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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
This was just a chore to read. No offense to Cooper, but I could not get over his writing style, and I found the story very hard to find interesting until very far into the novel's second half.
While not the first, this is certainly the most well-known of the five Leatherstocking Tales written by [a: James Fenimore Cooper|9121|James Fenimore Cooper|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1210528548p2/9121.jpg]. Having seen the movie, I thought I would give the book a try. In addition, living in the Finger Lakes area made this book that much more interesting, because I could easily visualize the landscape behind Cooper's story. I really, really liked the characters. Prior to reading the book I had no idea that Hawkeye and Natty Bumppo were the same person... and it's still a little hard for me to accept due to the movie image - somehow Daniel Day Lewis doesn't really fit that name. :) Still, the "man without a cross" kept things interesting and added a sort of swashbuckling element to the story. All the characters are well-written - Uncas and Chingachcook, Magua, Alice, Cora, Heyward, and even Munro. It did take a while to get into this book, but it was enough to make me want to read the other four.
The biggest shock for me was that the ending is almost the complete opposite to the film, in regards to life, death and relationships. Basically, they just did whatever they wanted with the film story, threw in the names of the major characters, and slapped the book's title on their creation. I still appreciate the movie as being entertaining, but the two really don't have much to do with each other.
I am looking forward to reading the other four books, especially [b: The Pathfinder|8100267|Pathfinder (Pathfinder, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388269881s/8100267.jpg|12873035], some of which takes place at Fort Oswego and Fort Ontario. I went to college at Oswego, and toured Fort Ontario, which is still standing (although it's been rebuilt a few times since then).
The biggest shock for me was that the ending is almost the complete opposite to the film, in regards to life, death and relationships. Basically, they just did whatever they wanted with the film story, threw in the names of the major characters, and slapped the book's title on their creation. I still appreciate the movie as being entertaining, but the two really don't have much to do with each other.
I am looking forward to reading the other four books, especially [b: The Pathfinder|8100267|Pathfinder (Pathfinder, #1)|Orson Scott Card|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388269881s/8100267.jpg|12873035], some of which takes place at Fort Oswego and Fort Ontario. I went to college at Oswego, and toured Fort Ontario, which is still standing (although it's been rebuilt a few times since then).
Not only does Cooper have a constipated, sexist style of writing, he's also racist!
adventurous
medium-paced
Setting aside the style of writing, which is rather heavy going and very typical of the time, the story itself is quite fast flowing and captures the difficulties and differences between the European newcomers and the native tribes that live of the North American lands and the disasterous consequences of one trying to control the other. Cooper does use a lot of stereotypes which now come across as not only disrespectful and inaccurate but outright racist and sexist but this is often the case with novels of the time and it does reflect the ongoing differences between the settler populations and native tribes, not to mention the ever present view that women are utterly helpless and need men-folk to save them from everything. These issues aside, Cooper's use of overly detailed descriptions does get a little laborious at times but does also help recreate the era and brings to life every aspect of the time, possible even a little too much.
Speed read this for my literature class. I'm not used to this kind of writing style so I had difficulty processing the events. The narrative is very very rich... the kind that causes you to space out—only to realize an important event had just taken place
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was at times a difficult read. Tale of two daughters of a British Lieutenant who are captured, saved, captured, and saved again. May have missed a few caputres/savings in there. I appreciated the personification, and the storytelling at times was gripping and intense. The descriptions of the American Northeast were beautiful, and the levelheaded descriptions of Indian customs were cool to read about. Not levelheaded by today’s standards, but certainly for the era it was published. However, it was sometimes difficult to keep track of what was going on (storyline is complicated as hell). I also thought sometimes the language was tough to work though. The bear costume scene also makes no sense to me at all— I think the movie is better.
I’m glad to be able say I have read it in the past, not that I especially enjoyed it while reading. I’m the first to admit I don’t like highly emotional scenes and wasn’t familiar with the plot of this book going in, or I might have passed. From graphic war sequences to tragic deaths, this book reads like a Shakespearean tragedy if he were writing a very euro-centric American tale of woe. I’m sure for Coopers time his portrayal of an Native American as intelligent or heroic was radical and shocking, but these days it reads with a dark shadow of racist terminology. The writing of florid and often lovely, but a bit formulaic and overdone at times, so not even that could make this more than a so-so book for me.
I came to this book expecting to be disappointed, and I was less disappointed than I expected. There were moments when I nearly gave up on it: the dialogue is completely absurd and unrealistic (seriously, no one talked like that even in Shakespeare's day!), the plot has some giant holes (hey sis, let's go for a walk in the middle of a war zone for no reason at all!), and at times it's hard even to follow what's going on in the midst of the flowery writing.
But, the descriptions of the scenery are lush and make you want to catch the first plane to the Canadian border. And towards the end, during the great chase through the forest and the final tragic scene, I started warming to Cooper's world a bit. This may be because the title character is my favorite - although he barely says a word in the whole book! - and the final chapters are really all his. The last chapter is incredibly touching.
But, the descriptions of the scenery are lush and make you want to catch the first plane to the Canadian border. And towards the end, during the great chase through the forest and the final tragic scene, I started warming to Cooper's world a bit. This may be because the title character is my favorite - although he barely says a word in the whole book! - and the final chapters are really all his. The last chapter is incredibly touching.