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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Parts enjoyed and wanted to know what would happen but really the racism got to me and some rather daft bits.
Normally don't mark the language of the past much but the repeated " the blacks" and the very simple Essemelda,rolling her bulging eyes and fainting seem extreme even for the past.
Think you have to regard as a fairy tale / fantasy rather than a realistic plot.
Annoyed by the ending too!
Normally don't mark the language of the past much but the repeated " the blacks" and the very simple Essemelda,rolling her bulging eyes and fainting seem extreme even for the past.
Think you have to regard as a fairy tale / fantasy rather than a realistic plot.
Annoyed by the ending too!
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Who hasn’t heard of Tarzan? While many people haven’t seen the movies (including yours truly) they can all hear the primal scream uttered by the wild man. So looking for a light read to balance my heavy management and database school books, I stumbled across Tarzan of the Apes. And since I subscribe to the thought that the book is always better than the movie, I thought I’d give it a go. Despite all its faults, of which there are many, I’m glad I did.
The first couple of chapters tell of how Lord Greystoke and his wife come to be stranded in the wilds of Africa, a mutiny. As an aristocratic man, Greystoke put his massive brain to work and successfully builds a house for the two of them. All is well, save for their lack of rescue, and soon the missus is with child. To cut to the chase, scant months after the baby is born, the parents both die. As luck with have it, a poor lady ape loses her baby around the same time. As you probably guessed, Kala (the lady ape) adopts the young lad and viola: Tarzan!
The expected struggles of a human boy being raised by apes occur. He’s slower to develop than his ape-brethren but he soon catches up and surpasses them. He’s a perfect physical specimen, combining both the raw primal strength of apes with the highly adaptive and intelligent brain of man. He can kill gorillas and lions with nothing more than a knife and a vine-fashioned rope. He highly developed homo sapien brain even allows him to learn to read by months-long examination of the books left by his daddy. Clearly, Burroughs wants to the reader to see Tarzan as the pinnacle of human achievement.
If Tarzan is the ideal, then the other men (and women) featured in the book are, well, trash. First you have the sailors. I filthy lot, prone to literally shooting their “friends” in the back. Then you have the black African native and their cannibalism. Next up is the other band of white folk that come to the African coast: they’re overly concerned with honor and are a bumbling bookish lot. Jane is the stereotypical woman ruled by her emotions and prone to irrational behavior but it’s excusable since she is, after all, just a women. I save the best for last: Esmeralda. She’s Jane’s maid and is a slave in all but name. An obese woman that faints more often than she blinks and her speech is damn near the hyperbole of an uneducated person. In short, the Apes and their excusable murderous rages are portrayed as more noble than any man (or woman) aside from Tarzan. If it wasn’t the admirable independent streak Jane has, I’d say the book was a cookie-cutter stereotype.
Honestly, even with all that said, it’s worth a read. If nothing else to see the clear influence the time in which it was written has on it. It was published nearly 100 years ago in 1914. It’s always fascinating to catch a glimpse of the past. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in 100 years, yet also the attitudes towards women and black that shock me so aren’t completely gone yet. So it helps put present day examples of racism and misogyny into perspective. Bad? Indisputably. But it used to be a lot worse.
On a side note, I read the e-version of this book. The free one. Did you know that most books in the public domain are always available at your friendly neighborhood library? It’s true. I found Tarzan in the Minuteman Library Network Catalog. When you click the link, just search for Tarzan and you’ll get a slew of them or browse the titles to see what else is there.
The first couple of chapters tell of how Lord Greystoke and his wife come to be stranded in the wilds of Africa, a mutiny. As an aristocratic man, Greystoke put his massive brain to work and successfully builds a house for the two of them. All is well, save for their lack of rescue, and soon the missus is with child. To cut to the chase, scant months after the baby is born, the parents both die. As luck with have it, a poor lady ape loses her baby around the same time. As you probably guessed, Kala (the lady ape) adopts the young lad and viola: Tarzan!
The expected struggles of a human boy being raised by apes occur. He’s slower to develop than his ape-brethren but he soon catches up and surpasses them. He’s a perfect physical specimen, combining both the raw primal strength of apes with the highly adaptive and intelligent brain of man. He can kill gorillas and lions with nothing more than a knife and a vine-fashioned rope. He highly developed homo sapien brain even allows him to learn to read by months-long examination of the books left by his daddy. Clearly, Burroughs wants to the reader to see Tarzan as the pinnacle of human achievement.
If Tarzan is the ideal, then the other men (and women) featured in the book are, well, trash. First you have the sailors. I filthy lot, prone to literally shooting their “friends” in the back. Then you have the black African native and their cannibalism. Next up is the other band of white folk that come to the African coast: they’re overly concerned with honor and are a bumbling bookish lot. Jane is the stereotypical woman ruled by her emotions and prone to irrational behavior but it’s excusable since she is, after all, just a women. I save the best for last: Esmeralda. She’s Jane’s maid and is a slave in all but name. An obese woman that faints more often than she blinks and her speech is damn near the hyperbole of an uneducated person. In short, the Apes and their excusable murderous rages are portrayed as more noble than any man (or woman) aside from Tarzan. If it wasn’t the admirable independent streak Jane has, I’d say the book was a cookie-cutter stereotype.
Honestly, even with all that said, it’s worth a read. If nothing else to see the clear influence the time in which it was written has on it. It was published nearly 100 years ago in 1914. It’s always fascinating to catch a glimpse of the past. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in 100 years, yet also the attitudes towards women and black that shock me so aren’t completely gone yet. So it helps put present day examples of racism and misogyny into perspective. Bad? Indisputably. But it used to be a lot worse.
On a side note, I read the e-version of this book. The free one. Did you know that most books in the public domain are always available at your friendly neighborhood library? It’s true. I found Tarzan in the Minuteman Library Network Catalog. When you click the link, just search for Tarzan and you’ll get a slew of them or browse the titles to see what else is there.
Like many of the other reviewers, I was surprised at how much I liked this book. For its genre, the writing is excellent. It is fast-paced, evocative,and dramatic. I was drawn in immediately.
I'm actually reading this book to my partner at bedtime each night. Not every book reads well out loud, but this one does.
Clearly, the book was written in another era that was unconscious about issues like white supremacy and colonization. While understanding the historical context, it still leaves me uneasy with the realization that this book would be offensive to Black people, who are depicted as "savages", in contrast to Tarzan, who is at the same time the ape-man and also the noble Lord Greystoke.
The book is a classic, not because it's high literature, but because it's a rolicking good adventure. It also has had a major cultural impact, particularly, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, on Hollywood.
This book is inspiring me to return to some of the other classic adventure stories that I haven't read for decades.
I'm actually reading this book to my partner at bedtime each night. Not every book reads well out loud, but this one does.
Clearly, the book was written in another era that was unconscious about issues like white supremacy and colonization. While understanding the historical context, it still leaves me uneasy with the realization that this book would be offensive to Black people, who are depicted as "savages", in contrast to Tarzan, who is at the same time the ape-man and also the noble Lord Greystoke.
The book is a classic, not because it's high literature, but because it's a rolicking good adventure. It also has had a major cultural impact, particularly, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, on Hollywood.
This book is inspiring me to return to some of the other classic adventure stories that I haven't read for decades.
It's hard to accurately rate this one from a modern perspective. I can't help but see the racist, classist, and sexist tropes, but I also recognize it as a product of its time. It's certainly interesting from that perspective.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To address the Tantor in the room - yes, the racism in this book is out of control. Black Africans are constantly dehumanized, and Esmeralda gets even worse treatment. I was initially surprised because at the very beginning the book does point out Black Africans are being cruelly abused by the Belgians and don’t deserve it (though the complexities of this animosity are dropped when it becomes a more important plot point later) but seems to circle around to the idea that even though they’re sub-human, Black Africans don’t deserve that treatment, which is certainly a take. Bonus points for the pro-Confederacy line.
As for the story itself, it was a fun adventure with plenty of peril and heroic rescue. I came to truly believe in Tarzan’s jungle prowess after seeing every other character blunder their way to what would have been certain death. The theme of civilization versus nature was interesting, if left unresolved to make way for more Tarzan stories. The subplot about Tarzan’s identity was unexpected and added some good dramatic tension. If I were a contemporary reader, I probably would’ve picked the next one up to continue the story.
As for the story itself, it was a fun adventure with plenty of peril and heroic rescue. I came to truly believe in Tarzan’s jungle prowess after seeing every other character blunder their way to what would have been certain death. The theme of civilization versus nature was interesting, if left unresolved to make way for more Tarzan stories. The subplot about Tarzan’s identity was unexpected and added some good dramatic tension. If I were a contemporary reader, I probably would’ve picked the next one up to continue the story.
This book is hilarious. It's not a comedy, and Burroughs wasn't a comedy writer, so it's not funny the way a Christopher Moore or a Douglas Adams is funny, but rather funny in the way all pulp novels are kind of ridiculous. Tarzan is a perfect man, Jane is close to blond bombshell, and everything that happens is over-the-top and, at best, just this side of believe-able.
But it shines for that. It's easy to see why Tarzan became huge. Burroughs didn't hold back, he didn't try to make it deep or turn it into satire, he just simply figured "Here's a dude who can act like an ape, time for adventure." The ending felt a bit rushed, but I think it's easy to let that go.
If you want a nice, easy, over-the-top pulp story with an awesome cover, this is a great way to go.
But it shines for that. It's easy to see why Tarzan became huge. Burroughs didn't hold back, he didn't try to make it deep or turn it into satire, he just simply figured "Here's a dude who can act like an ape, time for adventure." The ending felt a bit rushed, but I think it's easy to let that go.
If you want a nice, easy, over-the-top pulp story with an awesome cover, this is a great way to go.
This book was way better than I thought it was going to be! The writing is elegant yet very clear and the characters are so vivid! The end was a great surprise to me though... I might just have to read the others to see what happens. As of now, it was not at all what I thought!!
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Emmä kestä niin hauska. Aikansa tuote, mutta tavallaan aikaansa edellä. Ja hyvää viihdettä