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A review by duffypratt
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
How have I not read Burroughs before? This book is very silly, almost unbearably racist, and lots of fun. A bit bored with other options on my Kindle, I made an impulse buy of 10,000 pages of Burroughs for a buck. Before, I always thought the books would be just too juvenile for me (even when I was juvenile myself).
Very silly: Tarzan teaches himself to read without any exposure to language at all, and he understands ideas and concepts to which he has had no exposure (ships, lights, clothes). He is impossibly strong, in addition to being impossibly smart, and he somehow manages to race through the trees in the jungles faster than anyone could traverse on foot, at heights that are probably taller than any actual jungle.
Unbearably racist: The apes come off better than the blacks. Tarzan, who has no exposure to race at all, somehow instinctively understands that the difference between him and the African tribes is the color of his skin. He also seems to instinctively know that white people are like him, and somehow better than the black people in the nearby tribe. Furthermore, born Lord Greystoke, Tarzan has somehow been imbued with instinctive notions of honor, fidelity, love, etc... These are his birthright, somehow in his genes (together with inherent physical superiority). The odd thing is that these things he is born with did not come so naturally to his father, who fared much worse in the same jungle, though possessing many other civilized advantages (like having guns).
Lots of fun: The novel is much better written and better plotted than I would have expected. It does a good job of lampooning the non-Tarzan whites in the books, including the white hunters in the nearby village, and the clueless explorers whom Tarzan is perpetually saving. And given the silliness of the start of the romance between him and Jane, its outcome was excellent and quite satisfying (while also leaving open the possibility for the further adventures).
Will I read all 10,000 pages of Burroughs. I'm coming very late to the world of pre-WW2 pulp, reading Howard, Lovecraft and now Burroughs. All of them are unexpectedly good, but I don't actually know how long my enthusiasm will last. (I can only take Lovecraft now in fairly small doses, and Howard is seeming rather repetitive.) But truthfully, I just don't know. I am surprised at how much fun this book was, despite its obvious problems.
Very silly: Tarzan teaches himself to read without any exposure to language at all, and he understands ideas and concepts to which he has had no exposure (ships, lights, clothes). He is impossibly strong, in addition to being impossibly smart, and he somehow manages to race through the trees in the jungles faster than anyone could traverse on foot, at heights that are probably taller than any actual jungle.
Unbearably racist: The apes come off better than the blacks. Tarzan, who has no exposure to race at all, somehow instinctively understands that the difference between him and the African tribes is the color of his skin. He also seems to instinctively know that white people are like him, and somehow better than the black people in the nearby tribe. Furthermore, born Lord Greystoke, Tarzan has somehow been imbued with instinctive notions of honor, fidelity, love, etc... These are his birthright, somehow in his genes (together with inherent physical superiority). The odd thing is that these things he is born with did not come so naturally to his father, who fared much worse in the same jungle, though possessing many other civilized advantages (like having guns).
Lots of fun: The novel is much better written and better plotted than I would have expected. It does a good job of lampooning the non-Tarzan whites in the books, including the white hunters in the nearby village, and the clueless explorers whom Tarzan is perpetually saving. And given the silliness of the start of the romance between him and Jane, its outcome was excellent and quite satisfying (while also leaving open the possibility for the further adventures).
Will I read all 10,000 pages of Burroughs. I'm coming very late to the world of pre-WW2 pulp, reading Howard, Lovecraft and now Burroughs. All of them are unexpectedly good, but I don't actually know how long my enthusiasm will last. (I can only take Lovecraft now in fairly small doses, and Howard is seeming rather repetitive.) But truthfully, I just don't know. I am surprised at how much fun this book was, despite its obvious problems.