Book Description
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanovs' young kitchen boy, Leonka. Now an ancient Russian immigrant, Leonka claims to be the last living witness to the Romanovs' brutal murders and sets down the dark secrets of his past with the imperial family. Does he hold the key to the many questions surrounding the family's murder? Historically vivid and compelling, The Kitchen Boy is also a touching portrait of a loving family that was in many ways similar, yet so different, from any other.
Drawing from decades of work, travel, and research in Russia, Robert Alexander re-creates the tragic, perennially fascinating story of the final days of Russian monarchs Nicholas and Alexandra as seen through the eyes of the Romanov's young kitchen boy, Leonka.
Download Description
"Taut with suspense and rich in historical detail, The Kitchen Boy chronicles in an entirely new light the brutal slaying of Czar Nicholas II and his family It was a crime to horrify, fascinate, and mystify the ages. On the night of July 16, 1918, Bolshevik revolutionaries murdered the entire Russian royal family in a hail of gunfire. No one survived who might bear witness to what really happened on that mysterious and bloody night. Or so it was thought. In masterful historical detail and breathtaking suspense, Robert Alexander carries the reader through the entire heartrending story as told through the eyes of a real but forgotten witness, the kitchen boy. Narrated by the sole witness to the basement execution, The Kitchen Boy is historical fiction at its best. But more than that, the accessible style and intricately woven plot-with a stunning revelation at its end-will keep readers guessing throughout. "This is a dream of a book... [Robert Alexander's] tough, stylish prose is the perfect medium for this fast-becoming myth of evil and innocence, of frailty and courage, of betrayal and redemption."" -Judith Guest ""Through the power of the author's imagination, we see not only the tragedy of the Emperor, but that of a human being, man, and father."" -Ivan Artsyshevsky, The Romanov Family Association"
Customer Reviews:
The Kitchen Boy.......2007-09-12
The author kept you interested all the way through the book and even though you already know the outcome, you are hoping for a better ending. Great read by Robert Alexander. I am now going to read Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander.
Couldn't put it down.......2007-08-29
Coincidentally, the day I started this book there was a news announcement that the graves of the missing Romanov children had possibly been discovered. I should have known that it was a good omen! I had been looking for a novel about the Romanovs for some time and this hit the mark. THE KITCHEN BOY is a wonderful mix of fact and fiction and a valuable history lesson, too. Mr. Alexander did an outstanding job of turning turbulent times and a tragic event into an entertaining novel that I couldn't put down. So believable that I had to convince myself that the fictional mystery ending really didn't happen - or did it? Simply wonderful!
Great Travel Read.......2007-07-09
I bought this book in the Hermitage Museum shop in '05. It's great for a short travel book. Filled with history, plus a good mystery mixed in.
Romantic fantasy but decent reading.......2007-07-05
Knowing little about Russian history, it was interesting to me that R.Alexander was able to weave certified history into his romantic fantasy of a novel. I felt pushed to learn more about Russian history, but not to repeat reading this novel or other books by R. Alexander, I am sorry to say. This book was reviewed by a small book group that I belong to. The ladies all felt the same way about the novel. On the whole, looking at subjects that came to us when reading the book, we were astonished at the sheer waste of money on Romanov jewels and the terrible waste of millions of lives. Also, once again, we were sad that Russia has never managed to be anything but an autocratic society, whether the Tsars or the Communists rule. We hope for better government of that large land of such wonderful potential.
That Night in Yekaterinburg.......2007-07-04
Over the years, many books, both fiction and non-fiction, have been written about the events of July 16-17, 1918. On that date, in the town of Yekaterinburg, the Russian royal family met their fateful end.
Misha Semyonov is an elderly Russian man who is living in the suburbs of Chicago's north side. Nearing the end of his own life, he begins to record a tape for his granddaughter, Kate, detailing what he knows about the Romanov family. Misha, it turns out, was the kitchen boy in the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg. He served the last tsar and his family, and through his recounting of the events leading up to their death, he paints a detailed picture of the last days of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children.
But the story doesn't end there. The innocent kitchen boy's account of the night's events explains the disappearance of two of the Romanov bodies (those of tsarevich Alexei and his sister, Maria), as well as what happened to the bodies of the family. But along the way, Misha covers his own tracks, and it is only through Kate's investigating skills that his big secret is revealed.
Robert Alexander does an excellent job painting the anxiety and uncertainty of those last few weeks in Yekaterinburg. The novel is vivid, with many Russian phrases (and their English translations), notes that can be found in the Russian Archives, and the picture of a loving family confused by their sudden change in circumstances.
To be honest, the novel reads a bit like "The Diary of Anne Frank," though not quite as candid. However, it is an excellent theory into the murders that ended Russian imperialism and changed the face of the world forever.
Book Description
A young woman caught in the rivalry between Queen Mary and her half sister, Elizabeth, must find her true destiny amid treason, poisonous rivalries, loss of faith, and unrequited love.
It is winter, 1553. Pursued by the Inquisition, Hannah Green, a fourteen-year-old Jewish girl, is forced to flee Spain with her father. But Hannah is no ordinary refugee. Her gift of "Sight," the ability to foresee the future, is priceless in the troubled times
of the Tudor court. Hannah is adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, the charismatic son of King Edward's protector, who brings her to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary and, ultimately, Queen Elizabeth. Hired as a fool but working as a spy; promised in wedlock but in love with her master; endangered by the laws against heresy, treason, and witchcraft, Hannah must choose between the safe life of a commoner and the dangerous intrigues of the royal family that are inextricably bound up in her own yearnings and desires.
Teeming with vibrant period detail and peopled by characters seamlessly woven into the sweeping tapestry of history, The Queen's Fool is another rich and emotionally resonant gem from this wonderful storyteller.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended.......2007-09-14
This is the first Philippa Gregory novel I've read, and I chose this one because of the slight fantasy of the main character's "sight" that she uses to foretell events. This aspect I would have enjoyed had the author used it more; however, then it would be even more of a fantasy than historical fiction. Regardless, the story held my interest and I liked the characters.
A Fool No More.......2007-08-27
Another drama of the Tudors by Philippa Gregory. I enjoyed this one more than "The Other Boleyn Girl" because the main character had spunk and independence, unusual for a girl in those days. Although a vassal to a Lord with his own agenda, she developed a deep love for Queen Mary and was a loyal friend to her through all her suffering. For the first time, I got a clear picture of the conflict between Mary and Elizabeth before and after the death of their young brother the King. Both made huge mistakes but were strong women to be reckoned with. Hannah serves both but is still her own woman. Very exciting events unfold as the balance of power shifts back and forth between these two woman and their supporters. Adding to the drama is the fact that Hannah and her family are Jews passing as Christians during a time when heretics were burned at the stake.
How can I like this more than Philippa Gregory's Boleyn stories??.......2007-08-07
I don't know how it's possible that I liked "The Queen's Fool" even more than "The Other Boleyn Girl", and "The Boleyn Inheritance" which I loved. I think it's partially the addition of Hannah Green the young jewish girl escaping the Spanish Inquisition and becoming the Queen's Fool, telling the story. Having Hannah tell the story introduces how great an effect all the european countries and their politics have on other European countries.
I am sure it is also the fact that these stories build on each other, with characters whose families and circumstances are already familiar from the book before. I encourage you to read in sequence - and I encourage you to READ these stories and learn some history. Even if it is couched in some fiction, you still learn and this way is so much more fun. My friends are now as hooked as I am -- this many people can't all be wrong.
The Queen's Fool: A novel.......2007-08-02
Intriguing! Great descriptions of the Tudor court in a suspense filled, exciting time in history. Had me hooked.
WONDERFUL.......2007-07-19
Ms. Gregory's The Queen's Fool is as beautifully written as her other historical fiction novels. We continue the story of the Tudor line in England, but instead of being guided through a queen's view or a princess's view, we read through the eyes of Hannah the Fool. Hannah is a wonderful character who grows from an apprentice tomboy to a desirable woman. We pick up the story from Henry VIII's last wife to see his son, Edward IV, on the throne. Edward, ruled through the Duke of Northumberland, dies and the throne is shoved into the hands of Jane Grey (Northumberland's relation). The victory is short-lived, because Mary (Henry VIII's first and only child with Katharine of Aragon) raises an army to fight for her as Queen. Though she wins, it is not long before her sister, Princess Elizabeth (Henry VIII's first and only child with Anne Boleyn), conspires to take the throne. Hannah is thrown in between the half-sisters and must use her Sight as a gift to help both women. The story line is filled with historical fact, tweaked enough to give a well rounded account of The reign of Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I. WONDERFUL!
Book Description
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.
From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.
Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to Alcott's optimistic children's tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction.
Customer Reviews:
Pulitzer's Reliability.......2007-10-10
As usual, any book selected by the Pulitzer Committee is a reliable horrible read. Too boring to waste my time on. . . Alcott would be mortified!
An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!.......2007-08-27
Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!
Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man.......2007-08-11
March is told largely in the words of Mr. March, father of all those "little women," and it encompasses the year that he spent as a Union chaplain during the early part of the Civil War. Ever the idealist, one who at times refused to recognize the demands of the real world or to compromise his principles in order to better get along with others, March quickly managed to get on the bad side of both the men to whom he hoped to minister and that of his superior officers. As so often happens during war, March lived a lifetime during his one year of service, a year in which he learned more about himself than he really wanted to know. He came to realize that his ideals and principles did not necessarily come with the courage to do the right thing when to do so put him in personal danger. He ended his year a broken man, one barely alive and, more importantly, one who considered his year of service to have been a disaster for himself and everyone he tried to help.
Along the way, March unexpectedly finds himself revisiting a plantation he remembered from his days as a young traveling salesman trying to build the nest egg he hoped to invest for the remainder of his life. Some twenty years after his first visit, the home is now an emergency hospital for Union troops and life there is nothing like the one he remembered from before. But one thing has not changed. Grace Clements, the mulatto slave woman he was so attracted to on his first visit, is still there and he is still powerfully attracted to her. Grace Clements comes to be one of the two most important women in March's life, in fact.
Having so consistently irritated the troops to whom he was assigned, March is assigned to spend the bulk of his war at a cotton plantation teaching liberated slaves to read and write. This is my one quibble with the book. While, in fact, some southern cotton plantations were leased to northern entrepreneurs during the war so that much needed cotton could be brought to market for benefit of the North, this did not occur nearly so early in the war as portrayed in March. Despite the fact that the heart of the story takes place on this plantation, I could never completely forget just how unlikely it would have been for March to find himself on such a plantation during his particular year of the war.
But that's a minor thing because March has so much to offer. It is filled with the kind of period detail that marks the best historical fiction and fans of Little Women will very likely find it to be the perfect companion piece to one of their favorite novels.
This isn't The Year of Wonders.......2007-08-08
I read The Year of Wonders and loved it. I bought this book specifically because it's the same author, and with high hopes. Unfortunately, this book is boring and slow moving. It could not hold my attention at all, and I didn't get engrossed with the characters like in her other book. I would not recommend this book.
An absorbing read.......2007-08-06
Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel. Not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review available on my website Impatient Reader. Also available at Impatient Reader: a chapter-by-chapter summary of March. See My Amazon Profile for URL.
Book Description
Rich with unforgettable characters and history, intricately plotted and utterly absorbing, City of Dreams is a stirring saga of early Manhattan and the beginnings of medical science told by a master storyteller.
In 1661, Lucas Turner and his sister, Sally, stagger off a small wooden ship after eleven weeks at sea to make a fresh start in the rough and rowdy Dutch settlement of Nieuw Amsterdam.
Lucas, a barber surgeon, and Sally, an apothecary, are both gifted healers and bound to each other by blood and necessity. Yet as their new lives unfold, lust, betrayal, and murder will make them deadly enemies. In their struggle to survive in the New World, both make choices that will burden their descendants -- dedicated physicians and surgeons, pirates and whoremasters -- with a legacy of secrets and retribution. That heritage sets cousin against cousin, physician against surgeon, and ultimately, patriot against Tory.
In a city where slaves are burned alive on Wall Street, where James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams walk The Broad Way arguing America's destiny, and where one of the greatest hospitals in the world is born in former shipwrights' workshops by the East River, the fortunes of the two families are inextricably entwined. Their pride and ambition, their loves and hates, and their willingness to live by their own rules will shape the future of medicine, and the becoming of the dream that is New York.
Customer Reviews:
City of Dream, Beverly Swerling.......2007-08-23
Fantastic Historic read. The story takes unexpected turns through several generations. Characters jump off the page and stayed with me for a long time. Ms. Swerling has a great gift to put you into that space and time.
4 1/2 Stars -- Very Hard To Put Down!.......2007-04-18
Beverly Swerling's City Of Dreams is a sweeping epic of (primarily) two families starting from Manhattan's beginnings as a Dutch colony in the 1660's through the American Revolution, when New York became a new nation's city of dreams. Swerling provides the right blend of interesting historical facts about Nieuw Amsterdam/New York and the early days of medicine, mystery, excitement, sex, a well-developed plot, and a array of fictional and real characters to make City Of Dreams a book that is difficult to put down. Her strong writing ability made me feel that I stepped back over 300 years in time and was right there with the characters experiencing life during a fascinating time in our history. I highly recommend The City Of Dreams if you are a fan of historical fiction. I'm looking forward to reading Swerling's two other books, Shadowbrook and City Of Glory.
Another one in the minority here.......2007-02-10
I am sorry, as much as I love historical fiction, and as much as I LOVED Shadowbrook, I could not get into this book. While I appreciate the amount of research the author did into medical history of this time and treatment of slaves, the gore factor is WAY OVER THE TOP. Page after page after page, compounded with unappealing characters who even if one started to care, disappeared into another generation.
I gave up after 200 pages. I give the author kudos for the well done research and keeping with known facts, but as stated before, the gore factor is way over what I can stomach for 600 pages. If you are not sure if this is for you, I suggest you check it our from your local libary. Then, if you absolutely love it, buy it. JMHO.
Outstanding read!.......2006-11-01
I could not put this wonderful work of historical fiction down! Two thumbs up! The author did a fantastic job of weaving this tale and these wonderful characters together. One of the things I like about the book is that I don't always like the attributes of the character, nor do I like what they do or how they act or feel...but I care about what happens to them and can't stop wanting to know more. What a wonderful read....I am on a quest to find more by this talented author.
loved it !!!!.......2006-10-20
wow this author is so good! i could not put this book down. the perfect book. has love, lust, anger, betrayal and it makes you feel as if you were in the actual story!
Book Description
Classic Civil War novel set on a plantation in the Natchez country.
Customer Reviews:
Sorrow in the Deep South.......2004-05-13
A bestseller in 1934, Stark Young's "So Red the Rose" is an odd study of Mississippi plantation life before, during, and after the Civil War. Stark Young was one of America's leading drama critics of the 20th Century (he died in 1963), and his style seems to have been influenced by the dramatists Chekhov (whose plays were translated by Young) and Maeterlinck. There is a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book, which is helpful because there is no protagonist per se. The plot shifts from character to character and many a character is introduced and then never seen again (just as in real life). The narrative in the first half is quite lanquid, as Young describes the aura of dolce far niente at neighboring plantations near Natchez. When the War comes, there are the classic complaints about petty inconveniences and the assurances that the whole thing will be over in a couple of months. But then the antebellum dream is slowly surrounded by the nightmare of war. Mississippi is invaded and Natchez is bombarded. Two of the young men in the families who joined the Confederate Army do not come back: one is killed, the other presumed dead. A patriarch, returning ill from the front, dies of natural causes. A family is given 20 minutes to vacate their mansion before it is burned down. Then, after the War, when their economic system has been obliterated and their properties mortgaged, the families accept it with a bitter resignation. All this is related in a calm, academic manner, and there may be those readers who find the telling a little cold. But I think Young, a refined critic, was determined not to cater to a taste for 1890's melodrama. His style is straightforward but restrained, an appropriate tone for a tale of Southern aristocracy enduring a Civil Reign of Terror.
How True the Fiction.......2001-06-20
A most enjoyable, fictional, historical account of life in the South during and after the Civil War. Enough truth to make it very believable and the author's descriptive terminology places you in with the characters so that you become very involved with the story personally. A lot of history is learned about Civil War military blunders that certainly effected the outcome of the war. I can understand why they made a movie of this book. It would be a good one to bring back as TV miniseries.
Very engaging look into the culture of the antebellum South........1999-02-22
"So Red the Rose" is a very engaging tale that affords the reader an insight into the culture and attitudes of the antebellum South that became the Confederacy. However, my fellow McGehee descendants (the author was a cousin of actual McGehees in Mississippi) need to bear in mind as they read that this is a NOVEL, not a genealogical register or an entirely true family history.
Classic Civil War novel from the Southern point of view.......1998-08-24
So Red the Rose is a classic fictional account of the Civil War years from the Southern point of view by one of the leading writers of the so-called Southern Renaissance of the first half of the 20th Century. Stark Young grew up among the kind of people with whom he populates his novel, and his novel focuses on what he called "the life of the affections."
So Red the Rose was a best-seller in he 1930's and was made into a movie. Its popularity was eclipsed a few years after its publication by Gone With the Wind. Some critics consider So Red the Rose a better book.
The novel describes a Mississippi family and how they were affected by the war. I found the book deeply moving and engrossing; although I live in a different century, live in a different part of the country than the characters, and hold a different set of values in regard to race, I found myself understanding them, relating to them, and liking them.
Average customer rating:
- Faulkner for beginners
- Splendid social history
- Sartoris Redux
- Underappreciated
- A Faulkner Classic
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The Unvanquished
William Faulkner
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
 Faulkner, William
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Similar Items:
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Go Down, Moses
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Absalom, Absalom!
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Saint Maybe
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The Hamlet
ASIN: 0679736522
Release Date: 1991-10-29 |
Book Description
Set in Mississippi during the Civil War and Reconstruction, THE UNVANQUISHED focuses on the Sartoris family, who, with their code of personal responsibility and courage, stand for the best of the Old South's traditions.
Customer Reviews:
Faulkner for beginners.......2007-05-05
If you've never read a Faulkner novel, this is the perfect place to get your feet wet. I did exactly the opposite, starting with THE SOUND AND THE FURY, AS I LAY DYING and ABSALOM, ABSALOM! Had I read this first, I might have been more accustomed to Faulkner's difficulties (i.e. using pronouns to keep the reader guessing, frequent repetition of key phrases, images and symbols, allusions to the Bible, occasionally using obscure vocabulary, providing minimal context to action especially early on, lengthy sentences and italic text to indicate a character's interior monologue) and not had to struggle so much when reading his masterpieces.
The characters and stories here (and please, read THE UNVANQUISHED as a collection of short stories told chronologically, rather than as a novel) are more simple and fun than his novels. And perhaps that's because he was taking a break from his most serious and difficult work and needed money and a vacation from ABSALOM, ABSALOM! The stories here progress in Faulknerian difficulty, the amount of Southern Gothic tragedy they depict, and the complexity and intricacy of the plots as the book goes along. By the time you're finished reading it, you're ready for SANCTUARY, THE WILD PALMS or LIGHT IN AUGUST.
But to dismiss THE UNVANQUISHED as a lesser work somehow, because the stories are more accessable, is to make a big mistake. The stories are teeming with beautiful prose and haunting storytelling, and they have a great deal to reveal about what the South endured during and immediately after the Civil War and about the mindset of Southerners at the time and for a long time afterward.
Splendid social history.......2006-12-21
This novel is the first Faulkner I read. I liked it. I think it gives a fair image of the South after the Civil war, although I am Dutch.
Though Faulkner has been compared to very difficult writers as Proust, and his style and works often have been called hard to understand, I thought it excellent written. The use of metaphor and symbols in this book is very stunning. E.g. When father Sartoris comes home from a lost battle, the first thing to do is build a fence. Yes a fence to keep northern influences away.
The book gives some good examples of the change in relations between black and white people. It helps to understand politics and society in Southern states.
Sartoris Redux.......2006-05-16
Although published in 1938, the initial appearance of this novel can be traced to September 1934. Pressed for cash, Faullkner sent off the first of a series of short stories, dealing with the adolescent adventures of two boys during the Civil War, to the Saturday Evening Post and Scribners Magazine. The idea of collecting these stories into a "novel" was first proposed to his publisher in late 1936 although it is obvious that Faulklner was interested in a quick sale rather than in the creation of another serious work of literature. He did not put a lot of work into the revision and editing of these stories for the novel and consequently the "chapters" of the novel are pretty much identical to the stories that appeared in the two magazines from 1934-36. Interestingly, he was not able to sale the most powerful of the stories, An Odor of Verbena, to the magazines and thus this "chapter" represents the only unique part of the novel. (For those readers who are interested in the original form of the stories that make up this novel, they can be found in The Uncollected Stories of William Faulkner).
Faulkner had already written of the Sartoris family in an earlier novel, Flags in the Dust, but he set that novel during the era of post-World War I disillusionment and in it dealt with the descendants of Bayard - one of the two boys of The Unvanquised - and the condition of the South some sixty years after the Civil War. It is by far the superior work. Perhaps because The Unvanquished was serialized over a period of two years and went through scant editing for re-publication, it is much too episodic and fairly soaks in sentimentality, incongruity, and disbelief - all key ingredients for stories published in the mass circulated periodicals of the day such as the Saturday Evening Post. If the Yankees of the novel were as stupid as Ringo and Granny Rosa made them out to be, we (I guess my Southern upbringing is showing through) would have been marching on the White House in the summer of 1862.
But with even the weakest Faulkner novel there are places in which his brilliance shows through. The description of the flow of recently freed slaves - having no concept of what freedom represented - following the retreating Union army is mesmerizing and the characterization of Ringo and Granny Rosa is among his best. Ringo is elevated from the stereotyped pickaninny, whose sole purpose was to serve and entertain his masters, to an intelligent and cunning boy who is not only the intellectual superior of his white playmate and master, Bayard, but is equal to Granny Rosa in her business dealings with the Yankees. The scene in the church where Ringo is forced to sit in the balcony with his fellow slaves although holding the ledger that could save or destroy the lives of his white "superiors" is brilliant and the irony is not lost even on the most casual reader. By the end of last story, "An Odor of Verbena," it appears that Bayard has made a significant movement away from the nebulous but clinging heritage of the South with all its manifestations of honor and codes of chivalry, to a more aware state of mind. However, to readers of Flags in the Dust, set in the 1920s, this same Bayard is shown as an old man unable to sever himself from the traditions of the Old South, and still rides to town in a horse drawn carriage driven by his family's old slave, Simon.
Many reviewers have suggested that this novel is the place to begin for readers new to Faulkner. It is most decidedly not. Start with Light in August, Sanctuary, or even Flags in the Dust - all three very approachable and far superior to The Unvanquished.
Underappreciated.......2006-04-05
The story is that of the civil war and reconstruction, and it is told from the perspective of two boys aged 10-20. Oh, and it works (not a given with Faulkner). That should be enough to sell you if you're interested in this sort of thing. Faulkner portrays children well, and the young Bayard is an enjoyable narrator. He also shows up in all kinds of other Faulkner, notably Sartoris, but this is his fullest representation. Other characters show up here that elucidate their later action, Buck McCaslin of Buck and Buddy fame in Go Down, Moses, and opinions about Thomas Sutpen, General Compson. This actually fills in a crucial piece of the Jefferson history and helps to establish the social pecking order.
This is a crucial book for Faulkner fanatics, but it's also a good place to start with Faulkner. It's not too difficult to read and introduces a newcomer to the history of everything sort of style that hooks people on Faulkner for life. It lacks some of the mysticism and depth of Absalom, Absalom or Go Down, Moses, but certainly rewards the time invested. You can see the ideas for Go Down, Moses germinating here. The nascent state for some of the thinking may be due to Bayard's youth, but I believe that some of it owes to Faulkner's youth as well. It would take a few more years before he would attempt to heal the society he had been documenting.
A Faulkner Classic.......2005-11-17
You can learn more about Southern history and culture from reading Faulkner than from a dozen "politically correct" textbooks written from a Northern perspective. THE UNVANQUISHED is about the Sartoris family during the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. It's narrated by the boy Bayard, who is too young at first to really understand what is going on; the limited perspective of the narrator, the unconcern to explain the background to events, provides much of Faulkner's famous difficulty (it's said that you have to have already read a Faulkner novel in order to "read" it). But this "difficulty" is central to Faulkner's art, and to the meaning of his works. Bayard is a Sartoris through and through, which means he is fiercely independent, courageous, and stubborn as a mule. His Father is a colonel in the Confederate Army, and a legend in his own time. Even though the South was defeated, we learn that they were ultimately "unvanquished" in spirit. This novel really helps readers to understand the tragedy and chaos of the Civil War for the South, the destruction of their homes and cities, their traditions, and their whole way of life. Even though slavery is finally unjustifiable, much that was good and noble was lost and destroyed in the War. The description of hundreds and thousands newly-freed slaves wandering the roads searching for "Jordan" is unforgettable. Ultimately, the Sartoris family survives, but at great cost. They keep their values and integrity intact. Unlike some of Faulkner's other novels, this is finally a tale of heroism and triumph, but never sentimental.
Book Description
Absalom, Absalom! has long been seen as one of William Faulkner's supreme creations, as well as one of the leading American novels of the twentieth century. In this collection Fred Hobson has brought together eight of the most stimulating essays on Absalom, essays written over a thirty-year span which approach the novel both formally and historically. Here are critical responses by Cleanth Brooks, John Irwin, Thadious Davis, and Eric Sundquist, as well as four essays published in the last decade. The casebook concludes with Faulkner's own remarks on the novel, delivered in a discussion with students at the University of Virginia. What emerges from all the selections is a rich and suggestive treatment of a work which Faulkner himself called "the best novel yet written by an American" and a less biased critic has called "the greatest American novel of the century... joining Moby-Dick and Huckleberry Finn at the pinnacle of American fiction."
Customer Reviews:
Very good if you like this sort of thing..........2007-05-07
I told my duaghter that I finished a great book, "Absalom, Absalom", and that now I was going to read a book ABOUT that book. She gave me a look, as if she never heard of anything so strange.
For literary scholars and the academic community, I'm sure this line of thinking is naive, but for many readers, a book of critcal analysis is just wierd, nerdy, or painfully boring. Well, I like reading about great books once I've read them, and I find that I get much more out of the experience. I've done this for War and Peace, Brothers Karamzov, and many others and I'm very glad I did.
It can be slow going at times, for sure, but some of the information is very brisk and enlightening, and the historical background context provided is very interesting. Another amusement for me is how "academic" and "preposterous" some of the anaysis can be; I think some of the critics are really reaching! This book is on par with the best of the ones that I have read. If you enjoy this sort of thing and have read Absalom, Absalom, I think you'd do well to check this one out.
Book Description
In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chanté mas songs sung during Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies; songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs -- and thus the history -- belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.
Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.
Customer Reviews:
Takes a while to get started.......2007-09-07
I took a little while for me to get into this book. I, quite frankly, didn't care about Lillian the main character until I was almost a third of the way through. The most dimensional and complex characters were of course Matilda and Iris. Once the novel's focus shift primarily to them, it becomes a page turner. If you feel like investing the time to get to the heart of this tale, give it a read.
Chimamanda Adichie's comments on Unburnable.......2007-07-23
Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus: A Novel) had these wonderful things to say about UNBURNABLE in the book review section of London's Guardian newspaper on Saturday June 23, 2007:
"I read Marie-Elena John's novel Unburnable on the plane from New York to Copenhagen. I laughed aloud so often reading this wondrously intelligent book about Dominica and the United States and Africa, about gender, class and race, about love and sexuality, that the bespectacled man sitting next to me put his Wall Street Journal down and leaned over to see what the title was. He asked what it was about. I could have told him how it dealt honestly with issues without ever forgetting to keep character and soul as its centre, but instead I told him a tiny anecdote from the book about black women and thongs. And I much enjoyed his blush."
A Must Read.......2007-03-27
This is a great book to kick back in silence and just immerse yourself into suspense, deep thinking, and a few tears. I was just a little disappointed with the ending, but all in all this was a great read.
Not a Fluff Read!.......2007-01-14
I have been blessed enough in the last week to read not one but TWO great books this one being the greater. I will admit I wasn't wrapped up in the book by page two but by page ten I was all caught up in this story. Marie-Elena John is an EXCELLENT story teller. Her words are beautiful and her descriptions come off the page so effortlessly. I could've easily believed this was her third novel instead of her first. I laughed, I cried and I called all my friends and advised them to please read this book. I did not know anything about Dominica before picking up this novel and now I cannot learn enough. This book intrigued me to no end and I cannot wait to read future publishings from Marie-Elena John. This story is not in the least predictable and her knowledge on the subject matter is outstanding! If you are looking for a mind challenging novel that will shock and educate you at the same time then look no further.
Long Story Short.......2006-11-08
Interesting story, you have to continue to read this book and not stop or you might get side tracked if you put it down for too long.
Amazon.com
In Family History, Dani Shapiro has written such a nail biter of a plot that it's easy to overlook just how good--and how literary--a novel this really is. Narrator Rachel Jenson is a housewife and art restorer married to Ned, a one-time painter. They live with their two children, 13-year-old Kate and 2-year-old Josh, in the small New England town where Ned grew up. In an elegant series of flashbacks, we learn of the emotional devastation teenage Kate has wrought. She was a perfect child growing up, but once Josh came along, her dark thoughts and tragic actions nearly destroy her family. As secret after secret is revealed, Shapiro gets perfectly Rachel's horror of daily life: how can you chat with the other moms at preschool when your world is falling apart? But what makes Family History a fine novel is its utter freedom from stereotype. Kate is bad, but she's never the bad seed; Ned's a failure, but he's not a total wash; Rachel's a narrator mired in tragedy, but she's a wry, slightly unreliable narrator mired in tragedy. Shapiro knows just how much hope to give her characters. In the end, their redemption is so slight that we actually believe in it. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
From the prodigiously gifted author of the acclaimed memoir
Slow Motion, a stunning and brutally honest novel about one family’s harrowing recovery from devastation.
Rachel Jensen is perfectly happy: in love with her husband, devoted to their daughter Kate, gratified by her work restoring art. And finally, she’s pregnant again. But as Rachel discovers, perfection can unravel in an instant. The summer she is thirteen, Kate returns from camp sullen, angry, and withdrawn. Everyone assures Rachel it’s typical adolescent angst. But then Kate has a terrifying accident with her infant brother, and the ensuing guilt brings forth a dreadful lie—one that ruptures their family, perhaps irrevocably.
Family History is a mesmerizing journey through the mysteries of adolescent pain and family crisis.
Customer Reviews:
A Searingly Important Book.......2007-10-10
Family History is not only beautifully written, it is a searingly accurate look at life inside a troubled family. There are no cliche's or easy answers provided to the reader. As a psychotherapist who has worked extensively with families in pain, I can tell you that this story goes straight to the core of the nearly impossible task of being the parent your child wishes you to be. It will stay with you long after you have finished reading it.
RIVETING, SERIOUS READING!!.......2007-09-16
This is a serious book which realistically portrays a family dealing with incredibly sad situations. This should be read by a mature audience, as well as by people who think that they may wish to enter into social services. Shapiro deftly writes about how a family could easily disintegrate. She writes with uncanny realism. I don't view this as a "fast read." Shapiro offers much info in a rather brief book -- and gets the job done! Very sad reading... it's always sad when children are not well. This is especially true when parents feel [and are] helpless as to how to provide a remedy.
It's sad but still an excellent read........2007-07-22
This was the first book I read by Dani Shapiro. Depending on my mood I may read Jude Deveraux, Sandra Brown, Lee Child and others. I thought this was a book that everyone would enjoy. The author's writing is so engrossing that you can't wait to read the next page. Overall, this is an excellent read and I would recommend it.
Her best book yet.......2007-06-25
Great writing on a family falling apart. Sharp and precise portraits of the daily life of all characters surrounding this fall. Beautiful writing and hopeful story.
Compelling ..........2007-01-15
As dark and depressing as the first few chapters were, it was amazing to see the light at the end of the tunnel by the time I finished this book. It is about family. It is about fractured lives and how one incident changes a family's life forever. It is about love and unredeemed love. It is about selfishness and unselfishness. It is about life in today's world. It is about mental illness and coping. It is about a family. It is about how nothing is how it seems.
This book is about Rachel Jensen, who has it all: a husband who adores her, a new baby boy and a teenage daughter. She lives in a beautiful house that she and Ned built when she was pregnant with their daughter. Life was almost perfect and she was very content. Till her daughter came home from summer camp. Till something happened to her baby son, and her daughter gets sent away. Lying in bed all hours of the day, Rachel tries to avoid the nastiness that has become her life. Ned's gone and working in a job that he hates since he got fired from his prestigious job as a teacher in a private school. Her daughter's gone, sent up to an institute for troubled girls. Her little boy's too young to understand what's going on. Rachel went from having it all to having nothing.
Sounds depressing, doesn't it? Don't give up on this book. It really is a beautifully written novel on how sometimes in the midst of the deepest despair, life continues to give you strength to move on; that eventually, it will all get better. Yes, you will continue on as a fractured family, but perhaps the Jensens will continue to build on the fractures and make themselves stronger for it. It is a moving thought as well as a moving tribute to today's society and its pressures on families. It is a well-written book, thoughtful and provoking.
1-14-07
Book Description
Allan Gurganus's
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and readers alike fell in love with the voice of ninety-nine-year-old Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heoines in American literature.
Lucy married at the turn of the last century, when she was fifteen and her husband was fifty. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood. Her story encompasses everything from the tragic death of a Confederate boy soldier to the feisty narrator's daily battles in the Home--complete with visits from a mohawk-coiffed candy-striper.
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All is proof that brilliant, emotional storytelling remains at the heart of great fiction.
Customer Reviews:
A Monumental Event for The Ultimate Survival........2005-09-22
This is the basis for the movie of the same name, an overwhelming preformance in words. Yes, it is comic because the old woman is in a nursing home ready to celebrate her birthday and anniversary of being the oldest Confederate widow. Actually, she'd been a young girl (age 15) when she foolishly married the fifty year old Confederate veteran, who was cruel to her.
This long book (five in all, entitled 'Nobody's Perfect,' ' Time Does That,' 'Give Strength, Lord,' ' These Things Happen,' and 'A Treaty with the World.' It is of monumental length for a first novel. It won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
It is a work of originality about the virtues of Southerners and has a great moral force. It tells the story of the War Between the States from a woman's point of view and the savage memories she shares of her hard life with a half-crazy Confederate Vet. Lucy Marsden gives an account of her life before, during, and after the Civil War. It is an incredible story of her husband, nine children, parents, mother-in-law, and friends along with her nursing home existence.
War makes men crazy and they take it out on the women in their lives. He couldn't do that to his looney mother who had been burned in her antebellum home which the Union army had destroyed during the war. He chose young Lucy to be his bride because she was different from the other school girls who were flighty and smart enough to steer clear of him. Lucy didn't know what she was getting into, and her mother did not prepare her for the marriage night when she was manhandled and abused by a mean man. She endured many sorrows because of him and yet the oldest widow was 'feisty' as "her outspoken opinions crackle with dark humor."
Lucy maintained a relationship with her mother-in-law's slave, Castalia, who'd looked after the old woman and stayed on to help Lucy as a freed black, like in 'Gone With The Wind.' She symbolized the failure of Reconstruction, meant to show the blacks how to be independent and forge a new life. Castalia had made the Marsden family her family.
Lucy grew into a strong woman despite her weak parents. Her memories of hardship and poverty after the war will remind you of your own hardships (we all have them at one time or another). It was made into the moving movie, and I could emphathize with her as I'd also married an older man and endured some of the same sexual frustration and abuse she did. Maybe that's why old men choose innocent virgins, to lord over. I cried through most of that movie which I watched on DVD recently.
"What the American public ... wants is a tragedy with a happy ending" was quoted in A BACKWARD GLANCE, W. Dean Howells to Edith Wharton. That's what they get in this story as Lucy lived to tell it all -- her way. I looked somewhat like her in the portrait holding the Confederate flag made by a professional at the County Fair just last week.
Allan Gurganus went on to write WHITE PEOPLE and THE PRACTICAL HEART. He also had an Omnibus of short features in one book.
i saw the miniseries on tv first.......2005-09-09
ok, so i was flipping through the channels and my daughter started crying. as i rocked her to sleep,it wasnt the first time i have had to sit through some terrible thing cause i couldnt reach the remote and she was nodding off.I started to watch one of the parts of this miniseries...oh my god i watched a woman give birth and i thought oh, god that seemed real...she was terrified . that woman was lucy marsden. i searched for the rest of the mini series and even tried to see if any of the video stores near me had it to rent.then i turned to amazon, i bought the miniseries ...after watching it i was so in awe at how marriage at a young and innocent age was really portrayed , that i bought the book on amazon too...and it did'nt disappoint!i tell anyone who will listen about the movie and book! that was the best book i have read on a womans struggle with issues of marriage and childbearing since evergreen which i also highly reccomend.
Just tell the story and get it over with!.......2004-10-31
Ordinarily I love a novel I can settle down and read - something really engaging. This book was more frustrating than engaging. The choppy sentences and haphazard storyline were too much to bear past the 6th chapter. For those of you who loved it - I admire your stamina. I just couldn't slog through another page and it's RARE that I don't finish a book.
Too much, too little.......2004-10-20
This book was a big disappoint and maddening at times. I am not one to not finish a book, so I slugged through. Waste of my time. I hated Lucy. I thought she was a pathetic woman with a sad life. Her horrible grammar was excrutiating to read as well, and the author even wrote an entire (long, like all the others) chapter on it! If people from the south really speak like that then it's no wonder northerners stereotypically think southerns are stupid and ill-educated. The entire book jumps around timewise - one minute Lucy is a 90-some year old in the nursing home (and this part of the story, to me, has no interest and appears at random interludes), next she is a young bride, next the story jumps to the Captain and to a time when Lucy was yet to be born. Information is missing - she had 9 children. Only four are named in the book, little information is given as to how or why they are all dead and if Lucy has any grandchildren. While I did find many of the individual chapters/stories interesting, the author draws them out and unnecessarily makes them last 50 pages when they could have been adequately portrayed in 20-30. I could not wait until Lady burned as I thought that would bring me to the end of the chapter.
Zzzzzzzz.......2004-07-14
I bought this book in Bangkok and read it because it was in English. Otherwise I would have chucked it aside. Ditto to what other reviewers have said about the bogged-down prose style, plus several other serious flaws, including but not limited to:
characters that are developed at ponderous length and suddenly disappear, never to be heard from again; the incomprehensible pattern of events which the narrator chooses (giving us every random detail for about a 12-year period and then skipping over a whole lot of stuff that would have been nice to know); stomach-churning prissiness that attempts to pass as womanspeak ("I then scolded my prettiest girl for lisping so"), and a burning-of-the-plantation scene that is laughably stupid as well as flat-out physiologically impossible. Not for the literate.
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- The Mammoth Book of Sudoku: 400 New Puzzles - The Biggest and Best Collection of Sudoku Ever
- The Mom Inventors Handbook: How to Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing
- The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges -- and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates
- The Sicilian
- The Silent Language
- The Snow Walker
- The Sword of Truth, Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: Wizard's First Rule, Blood of the Fold ,Stone of Tears
- The Truth About Guys
- The Virgin's Lover
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