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Title: The Englishman's Boy : A Novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe ISBN: 0-312-19544-3 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.63 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Understanding the Power-Dream...and History.
Comment: Had this beautifully wrought novel not received some publicity for winning the Governor General's Award in Canada in l996, I'd never have known of its existence, and what a sad oversight that would have been in this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries."
Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. The author has a bigger vision than that. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.
In this astutely crafted story of wolfer/hunters, Indians, Hollywood moguls, young strivers toward success, Socialists, preservers of the status quo, barely surviving traders, immigrants, hard men, and "visionaries" who would impose their dreams on the masses via film, the reader is caught up in the swirl of history and asked to think about the extent to which history is simply a succession of random events, whether the events have been imposed upon us, and how much, if at all, we can control our own dreams and our futures
Rating: 5
Summary: Understanding the Power-Dream¿and History
Comment: Had this beautifully wrought novel not received some publicity for winning the Governor General's Award in Canada in l996, I'd never have known of its existence, and what a sad oversight that would have been in this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries."
Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. The author has a bigger vision than that. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.
In this astutely crafted story of wolfer/hunters, Indians, Hollywood moguls, young strivers toward success, Socialists, preservers of the status quo, barely surviving traders, immigrants, hard men, and "visionaries" who would impose their dreams on the masses via film, the reader is caught up in the swirl of history and asked to think about the extent to which history is simply a succession of random events, whether the events have been imposed upon us, and how much, if at all, we can control our own dreams and our futures.
Rating: 5
Summary: Why you should go to Canada
Comment: When I occasionally get to Canada, I always search out the bookstores, as you can find great Canadian novels like this one that are practically unknown in the US. The characters and storylines in this novel ring historically true and are at the same time unique. The book intriguingly weaves together the not so familiar old West of Canada (at least to readers in the US) with prohibition-era Hollywood. The writing is plain, direct, and superb. This is great literature with important things to say, delivered in the form of a compelling and engrossing story.
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Title: The Last Crossing : A Novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe ISBN: 087113912X Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: 09 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Walk Through Darkness by David Anthony Durham ISBN: 038572036X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877 by Jerome A. Greene ISBN: 0803270461 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: November, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Clara Callan : A Novel by Richard B. Wright ISBN: 0060506075 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Rope Eater by BEN JONES ISBN: 0385509774 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 30 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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