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Title: The Americans (The Kent Family Chronicles, Volume 8) by John Jakes, Bruce Watson ISBN: 1-57815-167-8 Publisher: Media Books Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Grand Finale !!!
Comment: Book 8 in The Kent Family Chronicles neatly wraps up the family history in a most satisfying way.Carter Kent, son of Julia and Louis, shows some of the weakness of character of his father and becomes embroiled with shady, criminal types, forcing him to head for San Francisco where he becomes an off-sider to a powerful political boss. Will Kent follows his dream of becoming a doctor and after an initial inclination to concentrate on becoming rich and famous by marrying the promiscuous daughter of a society family, realises his true potential and joins a practice in the N.Y. slums. Eleanor Kent, married to Leo, a Jewish actor, experiences for herself the prejudice against Jews directed against her for daring to marry a Jew. They are caught in the terrible Johnstown flood and the pattern of their lives is altered forever.
I'm sorry that this wonderful series has ended but am grateful for the very real insight into American history.
Rating: 3
Summary: Disappointing end to an engaging series
Comment: In many ways, this is the least effective Kent book. Gideon Kent dominates the other characters, and his determination to see that his family and the Kent name continue into the future is his dominant motivation. He dies in the book's final pages on the cusp of the twentieth century, his dreams fulfilled. Unfortunately, his unpleasantness as a character--building from the previous Kent book The Lawless--is a serious drawback. Why is it when the Kent men grow up (Philip, Louis), they become such unpleasantly conservative louts? The Americans reads to me like the work of a middle-aged man; only someone of middle-age could create without any sense of irony a character who does his best to dominate his family and stifle their plans and ideas to his own end, forgetting his own youth and energy in the process.
The fact that the book ends in 1900 also contributes to its comparative failure. Quite plainly, there is more story to tell, and Jakes' failure in his original plan to bring the Kent family up to 1976 is obvious. The three main surviving Kents--Eleanor, Will, and Carter--are each at crucial points in their lives when the story ends, and leaving them where they are with no sequel is not quite fair. Plainly, Jakes has things set up nicely for his characters to participate in the disaster of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 as well as the independence of India. Of the historical events and characters reproduced here, I found myself absolutely bored by Will's adventures in the Dakotas with Theodore Roosevelt. In contrast, the depiction of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 is probably the best of all the historical events recreated in the entire Kent series.
Rating: 4
Summary: Let's be realistic here ...
Comment: My father gave me all 8 books for Christmas in 1980. In 2002 I finally got around to reading them! All in all I loved them, but I think some of the praise in these reviews is way over the top. One big complaint I have is that each chapter title gives away what is coming, like the snippets of coming scenes in a mini-series before the commercial. I found it rather insulting. But my biggest complaint is that John Jakes is so blatantly homophobic that it would be laughable if there weren't still people in the world who will take what he says at face value. Countless times in the series there are male characters that exhibit some form of creativity (Matt comes to mind with his painting), and instantly the parents are fearful that their child will grow up to be gay. I found these passages to be extremely offensive. But other than that, they are fun to read. Certainly not great literature, more like a soap opera.
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Title: The Furies by John Jakes ISBN: 051509157X Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: November, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Seekers by John Jakes ISBN: 0515090387 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Rebels by John Jakes ISBN: 0515092061 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: 03 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Bastard (Kent Family Chronicles, Vol. 1) by John Jakes ISBN: 0451211030 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: American Dreams by John Jakes ISBN: 0451197011 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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