Book Review: The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, Part 2

I thought I was finished with this review, but I wanted to revisit it for the sake of another point of contention.  As you may know from my other reviews of classic works, I take particular objection to the portrayal of and condemnation of so called "fallen women" - meaning the views of society as portrayed in literature.  If a woman has premarital sex with someone other than her future husband, she usually comes to a bad end.  We see this in several examples including Bleak House and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

I am going to give spoilers to The Monk.  If you don't want to know how it ends, don't continue reading.

Book Review: The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, Part 1

This novel has all the elements wanted for a Gothic Romance, including old castles, ghosts, catacombs under old abbeys, and the like.  But this book has a much more important feel to it than the other two Gothic Romances I recently read (The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Castle of Otranto).  That's because it tackles such weighty subjects as the heavy hand of religion and premarital sex.  A century later, Tess of the d'Urbervilles would show the effects of both religion and society on that subject.  But to see it discussed frankly in an 18th century novel surprised me.  In fact, the narrative outlook on it seemed quite modern, at least for certain characters.

There are multiple intertwined storylines, each involving a young woman and the men who love her (or lust after her).  The title refers to the great foe of the story.  But to say he's only a foe demeans the wonderful character study by Matthew Lewis.  Here is a man who believes himself safe from the sins of the world, but is then exposed to sins and soon develops other ideas.  All the other characters are classic stereotypes that could be pulled from any major novel of the day, and they represent the contemporary thoughts and actions of heroes and servants.  That's not to say they're poorly drawn.  On the contrary, each character is a unique piece of work, though some are still a bit cliched.

Book Review: The Castle of Otranto (1764), by Horace Walpole

This was a great, quick read for a Gothic Romance.  It did not bog itself down in flowery language or try to become epic in nature.  The entire story takes place in just a few days.  It tells of a tyrant - a usurper - whose claim to his title is being challenged.  There are old, dark prophecies that frighten him, that foretell terrible things if his line is broken.

Manfred is the tyrant.  He has a wife, Hippolita, who he doesn't love, a daughter, Matilda, who he doesn't care about, and a son, Conrad, who we never meet.  The son dies at the very beginning of the story in a weird way that is never fully explained.  Let me point out that the supernatural plays a big part in this story.  Unlike other gothic romances, the author doesn't try to explain away the supernatural as being misunderstood normal events.  But neither does he do a great job of presenting the supernatural in a believable way.  The son is killed by a ginormous helmet falling on him and crushing him to death.  There are visions of a giant here and there, and not until the end to we get a glimpse of who the giant is.

Book Review: The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe (1794) Review Part 2

Second part of my review of Ann Radcliffe's most well-known novel.  Yes, I do recommend it, by the way.

This book can be confusing at times, but I'm having a great time reading it.  To help you through it, you could listen to the audiobook while you read.  That certainly helps carry you over the flowery descriptions of scenery.

However, to me, the main character - Emily - seems a bit naive on this whole affair.  I wish she would have thought to escape from the castle Udolpho.  But that's not something women do in these novels, they are rescued.  If an escape is planned, they are not the planners but the weak, simpering participants.  They put all their faith and hope in some man.  In this case it was the servant Ludovico, the servant Annette's romantic attachment, along with another prisoner who happens to be in love with Emily and lived near her (wonderful melodramatic coincidence).  Of the four of them, it won't be Annette or Emily that plan or execute the escape.  Another weak point is that this new character, Du Pont, is introduced late in the novel.  It's the sort of thing you see in serialized novels that are written as the story progresses in a monthly publication.

Book Review: The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe (1794) Review Part 1

This is a classic Gothic Romance novel, and so far it has everything you might want in a Gothic Romance.  For those who don't know, this genre is all about dark, mysterious places and occurrences.  This particular novel is often held up as the standard of its kind.  If you want 18th century tales of castles, ghosts, secret passages, gloomy settings, evil villains and damsels in distress, this is your book.

The main premise is about a young woman, Emily, who lives an idyllic life, until all her props are taken away from her, one by one, and she soon finds herself forlorn, nearly alone, and held prisoner in a creepy old castle.  First her mother, then her father dies.  Next she is carted away from her beloved home and taken to (gasp!) Italy.  She misses her lover, she misses her sweet home, and she has every reason to fear for her life.

Book Review: An Upheaval, by Anton Chekhov (1886)

This was a great story.  Unfortunately it's been lost to history and only the opening few chapters remain.

No, that's not true.  But that's how I felt after reading it.  An Upheavel was wonderfully written, but ended rather abruptly.  I suppose Chekhov just had an idea he wanted to put on paper, even if it never developed into a full novel.  Chekhov is known for his extensive writing.  In a little over 20 years he wrote hundreds of short stories.  So if any of them feel unfinished we shouldn't blame him.  Just be happy we get a taste of his wonderful writing.

An Upheaval is a perfect example of that.  You are quickly drawn into the story of a young governess who has to choose between harsh treatment by her mistress or returning to a simpler, if poorer, way of life.  She is an instant heroine, and instantly likable.  That shows great talent for Anton Chekhov to have a character grab readers in such a short amount of time.

Book Review: Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864)

In the book Notes From Underground, the term underground refers to an emotional place where people live.  The narrator of the story is a representative of a type of people who are full of thoughts and feelings but spend most of their life not expressing them.  Those thoughts well up and take hold of them.  They do not interact with their fellow man as they wish they could, but instead evolve elaborate scenarios of both real and imagined wrongs and triumphant ideas for expression and retribution.

That could sum up the entire book, but this isn't something we want to sum up.  Notes from Underground is not the sort of book to be glossed over and stuck back on a shelf.  Dostoyevsky's writings are brimming with ideas, thoughts, truisms, and interesting factoids on life.  But there's a devil of a time to pull meaning out of most of this book.  It's a rambling discourse on God knows what, for parts of it.

Book Review: Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864) - Pre-Thoughts

When reading Notes From Underground, it is required that you wear a black turtleneck shirt, beret, and dark glasses.  Goatee is optional.  You must sit in a dark café discussing revolution.  Someone must appear on stage telling bad poetry about death.  B-Y-O-Bongos.

Beatnik?  or Russian Revolutionary?

I don’t know why I always had the impression, just based on the name, that Notes From Underground was something beatniks would read, something to do with Russian revolution and philosophy, and socialism, perhaps.  Maybe the name Dostoyevsky is the cause – his name conjures up images of deep metaphysical, philosophical discussions.

Either way, get ready because I'm going to read this book.  I'll report back from time to time on my progress, and let you know if I feel my personal philosophy being swayed in any way.

Book Review: Master and Man, by Leo Tolstoy (1895)

Master and Man is the story of Vasili Andreevich and his servant Nikita.  Both men set out on a journey to a nearby town and are caught up in a snow storm.  This is a character study that focuses mainly on the master, Vasili Andreevich.  His character evolves during the course of the story and Tolstoy charts those changes for us.

Book Review: How Much Land Does a Man Need, by Leo Tolstoy (1886)

How Much Land Does a Man Need?

This was a parable.  Based on the title, I assumed it would be a social commentary, perhaps an essay on socialism or communism, the sharing of wealth and land.  I assumed it would be a way to demonstrate that people only need enough land to feed their families, and the rest of the land should be shared out to others.

But it turned out to be nothing like that at all.  It was a parable about a man who wanted more and more land, who was tricked by Satan at every turn because Satan kept telling him (in the form of other people) about cheaper land someplace else.  He moved from place to place, buying land, selling it, then buying more.  He ended up in a bad way, and died trying to gain more land.

Book Review: The Christmas Tree and the Wedding, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1848)

I won't lie to you, this story sort of disgusted me.  I'm sure that was the purpose.  Imagine seeing a cute little 11 year old girl.  Then imagine planning to marry her.  I shouldn't use the word "plan".  Scheme would be better.  Connive.

Having a narrator was just a way of telling the story, he plays no part in the story except as an observer.  He went to a Christmas party, got bored with no one to talk to, and watched some children play.  One of them was a pretty little 11 year old girl.  It came out that the father had already set aside a large amount of money for her dowry.

Book Review: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1877)

The Dream of the Ridiculous Man is what modern readers of Dostoyevsky crave.  Forget mysteries or thrillers.  They want something they can speak of while using the word “metaphysical”.  If they can say that to their friends while describing the inner meanings of this story, it’s a winner.

So here we have a short story that is a thin allegory of Dostoyevsky’s thoughts on the meaning of life.  I warn you now, if you want a fun story, an entertaining plot with whacky characters, you’re looking in the wrong place.  Dostoyevsky uses a very brief tale of a suicidal man to do nothing more than describe a journey for meaning.  This was his last short story, written just a few years before his death.  There are obvious Christian elements in the symbolism.

Manly Months Conclusion

When Men Were Men

Manly Months is done.  We spent April and May reading manly 19th century literature, and you might be surprised at just how rough and tough our ancestors were.  Believe it or not they didn't all sit around sipping tea and eating cobbled oats.  I know, they wore those lacy looking shirts and all, but don't define them by their frilly fashion sense.

Here are the books I managed to read and review:

• King Solomon's Mines, by Sir H. Rider Haggard (1885)
• Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling (1897)
• Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1899)
• The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1895)
• The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1888)
• The Frozen Pirate, by W. Clark Russell (1887)

Only six books, I wish I could have finished more.  Here's a list of others I could have added to this list, and still plan to read:

Book Review: The Frozen Pirate, by W. Clark Russell (1887)

This is one of the better books I read during Manly Months here at The Literary Rambler.  It's the story of adventure on the seas, of treasure and survival.  It starts out with some of the boldest action language I've ever seen.

The storm made a loud thunder in the sky, and this tremendous utterance dominated without subduing the many screaming, hissing, shrieking, and hooting noises raised in the rigging and about the decks, and the wild, seething, weltering sound of the sea, maddened by the gale and struggling in its enormous passion under the first choking and iron grip of the hurricane's hand.

That's what W. Clark Russell was known for, and that's why people read him.  I first heard about him from the Sherlock Holmes story, The Five Orange Pips, which had Watson reading a Russell book.

Book Review: The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1888)

The Black Arrow was a harrowing tale of a young adventurer, trying to find his true love.  It's set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses.  You don't have to know anything about the history of the period, the author feeds you any details necessary.  For the most part it's not a bad tale, just a bit long winded.  That may not make a lot of sense because it's a small book - only about 80,000 words, 220ish pages.  But it felt like it just went on and on.

Manly Months Report

With only two weeks left in our Manly Months the pressure is on to deliver more of that manly stuff!  Don't worry men, there are plenty of other manly 19th century books out there, even if I can't get to them all.

I've reviewed four books and am working on two more.

• King Solomon's Mines
• Captains Courageous
• Heart of Darkness
• The Red Badge of Courage

• The Black Arrow
• The Frozen Pirate

I think I can squeeze in at least one more after this.  But there are many others I wish I had time for.  So much adventure literature of the 19th century took the form of either true war stories, or sea tales.  Here are some of the others I hope to read.

• W. Clark Russell - various sea stories
• Captain Frederick Marryat - various sea stories
• Victor Hugo - Toilers of the Sea (1866)
• Stephen Crane - The Open Boat (1897)
• Richard Henry Dana - Two Years Before the Mast (1840)
• Winston Churchill - various war stories including The River War (1899)

Book Review: The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown (2009)

[I originally posted this review in 2009 on another site.  I'm reposting an updated version of it here because Dan Brown's latest book, Inferno, has just been released.]

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown (2009)

Dan Brown has one good skill in particular I'd like to mention.  He's good at puzzles and codes.  That became obvious in The Da Vinci Code.  It's his thing.  I usually enjoy when he incorporates that into his books because he does it well.

I'll start this review of The Lost Symbol by discussing a few points that most critics predicted for this novel.  Then I will discuss the bad points of this book.  The four things that many critics expected before the book even hit the shelves: poor writing skills, formulaic storytelling, predictability, and factual mistakes.

Book Review: The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1888) First Thoughts

I stopped reading this book.  Well into the third chapter I had no idea what was going on because of that crazy vernacular.  It was written in the late 1800's, but it took place in the 1400's so Stevenson wrote it in that God-awful style straight out of Canterbury Tales.  It's hard to understand, and it makes it difficult to follow.

However, I could tell the storyline was worth reading,

Book Review: The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1895)

Tom Sawyer goes to war.

I won't be flip about this book, but I'm probably too old to have read it.  I can now understand why it is so often assigned as a book report in school.  It gives wonderful insight into the mind of a teenager who goes into battle and wants to be a hero.  The descriptions of the main character's thoughts took me back to my own teenage years, describing well the myriads of trifling things that occupy the mind of a guy that age.

It's a coming of age story, as our main character - referred to as "the youth" - is worried that he will run from the battle.  Will he stand and fight?  Will he run like a big chicken?  That's his worry.  It's perfect.  Looking at the Civil War from a distance, looking at the battles as an outsider, we see cause and purpose, we see strategy, we see a fight against slavery maybe, an insurrection perhaps, a great upheaval.  We see all those things.

Book Review: Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Yes, this is the book on which the movie Apocalypse Now was based.  Same kind of deal, a man, Marlow, traveling up a river to find another man, Kurtz, who has gone crazy and needs extracting.  Along the way we're treated to surreal and brutal scenes of inhumanity.

This book is far more introspective than I realized it would be.  It's told in the manner of a person looking back on a great sadness or horror, after reflecting on it for some time.

Joseph Conrad was a master literary figure, I gathered that much even if most of what he was saying was far too obtuse for an adventure novel.  Plus his writing can sometimes be a bit long winded.  Take this sentence for example.