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Anonymous
Rank: C+
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Spring, 2004
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006
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Anonymous
Rank: B+
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Fall, 1998 to Spring, 2000
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006
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Anonymous
Rank: B-
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Spring, 2000
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006
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Anonymous
Rank: B-
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Spring, 2002
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006
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Anonymous
Rank: A+
No. Times Read: 3
Last Read: Winter, 2004
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 9 / 14 / 2006
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Anonymous
Rank: B-
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Summer, 2008
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 8 / 22 / 2008
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Traditional
Rank: A
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Summer, 2003 to Spring, 2004
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 29 / 2006
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Various
Rank: A-
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Spring, 2005
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006
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Lloyd Alexander
Rank: F
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Summer, 1997
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006 - Review: I'm embarrassed to admit that I read this book. But, I did, so I have to put it up here. Have to. Why, I don't know. Anyway, I'd just finished reading the last of the pretentiously named Prydain Cycle by Alexander, so I thought, "Gee, did he ever write anything else any good?" As fate would have it, this book was at a library book sale. Twenty-five cents later, I was on my way to adventure—or so I thought! [Read on to see if I was actually on my way to adventure!]
As it turns out, I was not, actually, on my way to adventure. Instead, I found myself reading an insufferably mediocre book about a girl who goes to Turkey, for some reason, back in the 1870's. The book moves seamlessly from one stereotypical adventure to another, like a slot car on a slot car track, set upon a "colorful" backdrop with "colorful" characters that are little more than racist colonial caricatures, as if the book had been written in the 1870's, and not about the 1870's. As I neared the end of this book, I kept looking up to make sure there wasn't someone watching me, pointing and laughing.
This is obviously not a book to read for one's own pleasure. At the same time, though, I wouldn't recommend it for children, either, simply because it's just not as good as other books of a similar vein by different authors. On the bright side, though, if the author was able to make money on this book, there's hope for us all in the wide world of publishing.
- Categories: Juvenile, Short, Trash
- URL: <http://dedalvs.com/read/search_key.php?cid=30>
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Horatio Alger, Jr.
Rank: C+
No. Times Read: 1
Last Read: Summer, 1998
Reviewed By: Dave
Date Review Added: 6 / 27 / 2006 - Review: Many blame Horatio Alger, Jr. for the present state of the Republican party. Or if not, they should.
For those unfamiliar, Horatio Alger, Jr. was a writer who had an unnatural love for young boys, which very nearly landed him in prison. He was acquitted, however, because the character of his accusers was called into question
(something which would never happen in today's society, of course). Nevertheless, he got the message, and so focused on writing books about young boys. Struggling Upward, or, Luke Larkin's Luck is one
such book.
The plot for this book is simple. A young boy, Luke Larkin, lives alone with his ailing mother and has no money or food. Then one day a mysterious (male) stranger shows up and gives him a box to hold onto which he must never open and must always keep a secret (if you've read anything by Dickens with the words "expectations" and/or "great" in the title, pretend you haven't for the sake of this book). Thereafter, Luke begins to, well, struggle upward. He takes odd jobs and earns a nickle a month, or something, and keeps at it, and slowly earns more money, and then can buy himself some gloves without holes, which allows him to work twice as hard, etc. I don't remember the exact events. Anyway, later we find out that the mysterious stranger was really a rich man who was in trouble when he found Luke. Since Luke was such a good boy, the mysterious stranger adopts Luke and makes him the
heir to his vast fortune.
So here's the thing. People have held up Alger's books as triumphant tales of how, in America, you can start with nothing and end up a rich man (not woman, mind you). But the thing is, all his stories depend on some mysterious
wealthy (male) stranger who takes a shine to the main character, and either gives him money, or a job, or both. In this novel in particular, while it's true that Luke wouldn't have been able to get the money in the end had he
not upwardly struggled, had there been no mysterious stranger, he and his mother probably would have been dead in a matter of months, struggle or no. So the real moral of this tale is to, I guess, wander around in open places and put your blind trust in strangers. God bless America.
- Categories: Juvenile, Short
- URL: <http://dedalvs.com/read/search_key.php?cid=31>
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