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missbhavens's review against another edition
4.0
Another grand, funny, sweeping epic from Helprin. Not as romantic as Winter's Tale, but with an equally bizarre cast of characters embarking on amazing adventures.
Funny as all get out.
Funny as all get out.
wwatts1734's review against another edition
4.0
The first thing that you have to know about Mark Helprin is that he combines the genre of historical fiction with the genre of fantasy. His novels are based on solid historical settings, but they are not exactly realistic, and Helprin intended them this way. His novel "A Winter's Tale", which was recently made into a movie, is very much this way. It is not realistic at all. "Memoir from an Antproof Case" is a bit more realistic, but it's still a fantasy. It should be read that way. Reading Helprin's novels purely as historical fiction will lead to disappointment.
"Memoir" is the story of an elderly American who was born at the beginning of the 20th Century and relates the story of his life through the 1980s. The main character is very quirky. He hates coffee with a passion. He works interesting jobs, becomes an aviator during World War II when he is already in his 40s, and eventually flees the country with a planeload of gold from Wall Street. What's up with this guy? As Helprin tells his tale, the reader begins to understand why this character is so quirky. Why does he hate his employer so much? Why does he hate coffee? By the end of the novel all of this becomes clear, and I really felt like I could sympathize with a guy whom I had previously thought of as a nutcase. The twists and turns in this novel and the historical anomalies kept my attention.
I would almost classify "Memoir" as a psychological novel because of the way that Helprin unfolds his characters. I also appreciated Helprin's historical allusions regarding the various eras of the 20th century, allusions that may go over the heads of less historically aware readers. Overall I really enjoyed "Memoir". I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a quirky historical or fantasy novel.
"Memoir" is the story of an elderly American who was born at the beginning of the 20th Century and relates the story of his life through the 1980s. The main character is very quirky. He hates coffee with a passion. He works interesting jobs, becomes an aviator during World War II when he is already in his 40s, and eventually flees the country with a planeload of gold from Wall Street. What's up with this guy? As Helprin tells his tale, the reader begins to understand why this character is so quirky. Why does he hate his employer so much? Why does he hate coffee? By the end of the novel all of this becomes clear, and I really felt like I could sympathize with a guy whom I had previously thought of as a nutcase. The twists and turns in this novel and the historical anomalies kept my attention.
I would almost classify "Memoir" as a psychological novel because of the way that Helprin unfolds his characters. I also appreciated Helprin's historical allusions regarding the various eras of the 20th century, allusions that may go over the heads of less historically aware readers. Overall I really enjoyed "Memoir". I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a quirky historical or fantasy novel.
benirion's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
2.75
Could not stay focused. The first chapter had me exhausted. Other chapters were great, but too many were boring or long winded and I lost interest.
szafranek's review against another edition
4.0
Z ręką na sercu przyznaję się, że zgubiłam się w treści - stąd 4 gwiazdki. Owo zgubienie (tak mi się wydaje) nie nastąpiło z winy Helprina, lecz mojej książkowej „niestabilności” i wielokrotnego odkładania i podnoszenia i nieuwagi w wertowaniu stron. Humor opowieści oceniam na 5 gwiazdek, biegałam z książką za M. i czytałam na głos najśmieszniejsze fragmenty (nie zawsze tak skutecznie oddając wydźwięk, jaki przybrały w mojej głowie). Planuję powrót.
chamberk's review against another edition
2.0
I really hate Helprin's protagonists. They're brilliant millionaires (who don't care for money, for it corrupts them!), whom every woman on the earth falls in violent love with, and they do ridiculous things just like whatever.
Usually, the quality of Helprin's prose and the story itself can outbalance this problem. This time it could not, and more often than not it was dull.
Also what the hell was his deal with coffee? He complains that everyone was opposed to him but maybe it was because he violently attacked anyone who drank coffee. The whole coffee tangent was something that was rarely if ever explained, and it was annoying throughout.
This book's being sold back to the used book store. I still love Winter's Tale and A Soldier in the Great War, and I'm open to reading more of his stuff, but this was a real dud.
Usually, the quality of Helprin's prose and the story itself can outbalance this problem. This time it could not, and more often than not it was dull.
Also what the hell was his deal with coffee? He complains that everyone was opposed to him but maybe it was because he violently attacked anyone who drank coffee. The whole coffee tangent was something that was rarely if ever explained, and it was annoying throughout.
This book's being sold back to the used book store. I still love Winter's Tale and A Soldier in the Great War, and I'm open to reading more of his stuff, but this was a real dud.
heyhawk's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a while to read this one, as I kept focusing on history and period stuff, but it is a really good novel. If it was written by someone else I may have given it five stars, but it suffers by comparison to Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War. To paraphrase Jeff Vandermeer's comments on Gene Wolfe having written Fifth Head of Cerberus and The Book of the New Sun (to which I would add Soldier of the Mist), relatively early in his career, it must be galling to have later works that are very good constantly compared with such early masterworks. Even though those books are better, that speaks well of them, not ill of this one.
marhill31's review against another edition
3.0
Mark Helprin has written two of my favorite novels: [b:Winter's Tale|12967|Winter's Tale|Mark Helprin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442048864l/12967._SY75_.jpg|1965767] (In my top 5 novels) & [b:A Soldier of the Great War|87985|A Soldier of the Great War|Mark Helprin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328874912l/87985._SY75_.jpg|3279676] (In my top 20 novels). I had been looking forward to reading another Helprin novel for a long time. I remembered when Memoir From Antproof Case came out in the Spring 1995. It was his first novel after the success of the aformentioned [b:A Soldier of the Great War|87985|A Soldier of the Great War|Mark Helprin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328874912l/87985._SY75_.jpg|3279676]. There was quite a few readers at the bookstore I worked at in Santa Fe eager to read it. Well, twenty-five years have passed and I finally got around to reading the novel.
Memoir From Antproof Case was the story of an elderly American named Oscar Progresso who shared his life story from a mountain garden in Brazil. Oscar wrote a memoir chronicling his adventures, loves, and hatred of coffee in a funny and illuminating manner. He was an investment banker at the turn of the 20th century and moved in circles where he met the Pope and President of the United States. Oscar was also a pilot, thief, killer, and a man who loved passionately. Helprin created a larger than life protagonist to reveal a man who had everything but wanted to love and be loved more than anything.
“To keep your alive you must be willing to be obstinate, and irrational, and true, to fashion your entire life as a construct, a metaphor, a fiction, a device for the exercise of faith. Without this, you will live like a beast and have nothing but an aching heart. With it, your heart, though broken, will be full, and you will stay in the fight unto the very last.”
This paragraph came from the last page of the novel as Oscar closed his memoir (in a one of kind antproof case) and provided wisdom that will speak beyond the pages of the book. Memoir From Antproof Case did not rise to level of my Helprin’s favorite novels. However, I enjoyed reading it and will remember many paragraphs from a protagonist that gave me a lot of food for thought.
Helprin seems to understand that great fiction is not only about character but setting and the power of the imagination. Fiction is not just about the environment of the everyday or the lives of dysfunctional people. It is about taking a reader somewhere beyond what they expect and show what makes us human. Our contradictions. Our beliefs. Our wildest dreams and fantasies. That is what makes reading so wonderful and powerful simultaneously.
Memoir From Antproof Case was the story of an elderly American named Oscar Progresso who shared his life story from a mountain garden in Brazil. Oscar wrote a memoir chronicling his adventures, loves, and hatred of coffee in a funny and illuminating manner. He was an investment banker at the turn of the 20th century and moved in circles where he met the Pope and President of the United States. Oscar was also a pilot, thief, killer, and a man who loved passionately. Helprin created a larger than life protagonist to reveal a man who had everything but wanted to love and be loved more than anything.
“To keep your alive you must be willing to be obstinate, and irrational, and true, to fashion your entire life as a construct, a metaphor, a fiction, a device for the exercise of faith. Without this, you will live like a beast and have nothing but an aching heart. With it, your heart, though broken, will be full, and you will stay in the fight unto the very last.”
This paragraph came from the last page of the novel as Oscar closed his memoir (in a one of kind antproof case) and provided wisdom that will speak beyond the pages of the book. Memoir From Antproof Case did not rise to level of my Helprin’s favorite novels. However, I enjoyed reading it and will remember many paragraphs from a protagonist that gave me a lot of food for thought.
Helprin seems to understand that great fiction is not only about character but setting and the power of the imagination. Fiction is not just about the environment of the everyday or the lives of dysfunctional people. It is about taking a reader somewhere beyond what they expect and show what makes us human. Our contradictions. Our beliefs. Our wildest dreams and fantasies. That is what makes reading so wonderful and powerful simultaneously.
gh7's review
2.0
Abandoned eighty pages from the end. I just couldn't take any more of the wilful absurdity of this book. Mt least favourite aspect of the other Helprin novels I've read is his sense of comedy. I just don't find it funny. This novel is entirely comic so more fool me for buying it!
A worrying discovery was the narrator of this novel and the narrator of his new novel appear like the same man. As if we're getting a peep into Helprin himself. Both are waging war on the modern world, both are obsessed with beautiful women who they spiritualise under a delusion that they are more sensitive to women than most men and both are control freaks. In my experience the most exhausting kind of man can often be one who, on the one hand, prides himself on how sensitive he is to women and on the other is a control freak. Sooner or later his "generous" ideas about women will reveal themselves to be just another facet of his closed and regimented mind. Contradict this kind of man at your peril. Our hero in this book wages war on coffee. I wasn't sure at times if Helprin was joking. Maybe he really does think coffee is the source of many of the problems of modern life. The satiric purpose of this phobia wasn't at all clear to me. I'm all for principles but I'm not sure I'm keen on individuals who make a relentless song and dance of them. So his hero was obnoxious to me. Again, I'm not sure this is how I was meant to feel about him. He reminded me of Osmond in Portrait of a Lady except James was fully conscious of how pernicious and noxious his character and his attitude towards women were. Helprin, you feel, doesn't share James' insights. He seems convinced his men are waving some kind of celebratory banner for the female sex - as long as they're under twenty-five, have long slim legs and are stunningly beautiful. Thinking about it, all the women in his books are fairy story females. I can't think of one who would offer an actress a challenging role in a film adaptation.
Helprin can write well but this to me was like a third rate pastiche of a Thomas Pynchon novel.
A worrying discovery was the narrator of this novel and the narrator of his new novel appear like the same man. As if we're getting a peep into Helprin himself. Both are waging war on the modern world, both are obsessed with beautiful women who they spiritualise under a delusion that they are more sensitive to women than most men and both are control freaks. In my experience the most exhausting kind of man can often be one who, on the one hand, prides himself on how sensitive he is to women and on the other is a control freak. Sooner or later his "generous" ideas about women will reveal themselves to be just another facet of his closed and regimented mind. Contradict this kind of man at your peril. Our hero in this book wages war on coffee. I wasn't sure at times if Helprin was joking. Maybe he really does think coffee is the source of many of the problems of modern life. The satiric purpose of this phobia wasn't at all clear to me. I'm all for principles but I'm not sure I'm keen on individuals who make a relentless song and dance of them. So his hero was obnoxious to me. Again, I'm not sure this is how I was meant to feel about him. He reminded me of Osmond in Portrait of a Lady except James was fully conscious of how pernicious and noxious his character and his attitude towards women were. Helprin, you feel, doesn't share James' insights. He seems convinced his men are waving some kind of celebratory banner for the female sex - as long as they're under twenty-five, have long slim legs and are stunningly beautiful. Thinking about it, all the women in his books are fairy story females. I can't think of one who would offer an actress a challenging role in a film adaptation.
Helprin can write well but this to me was like a third rate pastiche of a Thomas Pynchon novel.
dobeesquared's review
3.0
I loved the scope and idea of this book and some stretches read beautifully...at other times I found myself skimming. I'm a fan of Helprin -- his humor, his exaggeration, the surprise poetry of his observations about human nature -- but I just didn't like this book as much of some of his others.