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Title: The American by Henry James, William Spengemann ISBN: 0-14-039082-0 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.46 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Subtle Satisfying Brilliance
Comment: This book is long, but only because that's how James tells the story. It's like a soup that needs to boil all day, so it's kept on low, but when it's done, it's perfect. The book stays at the pace of "our hero" the American Christopher Newman. A smart, educated, rich, yet easy going, simple, and humane veteran of the Civil War and a self made tycoon, who goes to Europe to see the "treasures and entertain" himself.
He becomes entangled in what he thinks is a simple plan for matrimony, but is really truly a great deal larger and more treacherous and terrible than that.
We spend a lot of time in Newman's mind, paragraphs of character analaysis are sprung upon us, but nothing seems plodding or slow, nothing feels useless. By the end of the book we find that we think like the character and can only agree with what he does. We react to seemingly big plot twists and events as he does, without reaction, and a logical, common sense train of thought.
But don't misunderstand that. For a book that is so polite and the essence of "slow-reaction", it is heartwrenching and tragic. You will cry, you will wonder, and you will ask yourself questions. Colorful, lifelike, and exuberant characters fight for your attention and your emotions, and we are intensely endeared to them. Emotional scenes speckle the book and are just enough. And the fact that something terrible and evil exists in this story hangs over your head from the beginning. It's hard to guess what happens because James doesn't give us many clues, and the ending may come as a surprise to some people. And without us knowing it, James is comparing American culture to European culture (of the day), and this in of itself is fulfilling.
Indeed, James uses every page he has, without wasting any on detailed landscapes and useless banter. 2 pages from the end you have a wrenching heartache, but the last paragraph and page is utterly and supremely satisfying, and you walk away the way Newman walks away, at peace.
Rating: 5
Summary: Henry James at his BEST!!!
Comment: OK so it takes half the book to get to the story. In typical Henry James fashion you are completely prepared for the action. Unlike Thomas Hardy, whose surroundings tell us of the character of the person it surrounds, James wishes you to know the depth of his characters as seen through the eyes of others. This of course brings on many minor characters that just seem to disappear, but it is a view of a person as if the reader was on the other side of the mirror watching the story unfold. Yes, James is wordy, yes this is not a quick read, but Henry James has a mastery of language and story telling that is rare.
"The American" is a wonderful love story that ends as a real life love story might end. Do not expect roses and happily ever after, it is as much a story of an ancient social system as it is of the life of "our hero." And the thing that seems to get missed is that Henry James actually wrote this as a mystery, not a love story.
This is a novel to contemplate and read between the lines. Good verses Evil, Noveau vs Old Money, Right and Wrong, can literature get any better than that?
Rating: 4
Summary: Make no mistake...
Comment: James can be a long read. But keep in mind the time period in which he is writing and you will easily tackle this novel. This book should be on y our "Must Read List". Every American should be reading about Christopher Newman.
Its easily understandable today as it was over 100 years ago. We often forget our place in the world and fail to see ourselves from the point of view of others.
This is the story of an expatriate in a time when America was boldly going forth into a old world, filled with old customs and well worn traditions.
Well worth the read.
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Title: The Ambassadors (Penguin Classics) by Henry James, Harry Levin ISBN: 0140432337 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Rise of Silas Lapham (The Penguin American Library) by William Dean Howells ISBN: 0140390308 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: April, 1983 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Wings of the Dove (Penguin Classics) by Henry James, John Bayley ISBN: 0140432639 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: June, 1986 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Daisy Miller (Penguin Classics) by Henry James, Geoffrey Moore ISBN: 0140432620 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1988 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Europeans: A Sketch by Henry James, Tony Tanner ISBN: 0140432329 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1985 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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