Dime Novel Theatrics Done... Well Enough, I Guess

Well, I've made progress... maybe not as much as I could have considering I just had two blissful days of yom tov, but I was (and still am) in cl, so I think I did as well as can be expected... anyway, I'm in middle of the Meg Cabot, so more on that anon, but I *finished* the Harvey Girls - so here goes...

Huvi didn't like it too much, so I think I was *slightly* prejudiced going on, though I know her taste does tend to differ from mine quite often... but anyway, the first thing I noticed was that I found the tone quite anachronistic - and if there's one thing I don't like in my historical fiction, it's anachronism.  It was so much anachronism of speech (though there was some of that) or anachronism of dress/lifestyle, it was more just the tone.   And I realized that Samuel Hopkins Adams, writing, I think, in the 1940's, did not see himself as at all a contemporary of the 1890's young westerners about which he wrote.  The general tone I picked up, at least in the beginning, was basically that of the dime novel he references more than once in the book - a view of the west as the wild place and the westerners as rather simple-minded and uncouth go-getters.  To some extent, I think, this was actually the case... but I found myself comparing the book's tone and setting with the Virginian, which is unquestionably accurate, given that Owen Wister traveled out west for years and the book is basically a collection of some of his experiences there (slightly romanticized of course :)).  Anyway, there can really be no comparison between the two, The Virginian being an American classic and The Harvey Girls more of a fun read which gained notoriety more through the movie adaption than anything else, I think.

So that being said, I mostly got over the somewhat uneven tone pretty quickly, and was able to enjoy the book for what it is.  First and foremost, I'd say, it's a western, with all the drama and violence, all the corrupt authorities, rough diamonds, and always on top heroes that implies - so it was fun, all the more so because, like all my favorite books, it didn't really get *too* tense - issues tended to get resolved pretty quickly - like when one of the waitresses got secretly married and pregnant, she wasn't summarily fired, but continued on until she wanted to quit.  And the evil judge never actually got elected governor (sorry to spoil :))

And there were three attractive girls, all with pretty good romances going on - quiet Deborah, with her reformed gambler, Hazel Biggs, with her earl in disguise (yes, L&Gs, you read that right :)) and Cricket/Alma, whose good nature and supreme competence reward her with a P&P-esque romance and one sat--is-fy-ing Mr. Darcy :)

so all was pretty well until... as Mia says of Mill on the Floss SOMEONE VERY IMPORTANT DIES! - okay, so it wasn't Cricket (which is basically who it is in MotF), it's Deborah (sorry to spoil again :)) but it does put a damper on the book - and I kind of felt it was out of nowhere... I guess Deborah and her guy, Ned Trent, were kind of the good guy sacrifices so that Hopkins Adams could kill off the judge, and not have the story come off as too improbable.. but I have faith that he could have come up with something else and not killed of one of the main three... definitely a mistake in my book.

That being said, it was surprising easy to get over (her romance was definitely the least important of the three, and she doesn't really seem to be going anyway herself) and the book finished off okay... but only okay, it was on a pretty serious note altogether.  There was an epilogue 50 years later, which was nice, but I always find those kind of depressing, because they remind me of how much time passes (Great Expectations syndrome is the term I have just coined). 

This review sounds like I have mostly complaints about the book, but that's really not the case- it's fun to read about the west, especially when the main characters are such awesome cowboys... and if it's not The Virginian... come on, nobody is ;).   And the romances weren't bad at all... and like I said, the book mostly kept a pretty light tone, so it wasn't too difficult to recover even from the darker ending than I expected.  Plus it wasn't like I was expecting an incredible book anyway.

So verdict... 3/5.  And I'd recommend reading, but with low expectations :)

Oh and I almost forgot! It was totally fascinating to read about the Harvey restaurants, especially after hearing the NPR piece - just a completely new and different experience - always worth it :) (well not always, but this one was :))

Brand New Books! (really, really new)

So... as some of you may know (that would be all of you,since I assume no one is actually reading this :)) I am planning on writing a book when I finish my paper (if anyone who knows me is reading this, I'm not 100% serious, so don't get either too excited or too freaked out). It's going to be fiction - obviously - but the plot etc. is  kind of (totally) up in the air.
I've been tossing around a character centered fairly serious kind of novel, based on the principle "write what you know" - not that I know much about character-drivenness, but i thought i could kind of basic on myself - after a lot of soul searching, naturally.  well that's still on the table, but tonight I came up w/ two more elements of a potentially GREAT book (probably not all the same book).

One is more of a setting thing - probably came to mind because I was thinking about Jasper Fforde's book about the color driven world - can't remember the title, but it's good - read it! :) and the two sequels, probably next one coming out next year i think... anyway, so my idea was to write a kind of world where all the things little children think are true actually are true - I had an example, trying to think of it right now... actually I probably had the example first and then I thought of the idea - whatever, this would definitely sound better if I could think of the example.... anyway, I imagine it as kind of Jasper Fforde or Terry Pratchett-esque - definitely on the light side

My second idea is slightly cheating, but I think it's be tons of fun to read- a human version of the lion king! - modern version - a boy from a political family whose father dies when he's young, a corrupt uncle, he runs away, learns life the hard way... and then comes back as a reformer who brings good back to politics :) - ugh it sounds like saccharine junk (actually not saccharine junk, I like saccharine junk - it sounds totally smarmy) but I think it could work - my problem is I don't think I'm capable of writing a good boy - it's hard enough for me to handle the generic girl/woman - so I thought maybe I'd focus on Nala - she's got a story too... of course if I plagiarize closely I don't know if it'd be publishable... hmm.... I think I'll worry about that when the time comes :)

so tell me... are you waiting with bated breath?


EDIT: this all sounds a little more serious and therefore a little more delusional than I intended - please don't think that I actually think I'm going to do this :) - then you can be totally surprised when I do...

The Princess Bride

Well since I just can't wait to get started...

Yesterday I finished rereading The Princess Bride. I've been meaning to for a while, and it was definitely fun to read again. I always get confused about how much of the life he mentions is real so I looked it up on Wikipedia last night - the definitely answer is - none of it. He has two daughters, not a son, his wife is not a psychologist, he never wrote a reunion scene, and I very much doubt he has pneumonia as kid... I wonder if he had a teacher in fifth grade who encouraged him... probably not either.

It's funny, I guess I'm pretty gullible (I *know* I'm pretty gullible) because the first time I read it I thought the whole thing was real - I thought S. Morgenstern was real, and I must have thought Florin was real too - though I don't know how I thought that was possible because I'm not that ignorant. But anyway, it was funny when I figured it all out. It's definitely a great device (don't I sound literary? :) - he uses that word a lot) for writing... kind of clues you in that the whole thing is a satire. Which is something I did not get the first time I watched the movie, but in my defense, I think I was pretty young at the time - I just thought it was a really cheesy, low budget movie.

But but to my actual opinion of the book - well I obviously like this book, I've read it more than once (this is probably my third time) but... I have to say I found his tone a little more annoying than in previous times. I mean you can just *tell* he's getting kick out of the multiple layers and pretending to be respectful and at the same time slightly bemused by "Morgenstern" - I get a kick out of it too, but I can just feel him smirking... don't know if I'm being clear, I just felt he was being a little self-satisfied, or self-promoting or something self-oriented. That being said, it was still fun to read and very funny... and if he is proud of himself, so what, it was a great idea! Multiple layers of tongue in cheek are fun! and the idea that he made up this outrageous family (thinking here of his fat son Jason and their relationship...) you just gotta shake your head and smile at that one...

so verdict is (should I start doing verdicts? maybe... maybe I need a cute measure like 5... I don't know 5...something other than stars... well I'll think of something...) for now 4/5 stars - a really funny book! and I'm sure I'll go back to it again a few years