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evanmc 's review for:
Masters of Atlantis
by Charles Portis
A tale of a few men who become embroiled in the formation and propagation of a secret society, told in halting deadpan. A humorous look at how easily men can delude themselves, and the lengths they go to in an effort to confirm to themselves that they have worth on this earth, because by god they knew the secrets of Pletho Pappus and the Atlantean empire! It makes no difference they have relied upon the financial support of good-natured women, the state welfare system, and the dollars of people more foolish than themsleves to keep from shuffling quckly off of this mortal coil - because they know the secrets of the Cone of Fate and the Jimmerson Spiral!
This was enjoyable, but I really wished instead of the surface level commentary we get about our cast of characters, that we would get some depth, to maybe understand why they were susceptible or drawn to the philosophical, mysterious, and absurd nature of a secret society guarding some "ancient truth." The closest the book gets is in the Austin Popper storyline where he drifts from Golescu and their pursuit of alchemical plants and into alcoholism. He wakes one day, swears off the hooch, and within 24 hours is nursing a beer in the pub avoiding the FBI and losing his love interest to his former associate. As he returns to their house to retrieve his bird friend, fleeing pursuit by the FBI, only to find him dead, was crushing. His one true friend in the world, who didn't judge him as other men did, gone. A rare moment of emotion not draped in deadpan comedy, as he escapes an accidental house fire and curls up in the mouth of an abandoned mine, with his bird in tow. More moments like this would have greatly ratcheted up the impact for me.
These characters, unfortunately, have no arc. They show no change, let alone any growth. They manage to get through life on what seems to be pure circumstantial luck. I was thirsty for this type of character development, bu sadly didn't find it.
This was enjoyable, but I really wished instead of the surface level commentary we get about our cast of characters, that we would get some depth, to maybe understand why they were susceptible or drawn to the philosophical, mysterious, and absurd nature of a secret society guarding some "ancient truth." The closest the book gets is in the Austin Popper storyline where he drifts from Golescu and their pursuit of alchemical plants and into alcoholism. He wakes one day, swears off the hooch, and within 24 hours is nursing a beer in the pub avoiding the FBI and losing his love interest to his former associate. As he returns to their house to retrieve his bird friend, fleeing pursuit by the FBI, only to find him dead, was crushing. His one true friend in the world, who didn't judge him as other men did, gone. A rare moment of emotion not draped in deadpan comedy, as he escapes an accidental house fire and curls up in the mouth of an abandoned mine, with his bird in tow. More moments like this would have greatly ratcheted up the impact for me.
These characters, unfortunately, have no arc. They show no change, let alone any growth. They manage to get through life on what seems to be pure circumstantial luck. I was thirsty for this type of character development, bu sadly didn't find it.