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Title: The Short History of a Prince : A Novel by Jane Hamilton ISBN: 0-385-47948-4 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 16 March, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.74 (66 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Hamilton Is One Of The Best
Comment: Jane Hamilton is one of the top American authors out there today. Hamilton achieved both critical and commercial success with her first two novels "The Book of Ruth" and "A Map of the World." Much to her credit, she does not rest on her laurels and re-hash the characters or plot in her third outing, "The Short History of a Prince." In "Ruth," Hamilton's narrative reads almost as a thriller reaching a shocking conclusion while in "Map" a tragic event early on sends readers on a downward spiral through the rest of the novel. While there is plenty of angst in "Prince," it is a much more quiet and reflective novel. The protagonist tells his story during a life-altering year as a teenager as well as a grown man in the present day. That too is a change from Hamilton's previous work. Perhaps tagged as a "woman's" writer to date, Hamilton for the first time has a male lead character in Walter McCloud.
There is a lot to savor in "Prince." It is a coming-of-age story as Walter must cope with a death in the family while coming to grips with his own homosexuality. While Walter may be one of the most well-realized gay characters put into print, one small quibble is that he seems to fall into so many stereotypes (ballet dancer, opera/theater lover, works in a dollhouse shop, literature teacher). Also, "Prince" asks the age-old question "Can one ever go home again?" as Walter returns to his Midwest roots as an adult. The novel is not only about the struggle to let go of the past, but perhaps even more painfully so letting go of the dreams of the future.
If you are looking for well-developed characters and beautiful prose, there is no need to go any further than a Jane Hamilton novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: Captures character and milieu beautifully
Comment: While this is a somewhat unorthodox basis for a review, I'd like to state that I went to high school with Jane Hamilton and knew the people who were the basis for Walter, Mitch, and Susan. I respect readers who found the book a departure from Hamilton's technique and usual settings (3rd person, male-centered, suburban rather than 1st person, female-centered, rural) and who found Walter a difficult character to like. At the same time, less in the spirit of a review than in clarification, I can say that the man who was the basis for Walter was charming and vulnerable, while also being self-centered, and he did talk exactly the way Hamilton has him talk in the novel. Further, the assumption that Hamilton doesn't understand the nuances of a gay man does seem provincial to me--should Flaubert not have written "Madame Bovary," then? And those readers who use their own heterosexuality as an excuse for not liking the book--well, that reflects your own limitations more than Hamilton's or the book's. I found this book more of a struggle than her earlier ones--domestic violence and child death/abuse are more engaging topics for the majority of readers, weened on Oprah and Sally Jessy, et. al., than the struggles of a gay boy in search of self. But it finally is worth the effort--and I think Hamilton's enormous insight and empathy achieves a depth of feeling for Walter lacking in most Gen-X fiction by gay men I have read. And I will say this--I know one young man this book gave enough courage and self-reflection to to permit him to come out to himself and those around him. Does this make it great literature? Of course not--but it should make us think before we simply dismiss it because it doesn't immediately connect with the lives of middle-class housewives who all too willingly want only fiction that allows them to see themselves as victims or fairy tale heroines.
Rating: 1
Summary: It was a short history for me!
Comment: I couldn't get past page 68. I read the first chapter (1972), and found it OK, but once the second one got going (1995), I started getting very irritated. Walter came across as a malcontent whiny guy, and the characters so far had been less than enticing (Susan seemed slightly egotistical, and Lucy was way too perfect to be real). Another thing that bothered me is the excruciating descriptions that the author goes through about the most minute details. I could tolerate that level of detail when the story carries my interest (We Were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates is a great example), but in this case I just had to glaze over whole paragraphs describing suburbian neighborhoods. I hate it when I don't finish a book, so I decided to check Amazon reviews and see what other people had said. I'm not so disappointed now. To the author's credit, I didn't see the fact that Walter is (...) right away. However, the parallelisms between lesbian aunt Sue Rawson mentoring Walter in his ballet, and then Walter mentoring his niece on hers was too melodramatic. The ending, which I only know about through other people's comments, makes me wonder if Jane Hamilton perhaps wrote this book with Oprah in mind. I really enjoyed The Book of Ruth. It was difficult to go through, but there was something true and compelling about the story and the characters. In this case, though, I wasn't able to find any empathy for anyone or get driven to the story.
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Title: Disobedience : A Novel by Jane Hamilton ISBN: 0385720467 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 10 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Book of Ruth : A Novel by Jane Hamilton ISBN: 0385265700 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton, Jane Hamilton ISBN: 0385720106 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 03 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan ISBN: 0670032069 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 10 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Master Butchers Singing Club : A Novel by Louise Erdrich ISBN: 0066209773 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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