Moby-Dick

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick: or The Whale. Oak Park, IL : Top Five Books 2026. (originally published 1851). Print.

First Sentences:

Call me Ismael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear or every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to the sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

Description:

Please do not be afraid of taking on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: or The Whale. I know, I know, there are many reasons to avoid this masterpiece of literature and history. 

• Too long (600+ pages with 135 (short) chapters); 
• Too much whale info (from species differences to killing to processing to the value/use of spermaciti); 
• Too difficult a language (in 1850s style, why use one adjective and a short sentence when ten adjectives in a 50-word sentence works even better?); 
• Too much symbolism (everything comes in three's, too religious, fate vs. free will, etc.); 
• Too tragic (obsessive, vengeful doomed captain vs. maniacal, equally vengeful whale); 
• I simply don't have the time and don't care about this book.

But you will be denying yourself one of the greatest work of historical fiction ever created. You would want to at least give such an immersive novel a chance, wouldn't you? I thought as much so keep reading. 

 

To warm you up, I have included several more opening sentences above, more than just the first words of this novel. After all, who doesn't know "Call me Ishmael," probably one of the familiar opening three words in literature? 

 

But you need to notice and absorb the rest of these enticingly rich, revealing opening sentences to get a sample of what lies ahead. What you are presented with immediately are the evocative, highly-personal musings of the narrator, Ishmael, as he contemplates his current lack of funds, boredom with life, thoughts of death, the growing dominance of his "hypos," along with a weakening "moral principal" which prevents him from "knocking people's hats off," and his growing attraction to "pistol and ball" to end his life. 

 

To address his musings, Ishmael turns to his usual remedy: he takes to sea and impulsively joins the crew of the Pequod whaling ship.

 

Thus Melville introduces the character whose role is to observe and relate his tale to any land-lubber readers unfamiliar with a seaman's life and whaling. From his first musings and descriptions of the world and people around him, Ismael reveals his serious eye for detail and contemplation, a masterful use of language, and even some humor. He becomes an ordinary man on board a whaling ship in the 1850s among a company of shipmates with distinctive personalities. In these first sentences, we are given a penetrating picture of this thoughtful character.

And his fellow Pequod crew members are all under the leadership of captain Ahab who, Ishmael soon discovers, only took on the captaincy of this whaling ship so he could pursue and take vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that chewed off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. Collecting valuable spermaieti from whales, the PequodI's investing owners' goal, would be only a secondary task to Ahab and his crew.

 

Here are the main characters:

• Ishmael (narrator) - "A simple sailor";
• Quequeeg (harpooner) - A heavily tattooed Islander who could hit a spot of tar across the ship deck with his harpoon (which he shaves with), and a friend to Ishmael;
• Starbuck (First Mate) - Voice of reason who tries to convince Ahab to abandon his quest of vengeance;
• Stubb (Second Mate) - Happy-go-lucky, pipe-smoking officer who enjoys eating raw whale meat; 
• Flask (Third Mate) - "A short, stout, ruddy young fellow...who somehow seemed to think that the great leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him";
• Fedallah (Ahab's harpooner) - Parsee (fire-worshiper) and predictor of the future; 
• Ahab (Captain) - Glowering, facially scarred, peg-legged, tragically-driven, vengeful leader of the voyage and crew.

  

We all know the story of Moby Dick and its tragic ending, so I won't re-tell it here. But beyond the plot, what makes this book fantastic is the depth Melville explores in so many areas. Whether describing the thoughts and actions of Ishmael's crew mates, musing over the roles of Fate vs. Free Will in decision-making, sharing the workings of a real whaling ship and voyage (a significant industry to readers of 1851 when the book was published), and even the cataloging of the different species of whales and harpoons, Melville is the master of observation and encyclopedic knowledge. He intersperses references to Shakespeare and the Bible alongside the history of whaling tools and the men who created and used them. All these inclusions are to support Melville's broad survey of the importance and reality of whaling in the 1850s. 

 

Moby-Dick is not a page-turning thriller although there are many suspenseful situations. It also is not a straightforward story that moves from Point A to Point B clearly and succinctly. If you are looking for a quick distraction, this is not the book for you.

 

Rather, it's as if we, the readers, are placed at a table with a magnificent gourmet feast in front of us. But before we can sample the food, the chef enthusiastically explains the workings behind the meal: from the growing of special crops and meat and their preparation; the people who cultivated and cooked the ingredients; the kitchen layout and utensils employed; the table setting; and even the atmosphere of the room. 

 

While this may sound tedious and frustrating ... "Just let me get on to the food!" you might think ... these vital details reveal the complex world behind the meal, a necessity to fully enhance for the novice diner the gourmet experience and the food itself. Through this chef's concern about presenting these details, we diners come to understand and appreciate the totality of this feast far beyond just the mere consumption of the food. 

 

There are plenty of fast food or even sit-down eating experiences out there if you preger those. No judgment. But Moby-Dick is a "meal" to be contemplated, savored slowly, and appreciated on a variety of levels. If you want a quick bite, an action-based story with everyday characters, you'll not find these in Moby-Dick. 

 

But there is oh, so much more that turns this novel from a hunt for a whale into a higher level that contemplates the battle between predestination, tragic obsession, and commercial whaling. Melville's language is so rich that it cannot be skimmed over. A reader must deliberately slow him/herself down to savor the 19th century words, the layered phrasings, and the concepts possibly unfamiliar to us living 175 years after Melville wrote. 

 

In short, you need to commit yourself to 1850 and life in the whaling industry to fully appreciate and identify with the characters and action of this book just as you would slowly, appreciatively relish each bite of a gourmet dining experience, even if there are courses that are not to your initial liking. It is the entire experience that shines and will stay with you long after the meal is over or the final pages are read.

 

 

 

As an elementary school kid I had repeatedly poured over my Classics Illustrated comic book version of Moby-Dick. (Note: Familiarity with the plots and characters in these 169 graphic interpretations of great novels, e.g. Silas Marner, Pitcarn's Island, Kidnapped, etc., carried me through my English classes in high school, my college BA and Masters in English). Later I had a wonderful high school teacher who took one entire day on the opening sentence of this novel and taught me how to appreciate its enormity. 

 

This month, when I learned that there was a re-release of a 1930 edition of Moby-Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent, one of my favorites artists (these are his illustrations), I decided it was time to give the novel another, more adult look. Not a glance, not something to be quickly skimmed, but something I really wanted to understand in-depth. And boy, what I ever satisfied.

 

Maybe the 600+ pages is daunting to many readers. Or the language too unfamiliar. Or the diversions in whales, whaling, and the world of 1850 is too tiring to pursue when we have the internet, social media, and the television to captivate us more quickly. 

But I stand here today to highly recommend Moby-Dick  to everyone willing to at least sample, even if only for 50 pages or so, what powerful writing, themes, and stories can be. It will be time well spent, and, if nothing else, something you can brag about to friends and family.

 

[P.S. Those who notice such things may wonder why there is a hyphen in the title, Moby-Dick, but only the unhyphenated name "Moby Dick" is used in the book. No one knows why this is, although the rumor is that Melville's brother changed the proof in the title at the last minute because he liked hyphens, but didn't have time to do so throughout the book. Melville himself used a hyphen in his sea-faring adventure novel, White-Jacket, but really who knows (or cares)?  It's still a fantastic book, with or without a hyphen.]

Of course, it gets my Highest Recommendation. Enjoy. And let ne know your thoughts if you do read it or decide to give it a pass. I'm interested.

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 DeFoe, Daniel. Robinson Caruso

One man is shipwrecked on a deserted island and make his way along, contemplating the world, his fortune, and his survival until jhe discovers a companion.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Lost Masterpiece

Shapiro, B.A. The Lost Masterpiece. Chapel Hill, NJ : Algonquin Books 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

I hate spam. Well, obviously everyone hates spam, but I hate it with an admittedly unwarranted ferocity. When I see it, my blood pressure rises, my fingers curl inward, and my jaw throbs. A bit excessive, I know....Unwanted emails and phishing texts are bad enough, but when spam hits my voicemail, my nerves migrate to the outside of my skin and I'm ready to scream. 

Description:

When Tamara Rubin repeatedly receives multiple voice messages on her phone urgently asking her to call for important news, she naturally becomes enraged and deletes them. Finally she returns the call to berate the spammer, only to find out he is a legitimate person from a legitimate organization whose purpose is to recover artworks stolen by the Nazis and reunite them with their rightful owners.

 

Tamara learns she is the inheritor of a long lost masterpiece painting by Edouard Manet. The painting had been newly-recovered from a Nazi storage location. Further research showed it had been given by Manet to Tamara's great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Berthe Morisot, a fellow Impressionist painter who was rumored to have had a love affair with him.

 

So what does one do with an inherited masterpiece worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Of course, Tamara hangs it in her modest apartment to view its engrossing scene of a picnic in the park of ordinary people laughing, playing, embracing, and generally enjoying themselves. 

 

But there are problems. An unknown cousin descended from Manet, informs Tamara that actually he is the rightful owner of the painting and has Manet's will to prove it. Tamara hires a lawyer to fight this claim and cement her own right to the painting.

 

But is it safe hanging in her apartment, without insurance, guards, proper temperature and humidity, and a host of other complications? When her cousin offers staggering amount of money to purchase the painting outright from her to avoid legal battles, how can she refuse? 

 

But the painting speaks to her. She often feels she is part of the figures depicted in the painting, especially her grandmother who is a prominent figure in the work. She even imagines her grandmother winks at her from the painting.

 

Thus begins a dual narrative, one offered by Tamara living in the current age, and one narrated by Berthe herself from the 1800s. Berthe reveal her privileged life, her struggles as a female artist, and her fellow artists and family, some of whom encourage her work while others are shocked by her profession and subject matter. She also reveals her attraction to Edouard Manet which grows daily as she paints in his studio alongside Degas, Renoir, and others attempting to create a new form of art full of color, abstract figures, and unusual settings. They were mockingly referred to as "Impressionists," a name they gradually took on as a badge of pride, and thus started a new movement away from the staid art of the time.

 

This is historical fiction, meaning the characters in Berthe's era are real, as are many of the situations depicted. Beyond that, this is a story imagined by author Shapiro, one which seems perfectly reasonable as it engulfed me the people and era of France in the late 1800s.

 

I loved the story, the creation of the masterpiece painting contracted with Tamara's fight to protect the piece. It is a totally engrossing novel on so many levels, I highly recommend it for art lovers and just anyone who loves a fight for independence and a romance or two set 150 years apart. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Cane, William and Gabrielle, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story: The Secret Ways Artiss Make Their Work More Seductive.

Fascinating insider research on the background and hidden messages in the works of Berte Morisot as well as Michelangelo, Raphael, Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Cassatt, Kilmt, Van Gogh, Sargant, and many others,

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

Daikon

Hawley, Samuel. Daikon. New York : Avid Reader 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Major Edward T. Houseman left his barracks tent at 8th Avenue and 125th Street -- the Columbia University district -- and headed down the crushed coral roadway in the direction of Times Square. It was eleven o"clock at night and a half-moon was rising, painting the island bluish gray. He passed a row of Quonset huts on his left, backed by miles of runways for the B-29s.


Description:

It's rare for me to find a book that completely satisfies all my criteria for a great book: strong characters, captivating plot, challenging setting, and wonderful writing. Daikon by Samuel Hawley is my most recent find. I'm so happy to share it with you.

 

Each of these four elements in Daikon (plot, characters, writing, setting) force you to keep going, paragraph after paragraph. You simply must find out what's going to happen next, what choices will the characters make, what obstacles, frustrations, triumphs, and dangers will they next face, what the outcomes will be, and how wil they and their world be affected. It's kind of like forcing yourself to watch a thriller movie from behind your fingers placed over your eyes. You have to find out, but you fear what you might see/read. In Daicon, it not a bloody scene you anticipate; it's the on-the-edge-of-your-chair outcome, whatever it might be, to every situation on every page.

 

Here's the scenario and a very brief intro to whet your interest. In the waning days of World War II, Japan's cities and population have been devastated by continual American and Allied bombings. Many in the Japanese government as well as among the people, are ready to surrender. Others, however, feel giving in would be the ultimate in humiliation and are prepared to rally a pro-Japan resurgence with similarly-minded people, including some military, even if it means overthrowing the Emperor and his government.

 

Through an accident, days before the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, an American plane crashes in Japan. It was on a mission to drop the first nuclear bomb on a Japanese city, the premier display of the bomb's power. After the American plane crash, this bomb falls into the hands of the Japanese. However, they are uncertain exactly what this odd-looking device actually is and what its use might be.

 

So how do the Japanese unwrap its secrets? Are there even any scientists left in their devastated country who might be able to decode this weapon? And ultimately what do the finders of this tool plan to do with it before Japan crumbles and surrenders?

 

The rest of the story focuses on the Japanese people involved with these challenges: a scientist, his wife, the army commander, and a lowly navy enlisted man. Together and separately, they embody Japan's dreams, skills, and dedication. What keeps you reading is trying to discover the outcome created by these people on the lost American bomb and possibly the War itself?

 

That's what will keep you up long into the night.

 

As you might sense, this is a special book, completely gripping on every level. You just cannot walk away from these fascinating, often ordinary, but committed characters as they face challenge after challenge.

 

Get it. Read it. And savor the storytelling skills of Samuel Hawley. Highest recommendation. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Conaway, Janes. American Prometheus 

Highly-detailed history of the United States' Manhattan Project, which was tasked to secretly develop, test, and make available, in a very short time span, an atomic weapon before the Germans do.

 Happy reading.

Fred

Click here to browse over 470 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

Memoirs of an Infantry Officer

Siegfried Sassoon. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer: The Memoirs of George Sherston. New York: Coward, McCann. 1930. Print.

First Sentences:

I have said that Spring arrived late in 1916, and that up in the trenches opposite Mametz it seemed as though Winter would last for ever. I also stated that as for me, I had more or less made up my mind to die because in the circumstances there didn't seem anything else to be done.


Description:

Siegfried Sassoon's Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, has been considered the greatest book about World War I ever written. Sassoon, was a writer of dreamy poetic verse until the War came. Then, at age 28, he became an second lieutenant in the British cavalry and sent to the front lines in France where he soon became noted for his compassion for the men serving under him. 

 

Details abound as readers experience every aspect of war through the eyes of British Officer Georege Sherston, Sassoon's fictionalized version of himself. Sherston/Sassoon watch and enter into battles both with his men or alone, with bullets and bombs all around him. The barb wire he confronts is real in Sherston's depictions, as are the smell of chemicals, gun powder, sickness and death. Truly, readers are taken into the trenches to join Sherston and his men live hour by hour in the trenches.

Well, here I was, and my incomplete life might end any minute; for although the evening air was as quiet as a cathedral, a canister soon came over quite enough to shake my meditations with is unholy crash and cloud of black smoke. A rat scampered across the tin cans and burst sandbags, and trench atmosphere reasserted itself in a smell of chloride of lime.

After the death of a friend, however, Sherston turned into "Mad Jack," looking for vengeance against the Germans through carrying out reckless forays behind lines. He was eventually wounded and sent back to England. There, he contemplated the futility and fraud of war and wrote completely different anti-war poetry.

 

In real life, while recovering from his wounds, Sassoon refused to return to the War, publishing his statement in "A Soldier's Declaration." Here he protested the sanitized version of the war promoted by the government, and stating his personal reasons for "refusing to serve further in the army." That powerful anti-war letter is published in full here in Memoirs of an Infantry Officer. Its opening lines are below:

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. ...I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest....

This is the second of three books in Sassoon's fictionalized autobiography series, centering on Sherston, a shy British country gentleman who only knows of horses, cricket, and golf, but finds himself in the trenches of Somme and other battles in the heart of World War I.

 

Powerful, yet beautifully written very penetrating eye witness account of what Sassoon experienced on the front lines, the confidence, the bravery, the horrid conditions, the disillusionment, and the eventual bitterness that led to Sassoon's future anti-war writings. 

 

For any history buff, you cannot go wrong with this realistic depiction of the men, battles, and conditions of World War I. Highest recommendation.

Next evening, just before stand-to, I was watching a smouldering sunset and thinking that the sky was one of the redeeming features of the war. 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage.   

The classic narrative novel of the dreams, fears, and disillusionment of a common soldier fighting in the United States Civil War.

 

West

Davies, Carys. West. New York: Scribner 2018. Print.

First Sentences:

From what she could see he had two guns, a hatchet, a knife, his rolled blanket, the big tin chest, various bags and bundles, one of which, she supposed, contained her mother's things.


Description:

Characters with passion are always compelling to read about. People like Ahab for the white whale, Jean Valjean striving for goodness, Sherlock Holmes and his pursuit of logical deduction, and Romeo for his consuming love all drive readers into worlds most can barely imagine for their intensity.

Such is also the case for Cy Bellman in Carys Davies' quiet, spare novel, West. Bellman is a widower living on his broken down farm in Pennsylvania in 1815, raising mules along side his 10-year-old daughter, Bess. After seeing an article in a newspaper regarding the discovery of gigantic bones in Kentucky, Bellman leaves his farm and daughter in the care of his highly-dubious sister, Julie, driven by the urgency and passion to explore the unknown Western regions of America. He desired with all his being to see for himself these immense creatures who left colossal bones behind and might still be wandering in undiscovered locations.

The whole thing had lit a spark in him. For half a day he'd sat without moving. He'd read it a dozen times....there were no illustrations, but in his mind they resembled a ruined church, or a shipwreck of stone -- the monstrous bones, the prodigious tusks, uncovered where they lay, stuck in the salty Kentucky mud: teeth the size of pumpkins, shoulder blades a yard wide, jawbones that suggested a head as tall as a large man. A creature entirely unknown.

Who in 1815 (or any other age for that matter) could resist seeing such incredible giants? Certainly not Bellman, a man looking for a dream after his wife's recent death. He meticulously plans his journey of a thousand miles, to be undertaken alone, crossing unknown territory to find these creatures for himself. 

 

He promises Bess and his sister to be away only a year or two, but he secretly knows his passion to see these animals may drive him far away from home, possibly for a much longer period.

I have to go. I have to go and see. That's all I can tell you. 

Davies' slim novel recounts Bellman's adventures in brief, strong sentences as the widower wanders through lands he'd never before passed through, suffering bone-chilling winters, and encounters with unfriendly residents, trappers, and local Indians. No one he talks with has ever seen such creatures. Many laugh to themselves, wondering gleefully where Bellman thinks animals that size could be hiding. 

But Bellman never loses his passion, never doubts his ability to achieve his goal, pushing through every challenge in his quest. He steadfastly writes his daughter of his adventures, giving these notes to passersby traveling in the opposite direction, entreating them to promise his letters will be delivered.

And back on the farm, Bess also never loses her faith in her father. She sneaks into the local library to pour over maps of the regions Bellman might pass through, trying to predict where he is, what he is experiencing, and when he might return. Bellman's sister, Julie, and the townspeople harbor no such respect for his quest and are open in their disdain for him leaving his family and livelihood.

Author Davies pulls you into the passionate mind of Cy Bellman from page one, sharing his yearning thoughts for his project, worrying with him about how he will survive his next challenge, and feeling his hopefulness about just what might lie ahead over that next mountain or in the wild woodlands ahead.

I loved this book and will reread it again very soon just to savor the simple writing style, the adventurous story, and the passion driving Cy Bellman in his quest to view for himself these incredible giants. 

(P.S. Carys Davies is a new author to me, so I quickly grabbed onto her book, Clear, another highly recommended read about passionate people in personally challenging situations.)

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

 

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Davies, Carys. Clear.   

An impoverished minister takes on the job to remove a lone man living on an isolated Scottish island, a man who speaks a forgotten language and hasn't been in contact with other people for decades. Wonderful character study of these trying to understand each other.  (Previously reviewed here)

Clear

Davies, Carys. Clear. New York: Scribner 2024. Print.

First Sentences:

He wished he could swim -- the swimming belt felt like a flimsy thin and it had been no comfort to be told not to worry, the men couldn't swim either. Each time they rose he glimpsed the rocky shore, the cliffs, the absence of any kind of landing; each time they descended, the rocks vanished and were replaced by a liquid wall of gray. He closed his eyes.


Description:

In the 1840s, the Scottish Clearances was a relentless movement by Scot landowners to remove poor tenants from their properties in order to turn the land into cheaper and more profitable sheep production. In Clear by Carys Davies, John Ferguson, an impoverished minister, agrees to take on the job of removing the last man from an isolated island off the northern coast of Scotland. John only takes on this work out of desperation to raise money for his struggling church. 

Of course, John is told by the landowner that the man to be removed will be set up in a better location, so should readily agree to leave his barren, wind-swept isolation for a better life. What could go wrong? In this intriguing historical novel, we soon find out.

On the first day on the island and before meeting anyone, John falls from a cliff, knocking himself out, and waking up in the hovel of Ivar, the very man he is supposed to evict. John does not speak the island's ancient language used by Ivar, but in the ensuing days, he slowly builds a dictionary of the forgotten words.

Ivar lives by scraping out a small garden and raising a few wild sheep, trading wool for his rent although due to the isolation of the island, the owner has not bothered to collect payment for decades. Tragedies in his family have left him to survive on the island alone.

Before the arrival of John Ferguson [Ivar thought] he'd never really thought of the things he saw or heard or touched or felt as words....It was strange to think of a fine sea mist, say, or the cold north-easterly wind that came in spring and damaged the corn ... It was as if he'd never fully understood his solitude until now -- as if, with the arrival of John Ferguson, he had been turned into something he'd never been or hadn't been for a long time... 

This quiet novel slowly unfolds the awkward relationship of the men as John recovers from his injury, living in close quarters in Ivar's sparse hut. And meanwhile, John's wife worries about her husband whom she hasn't been able to contact. She was against the work he was to undertake. Since the next boat to pick up John and Ivar is one month away, she is naturally restless for news of the men.

I loved this book. It is calming, exciting, intelligent, human, and challenging in its very quiet way. There is even an appendix with entries from an actual 1908 dictionary of the Norn language used in the Shetlands of Ivar. (Author Davies notes that the last native-speaker of Norn had died in 1850, just after the time period of this novel.)

Carys Davies is a new author to me, so I'm immediately ordering some of her other works. Fingers crossed they are anywhere near as good as Clear.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

     See More Recommendations 

          (and an Intro to The First Sentence Reader) 

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Davies, Carys. West.   

A widowed mule-breeder hears of the discovery of huge bones in Tennessee and, leaving behind his sister and daughter on his run-down farm, sets off into unknown lands to see whether these ancient giants still exist.

 

Horse

Brooks, Geraldine. Horse. New York: Viking 2022. Print.

First Sentences:

"The deceptively reductive forms of the artist's work belie the density of meaning forged by a bifurcated existence. These glyphs and ideograms signal to us from the crossroads: freedom and slavery. White and Black, rural and Urban."

No. Nup. That wouldn't do. It reeked of PhD. This was meant to be read by normal people. Theo pressed the delete key and watched the letters march backward to oblivion.


Description:

I love books that have multiple plot lines, diverse characters, and seemingly unrelated actions that somehow get linked together at some point. Geraldine Brook's Horse, is a compelling example of this technique. I was fully engrossed in each separate story and loved when they finally somehow meshed.

Based on historic facts, Horse focuses on the stories of four people: Jarret, an enslaved boy in the Civil War era and his young horse foal; Theo, an art historian who finds a painting of a racehorse in the trash which he thinks was created by a famous artist; Marsha, an art gallery owner who becomes interested in the authenticity of this painting; and Jess, an Australian scientist working in the Smithsonian who uncovers a long-forgotten skeleton of a horse in the museum's attic.

You might already have guessed how these stories will tie together, but that is not really a big mystery. It's how these divergent lives and events provide captivating histories which lead to a final convergence that makes Horse such an outstanding read.

Readers become familiar with the young slave, Jarret, and his father, Harry, training racehorses for a wealthy plantation owner in the 1850s. One colt, Lexington, while under their care begins winning local races until nefarious dealings take the horse out of Jarret's control. We follow his races, travel, and even an actual incident from the Civil War through the eyes of Jarret as he cares for the horse.

We also learn about the real life Thomas Scott, a struggling artist who makes several paintings of Lexington with Jarret standing beside the horse. It is this painting that Theo years later discovers in a pile of rubbish that starts his interest in both the artist and the horse.

Theo's investigation leads him to Jess in the Smithsonian, an expert in reassembling and then studying bones from the museum's collection. Of course, they find the skeleton of Lexington in the museum's attic and begin to piece together the story of this famous animal.

Each history is slowly, engagingly unfolded for us by author Brooks. Her technique of each chapter bouncing to a different era and its characters pulls readers into the separate worlds of people connected by one horse. This style also leaves us drooling over what might happen next to each person as the following chapter skips away to a different era and its history. 

Details like Jarret's innovative training methods for his colt, Jess' observation of the unique bone structure of the skeleton, the popular world of race horse painting, Theo's dogged pursuit for information about an artist he admires .. all provide a rich texture and compelling action to keep us reading page after page, totally immersed with each person and the experiences they encounter, all with the commonality of a brilliant horse. 

An Afterword by the author details her research into the primary source publications and pictures about Lexington and "Jarret," referenced in the Scott painting (which actually was found in the trash), but contained no background she could find on the groom. Other characters depicted in this novel are real, with Brooks' Afterword describing each major player and what she learned about them to weave this novel.

As you can tell, I loved the story, characters, and writing style immensely. I was fascinated that the events depicted are based on the real life of an astonishing horse, a real painting found in the trash, and many other details, with a backstory now imaginatively fleshed out by Brooks. Read it and enjoy. It is highly recommended.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Gaffney, Ginger. Half Broke.   

A true memoir of a the author who works in a prison program that teacher felons how to train and ride difficult horses. Tremendous, personal, emotional account beautifully written. (previously reviewed here)

 

The Hour I First Believed

Lamb, Wally. The Hour I First Believed. New York: HarperColliuns 2008. Print.

First Sentences:

They were both working their final shift at Blackjack Pizza that night, although nobody but the two of them realized it was that. Give them this much: they were talented secret-keepers.


Description:

This is a very difficult book for me to review and recommend. It is probably not for everyone since the backdrop is the shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Given this violent background setting, this book probably doesn't sound like anything a sane person would want to read any more about, particularly if it's a 700-page historical novel. 

I, too, was one of those hesitant readers. But my interest in author Wally Lamb after reading his book, She's Come Undone, made me want to give The Hour I First Believed at least a fair try (you know, look at the first couple of sentences). And those words were enough to hook me.

I quickly realized that The Hour I First Believed was not simply a re-telling of that horrific incident, but rather a character study and journey towards recovery for one couple who experienced the shooting and the ensuing repercussions. The shooting itself is not completely avoided, of course. It is retold in bits and pieces, framed with some background information from the killers' actual diaries, videos, and interviews. So I kept reading and reading, becoming more and more involved in the main characters, their thoughts, fears, frustrations, and hopes.

The book centers on the fictional narrator, Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, both long-time employees at Columbine High School. Caelum is a literature teacher while Maureen is the school's nurse. On the day of the shooting, Caelum was away from Colorado for a conference. But after seeing a live TV breaking news report on the shooting, he speeds homne, trying desperately to learn about the safety of this wife. He soon finds that Maureen, while safe, experienced first-hand the murderous boys words and actions, as well as saw their victims, most of whom she knew as students or as colleagues and friends. 

And after, she becomes a changed person....as does her husband.

We readers, through Caelem's stream-of-consciousness observations and interactions, follow this damaged couple as they try to address Maureen's new personality and fears, both together and singly. Each wonders whether they have done anything to have foreseen this tragedy or somehow acted to prevent even a small part of it. Questions, guilt, accusations, and self-examination fill their minds. 

In the days, week, months, and years, now, since they opened fire, I have searched wherever I could for the whys, hows, and whether-or-nots of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's rampage. They had been my students first, but I became theirs, stalking them so that I might rescue my wife from the aftermath of what they'd done.

And the couple must deal with other issues as well. Caelum is called on to settle the Connecticut estate and home of his recently-deceased aunt who helped raise him. Along the way, Caelum discovers documents, letters, and diaries in her attic  which reveal his true family history and heritage. Maureen, meanwhile, is trying to re-connect with a troubled student who disappeared during the shooting, as well as recover enough herself to return to work nursing.

You never really forgive yourself. At least I haven't ben able to. But if you can find ways to be useful to others, you can begin to figure out how to live inside your own skin, no matter what you did.

It's not a feel good read by any means, but definitely a fascinating, compelling character study of people dealing with trauma, never an easy process. It is also a well-researched depiction in what happened at Columbine, what it was like for the people who actually experienced it, and how those incidents affected one fictional couple, one community, and many, many lives ever after.

 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Read, Shelley. Go As a River.   

A small town girl in rural Colorado has her life changed after one chance encounter which she must face and address for the rest of her life. (Previously reviewed here.)

Outlawed

North, Anna. Outlawed. New York: Bloombury. 2021. Print.

First Sentences:
 

In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw. Like a lot of things, it didn't happen all at once. First I had to get married.

Description:

 

Interesting first sentence, especially when readers quickly discover the "outlaw" is a woman in Anna North's novel, Outlawed. Set in the 1890's Old West, the story is narrated by Ada, a seventeen-year-old woman, joyous in the first months of her young marriage to her handsome husband. That is until he, his family, and the town suspect she is unable to become pregnant. 

In a world where barren women are hanged as witches, Ada is forced to flee to a convent and later runs away again to join the notorious Hole in the Wall gang (not the Paul Newman/Robert Redford one) led by the bigger-than-life figure known as "The Kid."

Ada is allow to join the small gang due to her medical skills learned in her youth while assisting her midwife mother. The Kid provides Ada shelter and a new family as part of the gang. She learns to ride and shoot a gun under the tutelage of other members until she is deemed skilled enough to accompany them on a stagecoach holdup, which leads to disastrous results. 

 

But The Kid has bigger plans for the gang than small time heists. That plan, while promising great rewards, involves deadly risks for everyone who participates. And the sheriff from Ada's hometown is still hunting for her to answer charges of putting curses other women to affect their childbirths, and jailing her for life.

 

I loved every one of these characters, from the sensitive Ada to the mythical Kid to all the members of the Hole in the Wall gang. And their tale is beautifully written by author North: descriptive, energetic, melancholy, and hopeful in the same paragraph. This is truly a book to be savored for its style, characters, setting, and story - each first rate, in my opinion. 

I'll leave you with one of Ada's reflections in the early morning light before a job.

The sky went from blue-black to royal blue to aquamarine and then, in the sudden manner of the mountain regions, bright with streaks of gold and pink like the tails of gleaming horses. The meadowlarks awoke, with songs that, on another day, would have made me smile. Coyotes chuckled in the predawn and then went silent, shamed out of the scavenging by the light of day.

Highly recommended.

 

Happy reading. 

Fred

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About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Elwes, Cary. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride

Recollections from the star of the wonderful adventure comedy, The Princess Bride, about the making of the movie, from ad-libbed comments by Billy Crystal that made Mandy Patinkin laugh so hard he broke a rib, to the weeks of sword fighting instruction, to Andre the Giant plowing around the landscape on a motorcycle, breaking Elwes toe in the process. Delightful.