A competent retelling of an extraordinary life
Since his death almost 100 years ago, Jack London’s legendary life has inspired many biographies, none of which has yet been deemed worthy of being called definitive. This latest attempt at encapsulating the life and spirit of America’s greatest author, published in 2010, comes from James L. Haley, who previously penned several books on Texas history, including a biography of Sam Houston. The book opens with an impressive preface, in which Haley not only praises London’s skills as a writer, but also acknowledges his influence on American cultural history and his relevance to the present day. Unfortunately the rest of the book doesn't live up to this preface, and the biography that follows is a rather straightforward chronicling of London’s life events.
Much of the book is simply a rehash of London’s autobiographical writings and semi-autobiographical fiction. Haley lifts scenes from John Barleycorn, The Road, Tales of the Fish Patrol, Martin Eden, The People of the Abyss, The Cruise of the Snark, and others; rearranges them in chronological order; and rewrites them in workmanlike prose far inferior to London’s original writing. Had I not recently reread all those works I might have enjoyed this book more, but Haley’s account of London’s adventures renders them dull and lifeless by comparison.
Beyond regurgitating what London has already written, Haley has obviously delved deeply into London’s correspondence, and uses it to provide a wealth of information on London’s interaction with his family, friends, acquaintances, and business colleagues. Haley spends an inordinate amount of time speculating upon London’s possible homosexuality. London spent time on sailing ships, in prison, and in hobo camps, where he most likely witnessed homosexual relationships. Even Haley admits there’s no proof that London participated in relationships of this sort, either consensually or unwillingly, but the lack of evidence doesn’t stop him from dwelling on it. Haley also examines the author’s intimate “bromance” with poet George Sterling in minute detail, but his hypothesis that the two were having sexual relations is never convincing. If the best conclusion that he could come up with is that it is “not improbable” that the two men had a physical relationship, then it’s probably not worth devoting so many pages to the topic.
London led such a full and fascinating life that there’s little need to pad the book with a lot of literary criticism. Haley wisely refrains from too much textual analysis, the bane of most literary biographies. He does provide one-paragraph summaries of some of London’s works, and only spoils the endings of a few of the major ones—The Call of the Wild, White Fang, The Sea-Wolf—assuming that anyone reading London’s biography would have already read those works.
There’s nothing new here that’s going to shake the world of Jack London studies or cause literary scholars to jump up and take notice. Yet, for the average fan of London’s books, it’s a pretty good synthesis of existing information on the author and his life. Haley tells the story with a balanced perspective, neither mudslinging nor adulatory. Perhaps at times he seems to relish depicting the mature author as an overgrown child—all narcissism, pettiness, and tantrums. A little more admiration for London’s remarkable achievements would have been welcome, but overall I think Haley’s treatment is relatively fair and objective. London aficionados will find this book a useful summary of his life, but, far from being definitive, it’s an extraordinary story only adequately told.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YVWM821YKWXE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
The Original CSI
Little needs to be said of the profound influence that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has had on detective fiction or in the broader realm of literature in general, as well as film. A Study in Scarlet is where it all began. Originally published in 1887, this novel features the first appearance of the great fictional detective and his faithful colleague Dr. Watson. Here Conan Doyle establishes all the familiar elements of Holmes’s world—the apartment at 221B Baker Street, landlady Mrs. Hudson, Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson of Scotland Yard, Holmes’s research into criminal forensics and his exercise of deductive reasoning, and the enjoyable repartee between Holmes and Watson.
Conan Doyle is primarily known for his short stories, most notably the series of mysteries beginning with the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Though he only wrote four novels featuring Holmes, A Study in Scarlet proves that Conan Doyle’s skill as a novelist may even surpass his facility for crafting short fiction. While his shorter pieces do a great job of showcasing the characters of Holmes and Watson, often the supporting characters are shallowly developed and the actual mysteries are not sufficiently mystifying. In the longer format of the novel, Conan Doyle has the opportunity to construct a more intricate, confounding plot that leaves the reader guessing from chapter to chapter.
The book opens with Dr. John Watson recently returned from service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Temporarily unemployed, he is living off of a government disability check while recuperating form injuries suffered in combat. Due to his strapped financial situation, he seeks a roommate to share lodging expenses, and a friend introduces him to Sherlock Holmes. The two new acquaintances inspect a room at 221B Baker street, find it to their liking, and become flat mates. The rest, as they say, is history. Soon afterward, a dead body is discovered in an empty house, with no visible sign of the cause of death. The word “RACHE” is scrawled in blood on the wall. It takes Holmes little time to discover and apprehend the killer, but it takes Watson and the reader until the end of the book to figure out how he did it.
The story switches perspective in the middle of the book in order to relate the back story of the crime. During this extended flashback, Holmes and Watson are entirely absent for five chapters. This would be an annoyance were it not for the fact that the story is so well written and captivatingly suspenseful. Instead of simply creating cardboard supporting characters designed to act out a mystery for the two leads to solve, Doyle creates memorable characters that the reader actually cares about. When the story finally returns to Watson’s narration, we learn how Holmes solved the case, and, as usual, his talent for the art of deduction is mind-blowing.
Everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is, and either you like this sort of thing or you don’t. If you belong in the former category, and you haven’t read the book that started it all, then you are doing yourself a great disservice. More than just a historical monument to the birthplace of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet is a masterful work of literature that certainly ranks as one of Holmes and Watson’s most intriguing adventures.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3OK9OY4V8EQA/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
A must-read American classic
Any top ten list of American novels should include Upton Sinclair’s masterpiece, both for its literary qualities and its historical significance. The book has unfortunately been stigmatized as the “dirty meat novel”, when in fact there are only a couple of brief passages that talk about the actual processing of meat. Mostly it’s about the exploitation of immigrant workers, and their struggle to survive in a country where they’re treated as little more than beasts of burden. The ending of the book is often criticized, as the last chapter is basically a Socialist manifesto, but Socialism was a powerful force in America in the early 20th century, and this novel paints a vivid picture of that era in American history.
With all the editions of The Jungle out there, why buy the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition? The introduction and foreword are excellent, providing valuable historical context, an in-depth account of the book’s reception by critics and the public, and insight into the long-term effects of The Jungle on the meat industry. Plus, the book is well-designed, with elegant, comfortably readable typography, and a dramatic cover design by Charles Burns that’s sure to turn heads at the coffee shop.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2FW7YQDURBJVZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
A sequel that improves upon its predecessor
The Deluge (also known by its Polish title, Potop) is the second novel in “The Trilogy” by Nobel prize-winning Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz. First published in 1886, it picks up where the first volume, With Fire and Sword, left off. The term “The Deluge” refers to a period in Polish history when the nation was plagued by multiple wars. The story takes place from 1654 to 1657, during which time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was simultaneously invaded by no less than three occupying forces: the Russians from the northeast, the Cossacks from the southeast, and the Swedes from the northwest. In addition, a civil war erupted within the Commonwealth between those loyal to the elected Polish king Yan Kazimir, and those who aligned themselves with Yanush Radziwill, a powerful noble who advocated a bloodless surrender to the Swedes. (This review is based on the English translation by Jeremiah Curtin, so I am using his spellings of proper names.) The historical context is intricately complex, and Sienkiewicz builds an excellent novel upon this fascinating framework.
The Deluge brings back several characters from With Fire and Sword, among them Pan Michael Volodyovski, Pan Yan Skshetuski, and the inimitable Pan Zagloba. Sienkiewicz also introduces a new protagonist, Andrei Kmita, a fierce but lawless warrior whose headstrong nature often leads him into trouble. To win the hand of Olenka Billevich, the beautiful noblewoman whom he loves, he most atone for his past transgressions through service to God and country. Volodyovski and Kmita, perhaps the two most highly skilled warriors in the Commonwealth, find themselves on opposite sides of the civil war. Though each is faithful to the Commonwealth in his own way, their conflicting ideologies may force one brave soldier to take the life of the other.
Though With Fire and Sword is a great novel, The Deluge far surpasses it. There is never a dull moment in this one. Sienkiewicz grabs your attention in chapter one and holds it all the way through chapter 97. While With Fire and Sword was a book that dripped with gore galore, the action in The Deluge relies more on political intrigue and military strategy. It very much resembles the Three Musketeers novels of Alexandre Dumas, but with less comic relief (though Zagloba is always good for a laugh). In addition to the swashbuckling, mano-a-mano sword fights, there’s plenty of detailed blow-by-blow battlefield commentary for tactical enthusiasts. Lovers of romantic literature will enjoy the epic adventure, and history buffs will be more than satisfied with the wealth of knowledge they receive in Eastern European history. The Deluge never reads like a textbook, however; in fact it rivals masterpieces of historical fiction by Dumas, Victor Hugo, or Sir Walter Scott.
One warning: this may be the longest book I’ve ever read. It’s definitely up there in the Anna Karenina range. Though that’s not necessarily a fault, readers should be prepared for a significant investment in time. This book will occupy you, enjoyably, for quite a while.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R37Z7GHC42GOWX/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Not Zola’s best, but still a good read
The eleventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, this book picks up where the last installment left off. Octave Mouret, featured in Pot-Bouille, also has a lead role in this novel. Through a fortunate marriage to a bride who dies not long afterward, young business man Mouret is left with a thriving department store named Au Bonheur des Dames. Through a natural business sense and a flair for promotion, he builds this store into the grandest mecca for shopping in all of Paris, in fact in the entire world. Soon the store swallows up the neighboring real estate, putting his old-school competitors out of business with his new brand of commerce. A few of the established firms, however, hang on for a grueling battle with this Goliath of retail.
At this point in history, department stores were a new invention, and a few stores in Paris totally revolutionized the way the world did business. Zola captures the excitement of that time. He obviously admires the revolutionary entrepreneurs for their efficiency, ingenuity, and showmanship, but he also laments the fall of the traditional Parisian shopkeeper. As Zola often does, he sets up a conflict between the two opposing philosophies, then brilliantly defends both sides of the argument. He also studies the consumers, and explores the growing obsession with shopping that blossomed among an enlarging middle class with disposable income. The depiction of the workings of the giant enterprise are interesting, and the store is staffed by a host of vividly drawn characters. The main protagonist of the book is not Mouret, but Denise Baudu, a poor girl from the provinces who comes to Paris to work as a saleswoman. Zola is usually so good at creating realistic characters, warts-and-all, but Denise is so squeaky clean and noble that she comes across as too perfect to be true. She belongs in a melodrama, and the more the book concentrates on her, the more the story devolves into just that. Zola’s literary style, Naturalism, calls for an exhaustive accumulation of sensory details. Unfortunately, these details form long, often tedious descriptions of store displays. On the whole, this is a good book, worth reading, though not one of Zola’s masterworks. I would recommend reading Pot-Bouille (aka Pot Luck or Restless House) instead. It is a much better novel.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2IVDSWRRVDYOV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
The word “adequate” comes to mind
When Jack London was a teenager, he hooked up with a gang of sailors who pirated oysters from the beds around San Francisco Bay. After proving himself skilled in this form of larceny, he was persuaded to convert to the right side of the law and contribute his sailing skills to the California Fish Patrol. This agency monitored the waters of the bay, arresting poachers and scofflaws who violated the state fishing regulations. Tales of the Fish Patrol is a collection of short stories that, though highly fictionalized, are based on this period in London’s life.
Although each of these seven tales could stand alone as a self-contained short story, they feature recurring characters and are intended to be read in sequence. They are narrated by an unnamed 16-year-old boy, presumably a surrogate for London himself. This narrator is aided by his partner, Charley Le Grant, and mentored by a supervisor, Neil Partington. All seven stories have the same basic structure. In the first few paragraphs, London describes a particular regulation in the fishing code, and the corresponding method of fishing that violates said code. The fish patrolmen find some suspects practicing this illegal angling, and they move to apprehend them. Most of the action in the book is boat vs. boat, rather than man vs. man, though the occasional shot is fired. Usually there is not much trouble in capturing the perpetrators, but difficulty arises in returning the criminals to shore. To this end the narrator and his pal Charley come up with some clever means of outsmarting the bad guys and completing their mission.
This series of stories was originally published in the magazine The Youth’s Companion in 1905, so the intended audience was the teenage boys of a century ago. The children of today will most likely not have much interest in these tales, unless they happen to sail boats on a daily basis. For contemporary adults, there’s not much attraction here either. There’s really nothing wrong with the stories in this collection, but there’s nothing memorable about them either. They are merely unexceptional examples of adventure genre fiction that happen to be written by a great author. If you’re hoping to gain some biographical insight into London’s youth, his nautical adolescence is covered far more vividly and colorfully in the first several chapters of his excellent memoir John Barleycorn. No doubt in its day Tales of the Fish Patrol served its purpose by entertaining America’s youth in a workmanlike manner. Nowadays it should only be read by the most enthusiastic of London fans who just can’t get enough of his work.
Stories in this collection
White and Yellow
The King of the Greeks
A Raid on the Oyster Pirates
The Siege of the ‘Lancashire Queen’
Charley’s Coup
Demetrios Contos
Yellow Handkerchief
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2NYGZYZTC1SGJ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
“It was tediousness made tangible . . .”
Carol Milford graduates from a small St. Paul college with idealistic notions of taking some backward prairie town and transforming it into a cultured utopia of the plains. When she marries small-town doctor Will Kennicott, she optimistically sees a chance to put her ideas into practice. After arriving in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, however, her ideas for reform fall on deaf ears, and she finds herself not the town’s savior, but rather its prisoner.
Having grown up in a small town in Wisconsin, and lived in larger cities, I can see both the pros and cons of small-town life. Sinclair Lewis’s portrait, however, is relentlessly one-sided and bleak. Gopher Prairie is so abysmal, and its denizens so unsympathetic, that it almost defies believability. Lewis doesn’t treat his protagonist any kinder, either. We are privy to Carrie’s every shallow thought, every flighty notion, every petty grievance, to the point where there’s not much left in her to root for.
The title of this review is a quote from the book that encapsulates much of its plot. Chapters and chapters go by detailing Carol’s dismal existence. I kept waiting and waiting for something—anything—to happen. Will she cheat on her husband? Will she run away? Will she kill herself? Finally around chapter 30 things start happening, but rather than satisfy me they just made me cringe. The book redeems itself a little in the last few chapters, adopting a more positive tone and injecting a dash of feminism, but it was a little too little and a little too late.
One thing’s for certain, Lewis is an incredible wordsmith. His prose is elegant and effortless, with a beautiful poetic quality about it even when he’s being sarcastic, ironic, or just plain depressing. With a simple turn of phrase he can describe a detailed scene or a complex human emotion that would take lesser authors whole pages to relate. I’m sure at the time it was written, this was a groundbreaking novel, and years ahead of its time in its feminism and liberalism. I admired this book more than I enjoyed it. I am looking forward to reading more of Lewis’s work, but I’ll probably never read Main Street again.
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R270EVPL9U6UHE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
