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artdymond's review
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pturnbull's review
5.0
Savage Coast is a wonderfully romantic novel written by the poet Muriel Rukeyser. It's the fictionalization of a significant event in Rukeyser's life when she went to Spain in 1936 to report on an alternative to the Berlin Olympics by anti-fascist athletes. The novel begins on a train. The main character, Helen, is traveling alone, and is moving about the train, trying to find a comfortable place and compatible traveling companions. She meets another American woman traveling alone, but Mrs. Peapack is politically ignorant, with a sense of privilege Helen finds irritating. She ends up joining a group of Spanish women in the third class compartment, but feels a sense of obligation to Mrs. Peapack and she moves between the two carriages. Eventually, the train slows and finally stops before its destination. There is a general strike. The Fascists have attacked Catalonia. The civil war has started. The train is full of athletes and foreigners, who now must negotiate food, water, toilet facilities, and shelter, in a small Spanish town that is unprepared to meet the crush of guests. Helen meets a couple with political sensibilities very similar to her own. She also forms an immediate and intense connection with a German runner and has a stunning, unforgettable night with him. The fascists have snipers everywhere and there are many descriptions of young men of the town shouldering guns and going off to protect their homes and families. Planes fly overhead. A tennis team practices and an athlete is shot and killed. During this time, history reveals Helen's identity to herself and she falls deeply in love. Her lover's character is entirely plausible. At the end, he chooses to stay in Spain rather than return to Nazi Germany and he joins the Loyalist forces.
If this plot isn't already overwhelmingly beautiful, exciting, and poignant, the story of how it came to be published is even more romantic. The novel was rejected by its first readers in 1937 and Rukeyser was advised to develop her poetry instead. The manuscript eventually languished in a misfiled folder in the Library of Congress, until it was recently discovered and published by the Feminist Press.
The beginning of the novel, with its train setting, reminded me of Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, in which another intelligent woman sits on a train, hurtling into an unknown future on the eve of war. Helen is far more independent and politically engaged, which makes her a more interesting witness.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who, like me, is interested in 20th century European history, leftist movements, and literature written by women. I am grateful to Ms. Rukeyser for writing it and for the Library of Congress for preserving it, so that it could become discovered and read by people who will enjoy it as much as I did.
If this plot isn't already overwhelmingly beautiful, exciting, and poignant, the story of how it came to be published is even more romantic. The novel was rejected by its first readers in 1937 and Rukeyser was advised to develop her poetry instead. The manuscript eventually languished in a misfiled folder in the Library of Congress, until it was recently discovered and published by the Feminist Press.
The beginning of the novel, with its train setting, reminded me of Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, in which another intelligent woman sits on a train, hurtling into an unknown future on the eve of war. Helen is far more independent and politically engaged, which makes her a more interesting witness.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who, like me, is interested in 20th century European history, leftist movements, and literature written by women. I am grateful to Ms. Rukeyser for writing it and for the Library of Congress for preserving it, so that it could become discovered and read by people who will enjoy it as much as I did.
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