tapbirds

• Rated 4 stars

“F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of Booth Tarkington: "It is a pity that the man who writes better prose than any other living American was brought up in a generation that considered it a crime to tell the truth" (1922 review of “Gentle Julia”). I cannot fully critique Fitzgerald's assessment, however I find it interesting that the novel "Alice Adams" is all about telling the truth. At one point Alice Adams laments, "But why had it been her instinct to show him an Alice Adams who didn't exist? . . . What makes me tell such lies?" (p.64). The theme of this novel is about the desire of those lower in (white) society trying to be something they are not, in other words: social climbers. I found the deceit and need for social status to be cloying. However I also found it interesting that Tarkington did not vilify the rich (a theme which captivated Fitzgerald), nor did he sanctify the poor. Rather he ended his story on a note of reconciliation, and a sort of redemption. That powerful two-fold theme is probably what earned Tarkington his second Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1922 for “Alice Adams” (his first was for "The Magnificent Ambersons"). I readily concur with the Pulitzer being awarded for this novel. Yet I am still pondering F. Scott Fitzgerald’s indictment that Tarkington avoided telling the truth about society's darker side via his novels. At least one character (Walter) seemed to personify debauchery. However Walter's character and reprobation was not as fully developed as that of personal truth and contentment with life's station – which I found to be much more interesting!”

tapbirds wrote this review 4 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Donald Bastin's "El Sobrante" is one of the newest photo-history booklets from the "Images of America" series. I purchased my copy from Oliver's Hardware on San Pablo Dam Road in El Sobrante. The name "El Sobrante" comes from the Spanish term sobrante meaning the land between land (rancho) grants. The older historical section focuses on the transition from Spanish ranchos (Castro, Nunes families) to the arrival of Euro-American ranching settlers in the latter part of the 19th century. Very little is said about the native American tribes which first inhabited the San Pablo Creek area. The next major phase in El Sobrante's history comes in the late 1950's and early 1960's with the onslaught of large housing subdevelopments beginning with the
Sherwood Forest area. For me, this is the most interesting section of the booklet as it is the era my family moved to the area in 1963. Many of the names attached to photos from this era hold childhood memories: Adachi, Koepke, Banducci, Oliver, Jeha, etc. And many of the photos show businesses, buildings and schools that were active in the 60's: Sheldon Elementary (founded 1880!), Park Theater (1949), and De Anza High School are examples. Bastin concludes his historical tour by noting that El Sobrante continues to maintain its small-town feel, but
that it has matured in its ethnic diversity. Bastin concludes that "Though El Sobrante will likely never be incorporated, it still remains a viable community with a powerful sense of itself and its uniqueness. It is, and always has been, a community of individuals." I heartily concur!”

tapbirds wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“"For I see in my members a law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin . . . wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:23f). I could not help but reflect on the Apostle Paul's famous passage as I finished reading Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Strange case indeed! This has to be one of the more powerful morality tales, perhaps equally haunting to Oscar Wilde's "Portrait of Dorian Gray." Even though the tale bodes darkly, I had to laugh at Stevenson's occasional humor ("If he be Mr. Hyde . . . I shall be Mr. Seek" p.14). However overall Stevenson's message is dark, unraveling near the end - - reaching a crescendo with lines such as "I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man" and "I have been made to learn that the doom and burthen (burden) of our life is bound for ever on man's shoulders, and when the attempt is made to cast if off, it but returns upon us with more unfamiliar and more awful pressure." And Stevenson captures the angst of humanity when his protagonist laments being "sold a slave to my original evil" (p.80). Unfortunately, there seems little hope of redemption for Dr. Jekyll, giving this story a nightmarish quality; but one that packs a punch of a message!”

tapbirds wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | view 2 replies | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“"The Way West" is A.B. (Bud) Guthrie's Pulitzer Prize winning (1950) sequel to "The Big Sky."  The main character in both novels is mountaineer and trapper Dick Summers. Summers is described as being "independent as a hog on ice" and as "both tender and tough . . . the one explained the other." In this story Summers acts as guide for a wagon train party intent on settling the Oregon territory. Unlike "Big Sky," there are no Indian fights, and even fewer encounters with the legendary trappers who first explored Western lands. The West is being tamed. Yet the reader is still captivated by riveting scenes of wild storms, buffalo stampedes, and harrowing river crossings. However Guthrie's real genius lies in his understanding of the human character. Side note: with the exception of occasional references to the God-fearing explorer, Jedediah Smith, Christianity is not portrayed favorably in either novel. Guthrie utilizes Dick Summers, (and Jim Deakins in "Big Sky") to question the existence and nature of God. It is tempting to think of Guthrie's wagon train as the Church of the Conestoga with the real pastor being Dick Summers (not the Rev. Weatherby), preaching a gospel of self-reliance and personal atonement for wrong doings.  Such an analogy would have a fitting conclusion with Oregon as the promised land. In summary, "The Way West" is a fascinating novel that is a window into the world of western pioneers, and the worldview that shaped America's destiny.”

tapbirds wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“"Few historians have defended Buchanan's presidency, and the ratings that habitually place him among our worst presidents - along with Pierce, Harding and Nixon - are not capricious" (p.5). Jean Baker, author of James Buchanan's biography, places much of the blame for the civil war and the subsequent demise of the Democratic Party in the latter part of the 19th century upon this president. What are the factors that cause her to deprecate the 15th president in such strong terms? Three major crises of the Buchanan presidency provide clues: the financial panic of 1857, violent struggles within the Mormon territory of Utah, and the entrance of Kansas into the Union as a free (non-slave) state. The latter issue clearly showed that Buchanan was a "doughface" - a Northerner (from Pennsylvania) with Southern sympathies. In every issue that faced his presidency, Buchanan consistently demonstrated that his guiding principles were the defense of manifest destiny, state's rights, and pro-Southern sentiments. Especially damaging were his inactivity, or perhaps biased activities, in not addressing secessionist activities as a lam-duck president prior to his successor, Abraham Lincoln, being inaugurated into office. Lastly, Baker briefly addresses the tantalizing suspicion "that our only bachelor president was a homosexual" (p.20); as Emerson once noted, "there is properly no history, only biography." This is a fascinating biography that sets the stage for Lincoln's presidency and the horrific war between the states.”

tapbirds wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“"History is an artifact. It does not exist until it is remembered or written down; and it is not truly remembered or written down until it has been vividly imagined" (Wallace Stegner). These introductory words provide an excellent summary of what A.B. (Bud) Guthrie achieved with his monumental novel of the Montana "Big Sky" frontier.  The story's lead, Boone Caudill, is the perfect archetype for the region: rough, quick-tempered, and a man of few words. Yet he is also loyal and honest, a lover of freedom. Boone does not belie his Scotch-Irish Borderland heritage, not unlike another 19th century Borderlands son: Andrew Jackson. However "Big Sky" is bigger than Boone. It is a tale as tall as the Grand Tetons. It speaks of a vanishing wilderness of Buffalo, Blackfeet Indians, beaver-trapping, French-American traders and mountain men. Guthrie's genius lies in his knowledge of Western lands, and his painstaking research of the men who plied those lands in the early days of our nation's manifest expansion.  My only critique is that this novel leaves you wanting for more . . . which Guthrie provided in the next five novels which comprise a loose series. I'm hooked!  I'm already planning to read "The Way West" sequel.”

tapbirds wrote this review Wednesday, January 4, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“This is the second Willa Cather novel I've recently read. Compared to the first (My Ántonia), this novel is much more complex. It is actually two novels or story lines combined into one. The first is a coming-of-age story of Claude Wheeler, a farm boy growing up in turn-of-the-century rural Nebraska, not unlike the setting for My Ántonia. The second takes place on the French battle fields during War World I, Claude Wheeler having become a "doughboy" fighting for his country and defending the French against German invaders (side note: fortunately I recalled just enough high school French to translate most of Cather's phrases, such as "Soldat Inconnu, Mort pour La France"). Interspersed throughout both stories are typical Cather themes regarding country-life ethics and questions regarding faith and loyalty. As typical, Cather's beautiful prose reign supreme: "It was about five o'clock, the yellowest hour of the autumn day. He stood lost in a forest of light, dry, rustling corn leaves, quite hidden away from the world" (p.39). My only critique of this excellent, gripping novel is that the two stories seem a little too distinct, perhaps too unconnected. However the real impact of this story is that Cather requires the reader to ponder weighty questions regarding the purpose of our lives, as saliently noted: "Life was so short that it meant nothing at all unless it were continually reinforced by something that endured; unless the shadows of individual existence came and went against a background that held together" (p.181). This novel resonated with me, and I can see why this story won Cather the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.”

tapbirds wrote this review Saturday, December 17, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“After reading Faulkner's "Light in August," I tried to answer what should be a fairly easy question: "who was the protagonist?" Not an easy answer. At one count, I listed at least 10 potential candidates. And to make it even more confusing, many of Faulkner's characters’ names sound alike, an alliteration nightmare: Byron Bunch, Joanna Burden, Lucas Burch and Mrs. Beard! However my biggest disappointment with this novel is that it seemed "pasted" together; Faulkner tried to weave too many threads into one story. However I liked the overall story line, and of course Faulkner's ever-ingenious and innovative writing style. I always enjoy Faulkner's colorful word choices and use of compound words - perhaps more so in this story than in others I have recently read. Lastly, Faulkner's insight into human nature is truly perspicacious, evidenced by the following quote: "I mind how I said to you once that there is a price for being good the same as for being bad; a cost to pay. And it's the good men that cant deny the bill when it comes around. They cant deny it for the reason that there aint any way to make them pay it, like a honest man that gambles."”

tapbirds wrote this review Monday, December 5, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“"During the first two centuries of American history, every President except two was descended from one or more of the four hearth cultures of Anglo-America" and "Before the year 1865, every American President but one came from a single cultural stock" (p.839). What were these all-important hearth cultures, or "four folkways" as defined by David Fischer?  The first wave was the Puritans from East Anglia to Massachusetts between 1629 to 1640. The came escaping the Eleven Years Tyranny under Charles I.  The second wave arrived for almost opposite reasons: Royalist Cavaliers escaping the English Civil War under Oliver Cromwell between 1642 and 1675. They primarily fled from South England to Virginia. The third wave were Quakers fleeing the English North Midlands to the Delaware Valley during the English Test Act between 1675 to 1725. The fourth and final wave were the Scotch-Irish Borderland folk which fled to the Appalachian backcoutry during Queen Anne's War between 1717 to 1775. These four major migrations brought with them a similar religious and cultural heritage from their respective English regions from which they developed.  Fischer's primary thesis is that that these cultural and religious folkway roots still influence modern American life, and that an understanding of their unique aspects is essential to understanding modern American culture wars and differences. However I would caution readers that Fischer's bias against Calvinist Puritans and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians is fairly obvious at times. Otherwise, this 1,000 page work is fascinating, enlightening and very well-researched. ”

tapbirds wrote this review Friday, December 2, 2011. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Reivers were Anglo-Scottish border raiders whose heyday was during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Reivers is an apt title for what was William Faulkner's last published story prior to his death in 1962. It is an adventurous tale that showcases mature Faulkner writing craft: insightful humor, character study, and drama knitted by southern story-telling at its best. The tale is told through the experiences of young Lucius Priest, "There is no crime which a boy of eleven had not envisaged long ago. His only innocence is, he may not yet be old enough to desire the fruits of it, which is not innocence but appetite; his ignorance is, he does not know how to commit it, which is not ignorance but size" (p.46). However the hero of the story is the family’s related black hired hand, Ned, whose sage wisdom brings salvation to what could otherwise prove to be a disastrous automotive adventure. What knits the story together is Faulkner’s characteristic humor (“They calls it the blue law,” Ned said. “What a blue law?” I said. I don’t know neither, Ned said. “Lessen it means they blewed in all in all the money Saturday night and aint none of them got enough left now to make with worth burning the coal oil.” (p.137). Plus his wonderful southern story-telling: “Then there was all the spring darkness: the big bass-talking frogs from the sloughs, the sound the woods makes, the big woods, the wilderness with the wild things: coons and rabbits and mink and mushrats and the big owls and the big snakes – moccasins and rattlers – and maybe even the trees breathing and the river itself breathing, not to mention the ghosts . . .” (p.77). Of course the reader is led to anticipate the horse-race finish, making this wonderful story a very quick-read – truly worthy of winning the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.”

tapbirds wrote this review Friday, November 25, 2011. ( reply | permalink )