A review by hitanne47
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

1.0

This book is one of the most egregious pieces of imperialist garbage I’ve ever read in my life. There was almost nothing to enjoy. Cooper’s prose is painfully slow and not interesting. The plot almost completely revolves around characters being repeatedly captured and the others going to rescue them. None of the characters are the least bit interesting except for David Gamut who is constantly forgotten about in favor of Hawkeye and Heyward (the two white characters in a book titled after a fictional native tribe). Every native character is a stereotype so awful you want to laugh at it before you remember this story was written by an old white dude whose work was actively reinforcing the racism of his time. The only thing I’d hazard to compliment is Cooper’s knowledge and application of historical events to the story, but his neglectful misunderstanding of indigenous culture is so awful it doesn’t even matter. I’d struggle to believe that even people in 1826 found this interesting. If I were alive then I’d surely rather suffer smallpox than read a paragraph of this shit.