given him blood to drink!" Maule gets his revenge when the Colonel is found dead with blood on his beard. Two hundred years later, we meet the remaining Pyncheon family, most still living in the decaying mansion, destitute and alone. The reader will meet characters inclined to sin, self destruction, rapacity, a craving for wealth and one unpretentious lady. Lets meet the participants, shall we?
We have the spinster with a scowl, Hepzibah Pyncheon, who opens a penny store in front of the house in order to make ends meet. Her brother, Clifford, returns home after serving thirty years in prison for murder, a broken and imbecilic shell of a man. The only friendly neighbor is Uncle Venner, a old man on the decline. The mansion is falling apart, musty smelling and decrepit after nearly 200 years of neglect. Did I mention that it is currently haunted by the ghost of Alice Pyncheon? Sounds like a dark and dreary story, right? Well, yes it is! Enter Phoebe Pyncheon, a cousin that has come to live in The House of the Seven Gables. She brings joy and hope to Hepzibah and Clifford, who were decaying like the fungus of soft timber. Also enter the dishonest and deceitful cousin, Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon! The Judge says that he would like to help the family by bringing all the cousins to his estate. But is that the real reason? Hepzibah vehemently declines the Judge's offer. Enter the house's lone renter, Holgrave (no first name given), who is an daguerreotypist and writer. What's his real mission in the house? Is he looking for retribution? When Phoebe has to go home for awhile to clear up her affairs, it sends Clifford into a bed ridden state and depresses Hepzibah into a maddening state of mind. Then the avaricious Judge Pyncheon returns to the cursed house for, as we would say today, round two! Reader, if you can get through this gothic novel of the 1850's, you will have read a true American Classic.
I found this novel to be similar to a great painting with Hawthorne as the artist. The way he paints the mood shifts and the use of light and shadows gives the reader a feeling of good and evil depending on what character is about. Truly his descriptive writing is brilliant, whether it pertains to a person, the house (dark and damp), or his descriptions of the backyard garden where Phoebe has many talks at different times with Clifford and Holgrave separately. I also thought it was brilliant of Hawthorne to leave doubt in the readers mind at to whether the Maule family was actually in possession of mystical powers or not. I found myself re-reading the "Governor Pyncheon" chapter again and again. It was the most superb episode in this marvelous novel.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: This book is a Signet Classic that I bought for fifty cents in 1961. Fifty-one years later, I finally got around to reading it. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the setting for this book. He is a ancestor of John Hathorne, a Judge in the Salem witch trials. He was so embarrassed by this fact that he added a "W" to his name. Herman Melville dedicated Moby Dick to Hawthorne saying in part, "in token of my admiration for his genius..."A early Dark Romance author Mary Shelley of Frankenstein (1818) fame died the year The House of the Seven Gables was published. A Dark Romance is a tale suggesting that guilt, sin, and evil are the most inherent qualities of humanity. When Hawthorne passed away, authors Alcott, Emerson, Holmes and Longfellow were among the famous pallbearers. Emerson wrote of the funeral, "I thought there was a tragic element in the event, that might be more fully rendered,—in the painful solitude of the man, which, I suppose, could no longer be endured, & he died of it."
Hawthorne takes the reader on a emotional ride. In the 1600s, the greedy puritan Colonel Pyncheon has Matthew Maule hanged for witchcraft so that he can obtain Matthew's land on which to build The House of the Seven Gables. Before Maule is hanged, he casts a curse upon the Pyncheon Family uttering, "God hath given him blood to drink!" Maule gets his revenge when the Colonel is found dead with blood on his beard. Two hundred years later, we meet the remaining Pyncheon family, most still living in the decaying mansion, destitute and alone. The reader will meet characters inclined to sin, self destruction, rapacity, a craving for wealth and one unpretentious lady. Lets meet the participants, shall we?
We have the spinster with a scowl, Hepzibah Pyncheon, who opens a penny store in front of the house in order to make ends meet. Her brother, Clifford, returns home after serving thirty years in prison for murder, a broken and imbecilic shell of a man. The only friendly neighbor is Uncle Venner, a old man on the decline. The mansion is falling apart, musty smelling and decrepit after nearly 200 years of neglect. Did I mention that it is currently haunted by the ghost of Alice Pyncheon? Sounds like a dark and dreary story, right? Well, yes it is! Enter Phoebe Pyncheon, a cousin that has come to live in The House of the Seven Gables. She brings joy and hope to Hepzibah and Clifford, who were decaying like the fungus of soft timber. Also enter the dishonest and deceitful cousin, Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon! The Judge says that he would like to help the family by bringing all the cousins to his estate. But is that the real reason? Hepzibah vehemently declines the Judge's offer. Enter the house's lone renter, Holgrave (no first name given), who is an daguerreotypist and writer. What's his real mission in the house? Is he looking for retribution? When Phoebe has to go home for awhile to clear up her affairs, it sends Clifford into a bed ridden state and depresses Hepzibah into a maddening state of mind. Then the avaricious Judge Pyncheon returns to the cursed house for, as we would say today, round two! Reader, if you can get through this gothic novel of the 1850's, you will have read a true American Classic.
I found this novel to be similar to a great painting with Hawthorne as the artist. The way he paints the mood shifts and the use of light and shadows gives the reader a feeling of good and evil depending on what character is about. Truly his descriptive writing is brilliant, whether it pertains to a person, the house (dark and damp), or his descriptions of the backyard garden where Phoebe has many talks at different times with Clifford and Holgrave separately. I also thought it was brilliant of Hawthorne to leave doubt in the readers mind at to whether the Maule family was actually in possession of mystical powers or not. I found myself re-reading the "Governor Pyncheon" chapter again and again. It was the most superb episode in this marvelous novel.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: This book is a Signet Classic that I bought for fifty cents in 1961. Fifty-one years later, I finally got around to reading it. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the setting for this book. He is a ancestor of John Hathorne, a Judge in the Salem witch trials. He was so embarrassed by this fact that he added a "W" to his name. Herman Melville dedicated Moby Dick to Hawthorne saying in part, "in token of my admiration for his genius..."A early Dark Romance author Mary Shelley of Frankenstein (1818) fame died the year The House of the Seven Gables was published. A Dark Romance is a tale suggesting that guilt, sin, and evil are the most inherent qualities of humanity. When Hawthorne passed away, authors Alcott, Emerson, Holmes and Longfellow were among the famous pallbearers. Emerson wrote of the funeral, "I thought there was a tragic element in the event, that might be more fully rendered,—in the painful solitude of the man, which, I suppose, could no longer be endured, & he died of it."
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Rambling Comments #2
It's conceivable that comments from one of my favorite historical fiction writers, Newt Gingrich, could have derailed Mitt Romney's bid to become the 45th President of the United States of America. If you read To Try Men's Souls , Valley Forge, or The Battle of the Crater, Newt does exude a certain amount of credibility. What I mean is his knowledge of American history does lend to make the reader feel the author is somehow patriotic and believable. When Newt said on 12/13/2011, "I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him, and I'll bet you $10, not $10,000 that he won't take the offer." I also heard an analyst recently say that Newt (to paraphrase) said, "Mitt looks like the man that fired your father." These are things that stay in a voter's head.
I also don't think the American public respects those born with a silver spoon in their mouth, Donald Trump. Our author had this to say about Trump on 4/21/2011, "Well look I think that he is a little bit wild. A little bit...some have compared him to P.T. Barnum and the rise of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He is one of the great showman of our lifetime. He is very clever at getting news media attention. And he’s in his “Apprentice” candidate phase. That’s fine. He brings a level of excitement and life — a lot more folks will talk about the Republican ticket in the next few weeks because of Donald Trump. I’m all for him being an active Republican, but at some point he’s got to settle down…But for the moment, it’s a bit like watching American Idol. We have the newest guest star." To me, that's right on! Look, I'm not saying that I would have voted Republican, but I think Newt would have been a saner choice.
Did it hurt Romney when on 10/4/2012 Newt said, "Somebody who will lie to you to get to be president will lie to you when they are president."He is asked, "Are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?" Gingrich's answer was simple: Yes. I don't know if you have read any of Newt Gingrich's books, but I have, and somehow his thoughts seem more believable to me. One wonders why the Republican party can't come up with a plausible and credible candidate like Ronald Reagan in 1980. Is it time for Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party to make a comeback? I have read many books about Teddy, and I have to say that I'm as John Wayne would say "a pilgrim". One has to be able to read and decipher with a cognitive mind, otherwise it would have been easy to be deceived (as Americans) with Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf ( My Struggle). I guess what I'm trying to say is that a well read person most likely will make a better decision when voting for the President of the United States!
Okay, that's the end of rambling for now. Thanks, Rick O.
I also don't think the American public respects those born with a silver spoon in their mouth, Donald Trump. Our author had this to say about Trump on 4/21/2011, "Well look I think that he is a little bit wild. A little bit...some have compared him to P.T. Barnum and the rise of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He is one of the great showman of our lifetime. He is very clever at getting news media attention. And he’s in his “Apprentice” candidate phase. That’s fine. He brings a level of excitement and life — a lot more folks will talk about the Republican ticket in the next few weeks because of Donald Trump. I’m all for him being an active Republican, but at some point he’s got to settle down…But for the moment, it’s a bit like watching American Idol. We have the newest guest star." To me, that's right on! Look, I'm not saying that I would have voted Republican, but I think Newt would have been a saner choice.
Did it hurt Romney when on 10/4/2012 Newt said, "Somebody who will lie to you to get to be president will lie to you when they are president."He is asked, "Are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?" Gingrich's answer was simple: Yes. I don't know if you have read any of Newt Gingrich's books, but I have, and somehow his thoughts seem more believable to me. One wonders why the Republican party can't come up with a plausible and credible candidate like Ronald Reagan in 1980. Is it time for Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party to make a comeback? I have read many books about Teddy, and I have to say that I'm as John Wayne would say "a pilgrim". One has to be able to read and decipher with a cognitive mind, otherwise it would have been easy to be deceived (as Americans) with Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf ( My Struggle). I guess what I'm trying to say is that a well read person most likely will make a better decision when voting for the President of the United States!
Okay, that's the end of rambling for now. Thanks, Rick O.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
If you think Bing Crosby's 1949 movie was anything like Mark Twain's fantasy classic published in 1889...Forget It! Like the precursor novels Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726 by Jonathan Swift, and Alice in Wonderland, written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, this book was made into a movie barely representative of its source. The film starring Bing Crosby was a musical comedy that only touched on basics of Twain's novel. Mark Twain had a very harsh view of medieval England pertaining to the church and throne to say the least. On page 246, he says, "...if one could but force it (manhood) out of its timid and suspicious privacy, to overthrow and trample in the mud any throne that ever was set up and any nobility that ever supported it". The book has none of the film's niceties; instead, it graphically describes the unjust hangings, stake burnings, murder, slavery, and unfair caste system. This is a brilliant novel written 113 years after the Revolutionary War and 24 years after the Civil War. The contents truly reveal Mark Twain's political and social views, which I think are worthy of the study they have received. For further information on his thoughts see Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition (Mark Twain Papers).
In the year 1879, Hank Morgan (his name is only mentioned once), an arms factory foreman, is knocked out in a fight with a man named Hercules (no, not that one) and regains consciousness under a tree in King Arthur's Camelot in the year 528. He is captured by the less then adequate knight, Sir Kay. At first, Hank believes he's awoken in an insane asylum, but when he is brought before The Knights of the Round Table to receive justice, he realizes it really is the sixth century. He is stripped naked, sent to the dungeon, and sentenced to be burned at the stake the next day. Clarence, a page, visits Hank, and Hank then convinces him that he, Hank, is a super magician. Clarence becomes Hank's right hand man. Hank recalls that a total solar eclipse will occur the next day. He warns King Arthur and Merlin the Magician that he will blot out the sun if they attempt to burn him at the stake. They dismiss him, and as they kindle the fire under Hank, the sun starts to go dark! The King begs Hank to stop it and offers Hank the second most powerful position in Camelot. Hank waits for the eclipse to pass and now becomes known as The Boss to the chagrin of Merlin, the now avowed enemy of The Boss.
The Boss with the help of Clarence secretly starts many modern businesses, such as a telephone system, a newspaper business, a railroad, army and naval academies, an arms factory, an electric company, and an advertising company with the knights displaying the ads on their armour, just to mention a few. King Arthur requires The Boss to go on a quest with the damsel, Sandy, to save enslaved princesses from three ogres! It turns out to be a pig sty with three farmers. He returns to Camelot a hero with his now beloved Sandy. He then has many adventures in Camelot, such as jousting tournaments with the knights armed with lances and The Boss with a pistol (who do you think won?), the blowing up of Merlin's Tower, the magical repair of the fount at the Valley of Holiness, and many more. At this point The Boss decides to go incognito with King Arthur into the realm of the peasants. They find many injustices and wrongs amongst the people, but before they can return to the castle, they are captured by an earl and sold into slavery. They are accused of murder and sentenced to hang. The Boss escapes and calls Clarence for help. The next day just before they are to be hanged, Lancelot and 500 knights arrive on bicycles to save the day!
The ensuing years are good for The Boss, his wife Sandy and their daughter, Hello-Central (that's right). Unbeknownst to The Boss, Merlin has made his family sick. The Boss takes his family away from England and goes on a long vacation cruise to heal. That's when the expression "the shit hits the fan" is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke. A man in a crowded bar needed to defecate but couldn't find a bathroom, so he went upstairs and used a hole in the floor. Returning, he found everyone had gone except the bartender, who was cowering behind the bar. When the man asked what had happened, the bartender replied, "Where were you when the shit hit the fan?"[Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989] This is the best part of the book, the last 100 pages or so. I never could have predicted the ending. The interesting thing about this book is that Mark Twain is the narrator. The book starts out with Twain on a tour of the Warwick Castle. He is approached by a old man seemingly knowledgeable about the castle and the knights. The old man starts to tell Twain his story from thirteen centuries ago, but grows weary at the Warwick Arms, and before retiring to his room, he hands Twain the manuscript to read. This was a great book and if you only read one classic this year...make it this one!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: I think it is ironic that even though Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which was the setting for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that he died in Connecticut in 1910 at the age of 74. William Faulkner called Mark Twain "the father of American literature". Twain had a profitable publishing house with the success of The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, but went broke when he only sold 200 copies of the biography of Pope Leo XIII. He was financially rescued by a principal of Standard Oil, Henry H. Rogers. Twain later went on tour and probably became America's first stand-up comic!
In the year 1879, Hank Morgan (his name is only mentioned once), an arms factory foreman, is knocked out in a fight with a man named Hercules (no, not that one) and regains consciousness under a tree in King Arthur's Camelot in the year 528. He is captured by the less then adequate knight, Sir Kay. At first, Hank believes he's awoken in an insane asylum, but when he is brought before The Knights of the Round Table to receive justice, he realizes it really is the sixth century. He is stripped naked, sent to the dungeon, and sentenced to be burned at the stake the next day. Clarence, a page, visits Hank, and Hank then convinces him that he, Hank, is a super magician. Clarence becomes Hank's right hand man. Hank recalls that a total solar eclipse will occur the next day. He warns King Arthur and Merlin the Magician that he will blot out the sun if they attempt to burn him at the stake. They dismiss him, and as they kindle the fire under Hank, the sun starts to go dark! The King begs Hank to stop it and offers Hank the second most powerful position in Camelot. Hank waits for the eclipse to pass and now becomes known as The Boss to the chagrin of Merlin, the now avowed enemy of The Boss.
The Boss with the help of Clarence secretly starts many modern businesses, such as a telephone system, a newspaper business, a railroad, army and naval academies, an arms factory, an electric company, and an advertising company with the knights displaying the ads on their armour, just to mention a few. King Arthur requires The Boss to go on a quest with the damsel, Sandy, to save enslaved princesses from three ogres! It turns out to be a pig sty with three farmers. He returns to Camelot a hero with his now beloved Sandy. He then has many adventures in Camelot, such as jousting tournaments with the knights armed with lances and The Boss with a pistol (who do you think won?), the blowing up of Merlin's Tower, the magical repair of the fount at the Valley of Holiness, and many more. At this point The Boss decides to go incognito with King Arthur into the realm of the peasants. They find many injustices and wrongs amongst the people, but before they can return to the castle, they are captured by an earl and sold into slavery. They are accused of murder and sentenced to hang. The Boss escapes and calls Clarence for help. The next day just before they are to be hanged, Lancelot and 500 knights arrive on bicycles to save the day!
The ensuing years are good for The Boss, his wife Sandy and their daughter, Hello-Central (that's right). Unbeknownst to The Boss, Merlin has made his family sick. The Boss takes his family away from England and goes on a long vacation cruise to heal. That's when the expression "the shit hits the fan" is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke. A man in a crowded bar needed to defecate but couldn't find a bathroom, so he went upstairs and used a hole in the floor. Returning, he found everyone had gone except the bartender, who was cowering behind the bar. When the man asked what had happened, the bartender replied, "Where were you when the shit hit the fan?"[Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989] This is the best part of the book, the last 100 pages or so. I never could have predicted the ending. The interesting thing about this book is that Mark Twain is the narrator. The book starts out with Twain on a tour of the Warwick Castle. He is approached by a old man seemingly knowledgeable about the castle and the knights. The old man starts to tell Twain his story from thirteen centuries ago, but grows weary at the Warwick Arms, and before retiring to his room, he hands Twain the manuscript to read. This was a great book and if you only read one classic this year...make it this one!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: I think it is ironic that even though Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which was the setting for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that he died in Connecticut in 1910 at the age of 74. William Faulkner called Mark Twain "the father of American literature". Twain had a profitable publishing house with the success of The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, but went broke when he only sold 200 copies of the biography of Pope Leo XIII. He was financially rescued by a principal of Standard Oil, Henry H. Rogers. Twain later went on tour and probably became America's first stand-up comic!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
TWENTY THIRTY
Famed actor and comedian Albert Brooks writes his first novel, a story of future politics and life in America that I found way too predictable. If you look at America's current deficit spending, it's obvious that America will be spending all of its future monies on interest alone, and that we will lose our status as the number one country in the world. As more illnesses are cured, America's senior citizens will live longer, thus drawing more benefits than they have in the past. This will make the country's debt even worse, and the future for young Americans more onerous. Mr. Brooks offers no surprises here. Will politicians back the growing senior population, or will they risk losing their elective jobs? Will AARP become the most powerful lobby in the country? I think you know the answer. Again, nothing new here. So now we get down to the essence of the novel which is what will happen when the clash of the young and old occurs. And while we are at it, let's throw in a monster earthquake that destroys 98% of Los Angeles. The Big One finally arrives!
Basically, we have President Bernstein struggling to get re-elected, balancing the favors of the young and old while attempting to borrow three more trillion dollars from the new number one country, China. Kathy Bernard and her father are faced with outrageous medical loans, while her new boyfriend, Max Leonard, pursues new ways to fight the old with his group "Enough is a Enough". The president appoints a new Secretary of the Treasury, Susanna Colbert, and promptly falls in love with her. Shen Li, the richest man in China, arrives in Los Angeles to pick up the gauntlet of America's health care and make himself even richer. Dr. Sam Mueller has cured cancer and is working on other cures with his mega rich Immunicate company. Walter Masters practices euthanasia, while Brad Miller wants to know why the government doesn't buy his ruined condo after the big quake. New retirement communities are now on cruise ships, and sixty year old seniors are being assassinated on buses throughout America! China says it will not loan any more money to America, but will rebuild Los Angeles for a 50/50 partnership of that city's revenues. Senator Stanley Markum wants his Chinese son-in-law, Shen Li, to be President of the United States. It sounds busy, right? It is, and I have only touched on some of this mumble jumble. All of these plot threads collide later in the novel.
One of my bellwethers for a good book is whether I felt any empathy towards the characters. I have to tell you that I couldn't have cared less for anyone in this novel, who died, or who didn't. To paraphrase Marlon Brando, "This book coulda been a contender." There were too many subplots with no bearing on the story. Was it intelligently written? Yes. There were moments in the novel that could have changed the direction of the novel. When Max says to Kathy, "The olds have to be shaken out of their stupor and realize that they share this planet with everyone else.", I thought to myself, okay now we're going somewhere! But puff went the magic dragon! Albert Brooks failed to take the bull by the horns and develop a meaningful direction for the novel; instead, he wrote about an insignificant conflict. This is one of the few books that I read this year that didn't excite me.
RATING: 3 out of 5 stars
Comment: As far as I know, this is Albert Brooks only book. Hopefully, he will stick to acting, which he is good at. He appeared in the movie Taxi Driver and received an Academy Awards nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News . He was also the voice of Marlin the clownfish in the animated movie Finding Nemo . His half brother had a very funny T.V. series called Super Dave Osborne.
Basically, we have President Bernstein struggling to get re-elected, balancing the favors of the young and old while attempting to borrow three more trillion dollars from the new number one country, China. Kathy Bernard and her father are faced with outrageous medical loans, while her new boyfriend, Max Leonard, pursues new ways to fight the old with his group "Enough is a Enough". The president appoints a new Secretary of the Treasury, Susanna Colbert, and promptly falls in love with her. Shen Li, the richest man in China, arrives in Los Angeles to pick up the gauntlet of America's health care and make himself even richer. Dr. Sam Mueller has cured cancer and is working on other cures with his mega rich Immunicate company. Walter Masters practices euthanasia, while Brad Miller wants to know why the government doesn't buy his ruined condo after the big quake. New retirement communities are now on cruise ships, and sixty year old seniors are being assassinated on buses throughout America! China says it will not loan any more money to America, but will rebuild Los Angeles for a 50/50 partnership of that city's revenues. Senator Stanley Markum wants his Chinese son-in-law, Shen Li, to be President of the United States. It sounds busy, right? It is, and I have only touched on some of this mumble jumble. All of these plot threads collide later in the novel.
One of my bellwethers for a good book is whether I felt any empathy towards the characters. I have to tell you that I couldn't have cared less for anyone in this novel, who died, or who didn't. To paraphrase Marlon Brando, "This book coulda been a contender." There were too many subplots with no bearing on the story. Was it intelligently written? Yes. There were moments in the novel that could have changed the direction of the novel. When Max says to Kathy, "The olds have to be shaken out of their stupor and realize that they share this planet with everyone else.", I thought to myself, okay now we're going somewhere! But puff went the magic dragon! Albert Brooks failed to take the bull by the horns and develop a meaningful direction for the novel; instead, he wrote about an insignificant conflict. This is one of the few books that I read this year that didn't excite me.
RATING: 3 out of 5 stars
Comment: As far as I know, this is Albert Brooks only book. Hopefully, he will stick to acting, which he is good at. He appeared in the movie Taxi Driver and received an Academy Awards nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News . He was also the voice of Marlin the clownfish in the animated movie Finding Nemo . His half brother had a very funny T.V. series called Super Dave Osborne.
Friday, October 26, 2012
RAILSEA
In 1851 Herman Melville published Moby Dick, and in 2012 China Mieville published the remake. Well, sort of. Actually, the only thing in common is the closeness of the authors' surnames. Let's see...We have Melville's whale ship, the Pequod and Mieville's mole train, the Medes. Not quite the same. Then we have Melville's Ishmael and Queequeg, and Mieville's Sham and Benightly. Still no match. What about the captains? The Pequod has Captain Ahab, the Medes has Captain Naphi, but no match because Naphi is a female and has a prosthetic arm, not a leg. Well, kind of. The "weird fiction" writer has written his best book to date. I truthfully understood his entire novel! Not that Mieville didn't use neologisms or seldom used diction, but after reading three of his previous novels, I finally got my mojo in sync with his style. The fourth book was the charm.
We have at least three concurrent plots. Captain Naphi has a philosophy going against the great giant ivory mole, Mocker-Jack. She chases him from rail to rail as he burst out of the ground from time to time and avoids her harpoons. Sham, aka Shamus Yes ap Soorap, is an apprentice doctor aboard her moler train. Oh, I forgot to tell you that this all happens in good old dirt, not water. Anyway during his first voyage, Sham meets the Shroake siblings, Dero and Caldera, who have lost their parents and have a philosophy of their own...they want to find out what their parents saw in the railsea before they were killed. In the meantime, Sham is kidnapped by train pirates that are following the Shroake siblings, thinking there is treasure to be found and surely Sham must know where since he is a friend of the Shroakes. Also involved in the chase are the Manihiki City Naval trains and the god That Apt Ohm's terrible angel trains. Harassing all the trains are giant burrowing ferrets, owls, earthworms, bees, rabbits and beetles to name a few! The only good creature in the novel is Sham's befriended daybat known as Daybe. I was actually rooting for the daybat through out the novel. Well done Mr. Mieville. I had empathy for one of your creations.
As the novel progresses, all the trains converge in the far reaches of the railsea for a final conflict. The last hundred pages or so are super exciting. This is by far Mieville's best effort. How he came up with all the eruchthonous (his word, not mine) animals is amazing. Can you imagine a world (he doesn't tell us where) where the population depends on moles for their meat, furs, and oils for their daily sustenance? I found this novel to be imaginative and enjoyable. Mr. Mieville still uses words that are archaic or made-up, but the reader gets used to them the same way we got used to listening to debates by William F. Buckley, Jr. I mean when is the last time you heard: offterran, ferronaval, or taxonomise? That's pure China Mieville. In my opinion this book could become a fantasy classic. It's that good.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Moby Dick and Railsea both have captains with destructive obsession traits. Both novels also feature a final confrontation between man and beast. The 1850s are considered golden years in American literature since the following works were also published: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
We have at least three concurrent plots. Captain Naphi has a philosophy going against the great giant ivory mole, Mocker-Jack. She chases him from rail to rail as he burst out of the ground from time to time and avoids her harpoons. Sham, aka Shamus Yes ap Soorap, is an apprentice doctor aboard her moler train. Oh, I forgot to tell you that this all happens in good old dirt, not water. Anyway during his first voyage, Sham meets the Shroake siblings, Dero and Caldera, who have lost their parents and have a philosophy of their own...they want to find out what their parents saw in the railsea before they were killed. In the meantime, Sham is kidnapped by train pirates that are following the Shroake siblings, thinking there is treasure to be found and surely Sham must know where since he is a friend of the Shroakes. Also involved in the chase are the Manihiki City Naval trains and the god That Apt Ohm's terrible angel trains. Harassing all the trains are giant burrowing ferrets, owls, earthworms, bees, rabbits and beetles to name a few! The only good creature in the novel is Sham's befriended daybat known as Daybe. I was actually rooting for the daybat through out the novel. Well done Mr. Mieville. I had empathy for one of your creations.
As the novel progresses, all the trains converge in the far reaches of the railsea for a final conflict. The last hundred pages or so are super exciting. This is by far Mieville's best effort. How he came up with all the eruchthonous (his word, not mine) animals is amazing. Can you imagine a world (he doesn't tell us where) where the population depends on moles for their meat, furs, and oils for their daily sustenance? I found this novel to be imaginative and enjoyable. Mr. Mieville still uses words that are archaic or made-up, but the reader gets used to them the same way we got used to listening to debates by William F. Buckley, Jr. I mean when is the last time you heard: offterran, ferronaval, or taxonomise? That's pure China Mieville. In my opinion this book could become a fantasy classic. It's that good.
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Moby Dick and Railsea both have captains with destructive obsession traits. Both novels also feature a final confrontation between man and beast. The 1850s are considered golden years in American literature since the following works were also published: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Henry David Thoreau's Walden, and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
DEATH IN THE CLOUDS
A hodgepodge group of people board a flight from Paris to Croydon, and before they land, one turns up dead! Luckily, one of the passengers is the great detective Hercule Poirot. Thus starts another mystery by Agatha Christie, the most read author of all times. Published in 1935, this novel was originally titled Death in the Air. The victim turns out to be a very rich French moneylender, Madame Giselle, aka Marie Morisot. She is found dead in her seat with a red mark on her neck and a poisoned dart in her lap. Did one of the eleven passengers murder her using a blowpipe dart dipped in snake venom, or did a lone wasp sting her in the neck? Who wanted her dead? That is the dilemma facing our mustachioed Belgian detective, who prefers to speak French and lives in England and sometimes in France. When the plane lands in the aerodrome (I love the flavor of 1935 English language) in England, our stout gumshoe is met by Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard.
At the ensuing inquest, Hercule is nearly indicted because the blowpipe is found behind his seat on the aeroplane. Level heads prevail, and Hercule, Inspector Japp, and Monsieur Fournier of the Surete in France combine their efforts to solve this case. Of course the reader knows that Hercule Poirot will solve the mystery using his "little grey cells" without the aide of his fellow detectives. Mais oui! I have to admit that I had no idea who killed Marie Morisot; only our squat Poirot, who depends on logic alone, would have a chance to solve this murder. He eventually whittles down the other ten suspects to four and zeroes in on the murderer, or murderess. It's always so much fun trying to figure out who the killer is in Agatha's novels, but this time I didn't have any luck!
One of the amazing traits of an Agatha novel is how she can develop the characterization of so many suspects while also leaving the reader with a sense of sympathy for most of them. All that in under 300 pages! She was truly a great writer. I also get a sense of what is happening in the world at the time of publication. In this case it's 1935, and World War II is right around the corner. How about the words and expressions she uses, such as; saltcellar (a salt shaker), or Continental Bradshaw (a guide for railway and steamship navigation) or kerb (curb). This is what I love about an Agatha Christie novel - you get a great mystery and the cognizance of the times. Grab a copy of this Hercule novel and try to figure out which suspect is the killer, then move on to the next novel, The A. B. C. Murders.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: Serious readers are all familiar with Agatha's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries, but not necessarily with the Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries. The couple was portrayed by James Warwick and Francesca Annis in a ten episode series made for T.V. in 1983. There were four full length movies made about this couple along with quite a few novels. Unlike Agatha's other detectives, this couple actually aged in each novel.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
GRANT'S FINAL VICTORY
This is the seventh non-fiction book that I've read concerning U.S. presidents in the last year, and it ranks right up there with books about Presidents' Garfield, Cleveland, Mckinley, T. Roosevelt and FDR. Author Charles Bracelen Flood penned equally as well as his fellow historians Candice Millard, Scott Miller, and James Bradley did. In fact, this book was so well written that I felt like I was part of General Grant's inner circle. It's an attention grabber that doesn't let you go and fills the reader with sympathy and admiration for the General and his family during his last year of life.
I'm sure that most Americans don't know that General Grant was a victim of a early Ponzi scheme shortly after serving his second term as President of the United States and just before he was stricken with throat and mouth cancer. (Did he really smoke twenty five cigars a day?) Grant's son Buck had worked on Wall Street in finance with Misters' Ward and Fish. These people formed a investment banking firm with the General even though Grant knew nothing about the business. But Ward and Fish knew they could draw in many investors using the General's name. They did, but they bankrupted the company and left the General broke just as he found out that he had cancer. Suddenly he was destitute and dying! How would his family survive? He didn't even have a military pension since he had waived his right to it when he became President of the United States, and there wasn't a pension for that job at the time. Can you believe that?
Grant started writing articles about his Civil War campaigns for the Century Magazine to earn some money for his family. It was later suggested by the magazine that he write his Personal Memoirs , but it became apparent that Grant's stipend wasn't fair. To his rescue comes the great writer Mark Twain! He has his own publishing firm, Webster and company, that publishes his own novels. He offers Grant a generous deal that will make his family well-to-do after Grant passes. The race is on...can Grant finish this two volume memoir before he dies? He hunkers down at his house on 3 East 66th street in Manhattan and starts the task. One thing I learned reading this book is that Grant was a very loyal and trusting man, which is why he had so many scandals when he was President (how about eleven?). He was such a fair man that he insisted General Lee and his officers not be tried for treason after they surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. I wonder what Grant would have thought about Mark Twain had he found out that Twain was a deserter from the Confederate States of America? We will never know.
As an symbolic progenitor for a young America, Grant refused financial help from people like William H. Vanderbilt, the richest man in America, and P.T. Barnum because his pride deemed that he earn every dollar on his own. Grant was truly an honorable and dependable man. As a ex-Marine I say "Semper Fi, General". I enjoyed the anecdotes pertaining to his Civil War soldier friends on both sides. The recollections of Grant's granddaughter Julia was both informative and enjoyable. As the final chapters close on Grant, he moves to Mt. McGregor in Saratoga, NY to finish his memoirs relying heavily on his doctors and his son Fred to finish the books. This book is a must for any Civil War historian or strategist. If you want to read a top-notch book that is both somber and intense, then this is it!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: After reading this book, I had the feeling that Grant was a military savant, his other abilities too trusting and naive to be an competent President. The President had the mistaken idea that his staff had the same moral obligations as he. This outright acceptance of their conduct led to many problems for Grant while he was President. I think the historian Eric Foner said it foremost when he said, "Grant was a decent guy who tried his best". Typical of Grant, his last words were "I hope that nobody will be distressed on my account." He is interred along with his beloved wife Julia in N.Y.City's Riverside Park.
I'm sure that most Americans don't know that General Grant was a victim of a early Ponzi scheme shortly after serving his second term as President of the United States and just before he was stricken with throat and mouth cancer. (Did he really smoke twenty five cigars a day?) Grant's son Buck had worked on Wall Street in finance with Misters' Ward and Fish. These people formed a investment banking firm with the General even though Grant knew nothing about the business. But Ward and Fish knew they could draw in many investors using the General's name. They did, but they bankrupted the company and left the General broke just as he found out that he had cancer. Suddenly he was destitute and dying! How would his family survive? He didn't even have a military pension since he had waived his right to it when he became President of the United States, and there wasn't a pension for that job at the time. Can you believe that?
Grant started writing articles about his Civil War campaigns for the Century Magazine to earn some money for his family. It was later suggested by the magazine that he write his Personal Memoirs , but it became apparent that Grant's stipend wasn't fair. To his rescue comes the great writer Mark Twain! He has his own publishing firm, Webster and company, that publishes his own novels. He offers Grant a generous deal that will make his family well-to-do after Grant passes. The race is on...can Grant finish this two volume memoir before he dies? He hunkers down at his house on 3 East 66th street in Manhattan and starts the task. One thing I learned reading this book is that Grant was a very loyal and trusting man, which is why he had so many scandals when he was President (how about eleven?). He was such a fair man that he insisted General Lee and his officers not be tried for treason after they surrendered at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. I wonder what Grant would have thought about Mark Twain had he found out that Twain was a deserter from the Confederate States of America? We will never know.
As an symbolic progenitor for a young America, Grant refused financial help from people like William H. Vanderbilt, the richest man in America, and P.T. Barnum because his pride deemed that he earn every dollar on his own. Grant was truly an honorable and dependable man. As a ex-Marine I say "Semper Fi, General". I enjoyed the anecdotes pertaining to his Civil War soldier friends on both sides. The recollections of Grant's granddaughter Julia was both informative and enjoyable. As the final chapters close on Grant, he moves to Mt. McGregor in Saratoga, NY to finish his memoirs relying heavily on his doctors and his son Fred to finish the books. This book is a must for any Civil War historian or strategist. If you want to read a top-notch book that is both somber and intense, then this is it!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: After reading this book, I had the feeling that Grant was a military savant, his other abilities too trusting and naive to be an competent President. The President had the mistaken idea that his staff had the same moral obligations as he. This outright acceptance of their conduct led to many problems for Grant while he was President. I think the historian Eric Foner said it foremost when he said, "Grant was a decent guy who tried his best". Typical of Grant, his last words were "I hope that nobody will be distressed on my account." He is interred along with his beloved wife Julia in N.Y.City's Riverside Park.
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