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13iscute's review against another edition
3.0
2022 Reading Challenges
• ATY #1 - A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y [Andy]
• Back to the Classics #3 - A classic by a woman author
• Read Harder #14 - Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book) [1936 film]
• Popsugar #2 - A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship
How I selected this book
Edna Ferber was a popular American author in the first half of the 20th century, but she seems barely remembered compared to other authors who have achieved "classic" status. She won the Pulitzer Prize for So Big. This book, Show Boat, was adapted into a musical and several films, and Giant was adapted into a movie starring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson. Her books sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But I never heard of her until my musicals class in college, and I never see her books on lists of "classics" (though she does show up often in crossword puzzles, "Edna" is great crosswordese). So why hasn't she had longevity?
I purchased an omnibus edition containing Show Boat, So Big, and Cimmaron at a library used book sale a few years ago. I'll start this year with Show Boat, and see if the source material lives up to the highly popular musical.
Plot summary
A three-generation American family saga spanning ~50 years, 1870s-1920s...
• Generation 1: Parthy Ann & Captain Andy Hawks -- Captain Andy is a riverman, his wife Parthy is prim and proper from the East coast. Against Parthy's will, Andy buys a showboat, the "Cotton Blossom" and they make their life traveling up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries. After Andy dies from drowning, Parthy unexpectedly thrives as the proprietor of the Cotton Blossom and makes quite a name for herself, before dying at age 80 toward the end of the novel, and leaving a half-a-million fortune to her daughter.
• Generation 2: Magnolia Hawks-Ravenal & Gaylord Ravenal -- Andy & Parthy's daughter, Magnolia, grew up on the show boat from age 9, and falls into the role of the ingenue actress when the current actress, Elly, runs off. She elopes with Gaylord Ravenal, a man they picked up in New Orleans as the lead actor. Magnolia & Gaylord have a daughter, leave the show boat life for Chicago, where Gaylord gambles and they live the highs and lows of a gambling life. Gaylord leaves Magnolia, who becomes a vaudeville actress/singer. After her mother dies, Magnolia takes over the show boat business.
• Generation 3: Kim Ravenal (& Kenneth Cameron) - Kim (whose name stands for Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, for she was simultaneously born in all three states), lives a rocky childhood between the ups and downs of her father's gambling career, before being sent to a convent and then dedicating her life to acting. She becomes a famous New York actress. She tries to get her mother to leave the show boat life, to no avail.
Likes
• I love a sprawling family saga
• The three generations are traced through the female line (Parthy --> Magnolia --> Kim)
• Strong characterization of the main characters
Dislikes
• Racism (it was written in 1926)
• Huge time jumps - I love sprawling epics, but prefer a more natural flow between time periods
Final thoughts
It makes sense that this doesn't stand up as a classic - it's good source material for the groundbreaking musical. Watch the musical, but there's no need to read the book. There's nothing in particular about the book itself that stands out. It doesn't hold up for a modern audience, nor does it have strong themes that make it "English class" worthy.
• ATY #1 - A book with a main character whose name starts with A, T, or Y [Andy]
• Back to the Classics #3 - A classic by a woman author
• Read Harder #14 - Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you’ve seen (but haven’t read the book) [1936 film]
• Popsugar #2 - A book set on a plane, train, or cruise ship
How I selected this book
Edna Ferber was a popular American author in the first half of the 20th century, but she seems barely remembered compared to other authors who have achieved "classic" status. She won the Pulitzer Prize for So Big. This book, Show Boat, was adapted into a musical and several films, and Giant was adapted into a movie starring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson. Her books sold hundreds of thousands of copies. But I never heard of her until my musicals class in college, and I never see her books on lists of "classics" (though she does show up often in crossword puzzles, "Edna" is great crosswordese). So why hasn't she had longevity?
I purchased an omnibus edition containing Show Boat, So Big, and Cimmaron at a library used book sale a few years ago. I'll start this year with Show Boat, and see if the source material lives up to the highly popular musical.
Plot summary
A three-generation American family saga spanning ~50 years, 1870s-1920s...
Spoiler
• Generation 1: Parthy Ann & Captain Andy Hawks -- Captain Andy is a riverman, his wife Parthy is prim and proper from the East coast. Against Parthy's will, Andy buys a showboat, the "Cotton Blossom" and they make their life traveling up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries. After Andy dies from drowning, Parthy unexpectedly thrives as the proprietor of the Cotton Blossom and makes quite a name for herself, before dying at age 80 toward the end of the novel, and leaving a half-a-million fortune to her daughter.
• Generation 2: Magnolia Hawks-Ravenal & Gaylord Ravenal -- Andy & Parthy's daughter, Magnolia, grew up on the show boat from age 9, and falls into the role of the ingenue actress when the current actress, Elly, runs off. She elopes with Gaylord Ravenal, a man they picked up in New Orleans as the lead actor. Magnolia & Gaylord have a daughter, leave the show boat life for Chicago, where Gaylord gambles and they live the highs and lows of a gambling life. Gaylord leaves Magnolia, who becomes a vaudeville actress/singer. After her mother dies, Magnolia takes over the show boat business.
• Generation 3: Kim Ravenal (& Kenneth Cameron) - Kim (whose name stands for Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, for she was simultaneously born in all three states), lives a rocky childhood between the ups and downs of her father's gambling career, before being sent to a convent and then dedicating her life to acting. She becomes a famous New York actress. She tries to get her mother to leave the show boat life, to no avail.
Likes
• I love a sprawling family saga
• The three generations are traced through the female line (Parthy --> Magnolia --> Kim)
• Strong characterization of the main characters
Dislikes
• Racism (it was written in 1926)
• Huge time jumps - I love sprawling epics, but prefer a more natural flow between time periods
Final thoughts
It makes sense that this doesn't stand up as a classic - it's good source material for the groundbreaking musical. Watch the musical, but there's no need to read the book. There's nothing in particular about the book itself that stands out. It doesn't hold up for a modern audience, nor does it have strong themes that make it "English class" worthy.
cpruskee's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
suannelaqueur's review against another edition
4.0
Did you know that the notes in the refrain of "Cotton Blossom" are the inverted notes of the refrain of "Old Man River." Go ahead, sing it in your head: Cot-ton Blossom....Old Man River. See? Now good luck getting that out of your head. We're speaking, of course, of the musical Show Boat, which was based on the novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. I took a compilation of five of her novels out of the library, because I actually wanted to read Saratoga Trunk. But Show Boat was there and it won the mental coin toss and I read it first. I hadn't read anything by Edna Ferber before and was just blown away by her writing. Her sentence structure and cadence make the paragraphs read like songs. And her sensory descriptions are beyond everything. You don't read Show Boat, you see, hear, smell, feel, touch and eat it. The food was unbelievable! So much so that I felt compelled to make one of my "Literary Eats" blog posts so I could share some of these passages. Read it here: http://suannelaqueurwrites.com/literary-eats/literary-eats-showboat
small_town_librarian's review against another edition
5.0
A river story, an adventure story, a story of strong women, a fantastic book all around!
sunnie's review
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
jamiedarlin's review against another edition
3.0
What I love about Edna Ferber's books is the consistency with which I can expect and receive a strong cast of female characters who, through a richly drawn narrative, take control of their respective lives. Show Boat provides this in spades through a family of women who, though different in nature, all possess a steadfast and indomitable tenacity. Be warned, however, that this is NOT the reimagined (sugar-coated) musical of Rogers and Hammerstein fame. No, this is the original story, at times beautiful, at times sordid and honest (especially when it comes to the racial politics and language of the time period), written in a way that only Ferber could achieve. It's not as strong of a novel as So Big, but it is, in my opinion, highly worth the read. I found I much preferred it to the musical.
Readers who live in Chicago might find this novel particularly enjoyable—it gives life to the city's history through its depictions of familiar streets, buildings, and neighborhoods.
Readers who live in Chicago might find this novel particularly enjoyable—it gives life to the city's history through its depictions of familiar streets, buildings, and neighborhoods.
liisu's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Cultural appropriation
ldjdbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0