All Reviews by Generosa Rader
The Titan
by Theodore Dreiser
The Titan is the second book in Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire - the first book being The Financier.
I was disappointed in this book compared to The Financier which I rated 5 stars. In The Titan Frank Cowperwood continues to build his financial empire, stopping at nothing, including bribery of elected officials to further his goals. He engages in multiple love affairs, discarding women at whim, mindless of the effects his reckless behavior has on his wife and marriage. The financial schemes drone on endlessly. He survives all sorts of plots to demolish him and his riches, and starts life anew with a young wife, after discarding the old Aileen. I was bored and could barely finish this book. Still, it merits a 3 rating for Dreiser's superb writing style, but not for the plot.
The Financier
by Theodore Dreiser
"The Financier" is book 1 of "Trilogy of Desire" - a three-parter based on the remarkable life of the Chicago streetcar tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes and composed of "The Financier" (1912), "The Titan" (1914), and "The Stoic", which was published posthumously in 1947. The Stoic is still under copyright and not available in the Public Domain.
Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist who pioneered the "naturalist school" and is known for portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles.
As in all his novels, Dreiser employs a unique, magnificent, gripping, gritty style of writing in which his characters confront many forces affecting the human condition - particularly intelligence (or the lack of it), drive, power, love, hate, friendship vs. hypocrisy, unrelenting desire to overcome odds at any cost, self-sacrifice, wealth and prestige. Dreiser hides nothing in his description of good, evil, moral immoral, legal, illegal, true love and a loveless marriage.
The main character in "The Financier" is 34 year old Frank Cowperwood, who through dedication, self-confidence and brilliant strategies, quickly establishes himself as a successful Banker/Broker in Philadelphia. In a short time, through his diligence, astuteness and instinct for business, he becomes a millionaire with a coterie of wealthy clients. He marries, has two children, and builds a very costly mansion with all the accoutrements which his position in high society dictates. He even has a young mistress whom he professes to love more than his wife.
Suddenly, misfortune strikes the Stock Exchange and Banks due to a variety of bad economic circumstances in Chicago and Philadelphia. Frank's political and business enemies set him up with false accusations of mis-managing City funds - he loses all his wealth. He goes on trial and is found guilty of embezzlement and larceny. He is sentenced to prison for 51 months. Read the story to see how Frank emerges from this scandal to re-establish his remarkable career in the business world and find happiness in his personal life.
The next book in this series is "The Titan", which follows Frank's career after prison.
So far I have read Dreiser's "Sister Carrie", "An American Tragedy" (under copyright in USA), and "The Financier". For me they are mesmerizing accounts of real people struggling against all odds for happiness and wealth, and succeeding in some cases, failing in others. I recommend Dreiser's novels without reservation.
I would give him 6 stars if this were possible.
A Romance of Two Worlds
by Marie Corelli
This is a most unusual book - Corelli's first novel - which centers on Corelli's beliefs in "The Electric Principles of Christianity", and "The Electric Origin of the Universe", with many references to the Holy Bible. She elaborates on these themes through the experiences of her main character, a young female pianist, who suffers from insomnia, depression and other maladies of mind and spirit - and is cured by a practitioner of "Electric Principles".
Corelli elaborates at length on astral projection, interactions with angels, and other mystical topics related to her beliefs. In her time, Corelli was a widely read, popular author of fiction. Today, many of her concepts would be considered "New Age Religion".
I had a difficult time wading through her precise, well written, but interminable descriptions of concepts which I simply did not fully understand nor accept as feasible. My rating should be 2 stars, but I'll be generous and give her 3 stars.
The Mystery of Cloomber
by Arthur Conan Doyle
I agree totally with the prior review. This is an excellent tale full of mystery, suspense, and the supernatural, written by an eminent author. The descriptions of the characters, their surroundings, and the inexplicable phenomena which pursue them, rivet the reader to the last page.
K
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
While I agree with some of the comments in the two preceding reviews, in my biased admittedly jaded view, this novel was too long, too predictable, and too ridiculous.
To me it is so improbable that K, the main character, a respected, famous surgeon, drops out of his profession at the peak of his career because he loses faith in his abilities. He emerges in "Small Town, America" as a non-entity drifter, working as a clerk. He then proceeds to act like a junior social worker, counseling and trying to "fix" everyone in sight who has mental conflicts, marital problems, un-wanted pregnancies, death in the family, moral issues, and the like. Since I am a Health Care Professional, I simply could not envision his character as portrayed - he lacked the steadfastness, personal strength, intelligence and professionalism that most physicians possess under all sorts of duress. When he finally emerges from his self-imposed exile, he does get Sidney, the woman he loves - but we knew he would from the start.
The Sheik
by E.M. Hull
The silent movie "The Shiek" 1921, starring Rudolf Valentino was based on this novel. I paraphrase from the movie's summary at the Internet Movie Data Base: "Sheik Ahmed (Valentino) desperately desires fiesty British socialite Diana Mayo, so he abducts her and carries her off to his luxurious desert tent-palace. The free-spirited Diana recoils from his passionate embraces and yearns to be released. Only after being kidnapped by desert bandits does Diana realize how much she has grown to love Ahmed, who comes to her rescue in the nick of time." I enjoyed this fast-paced, suspenseful, adventure/love story.
The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn
by Harry Collingwood
Eric Blackburn is an officer/navigator on a British Cruise Ship with hundreds of passengers and crew on board. The ship sinks during a storm at sea and Eric is the sole survivor. This is an exciting story about his resourcefulness and incredible courage as he encounters and successfully deals with many life-threatening events at sea and on the island he finds and inhabits. Recommended for adult and young readers.
What Dreams May Come
by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
I chose to read this book based on its title, which intrigued me, and appears to come from the famous soliloquy in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 "...To sleep! perchance to dream:--ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause..." Atherton's theme is based on a ridiculous, unbelievable, interminable struggle with re-encarnation. A young betrothed couple is afflicted with nightmares and flashbacks of their former lives as lovers about four generations past. The depiction of these conflicts and psychic phenomena drones on and on, and ultimately leads to predictable doom for both of them. A colossal waste of reading time unless you can totally suspend your disbelief.
The Wire Devils
by Frank L. Packard
I did not enjoy this book as much as others written by Packard. The plot focuses on the Hawk who completes serving a prison term and immediately resumes his criminal career. He outsmarts police and other thieves by repeatedly intercepting and decoding telegram messages sent by felons via a railroad communications system, thereby grabbing the loot before others arrive on the scene. For me the details about the decoding process (which was repeated very often) was boring and I just didn't understand it. The Hawk's success at everything he did was so predictable - after a while I lost interest in his fate. To Packard's credit, he writes crisp, vivid scenes, fast paced, coupled with exceptional insight into the criminal mind.
Sister Carrie
by Theodore Dreiser
How do I write a review about a masterpiece? I am totally unqualified. Suffice it to say that Dreiser has written a magnificent work, holding up a mirror as it were, to so many aspects of life. His characters reflect every human experience imaginable - love, hate, hypocrisy, greed, lust, success, failure, poverty, envy, pride, humility, disappointment, hunger, deprivation of body and soul, the loss of everything one holds dear, the tragedy of unfulfilled dreams, the joys of fame and fortune, the eternal quest for the meaning of life, the search for true love. What more can I say? Don't miss reading this marvelous novel. Dreiser also wrote "An American Tragedy", still in copyright in US, on which the 1951 film "A Place In The Sun" was based, featuring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.
In Search of El Dorado
by Harry Collingwood
Well told adventure story about the search for the fabled "El Dorado" city of gold in Peru. It contains the elements of "can't put this book down" adventure stories as written by Arthur Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard such as many narrow escapes from death, discovery of new, huge, frightening beasts eager to devour everyone, long jungle treks without food, water, shelter, savages anxious to kill everyone on the expedition and perhaps eat them, emeralds the size of goose eggs, gigantic, beautiful man-eating flowers, and even romance. Is there a happy ending? I won't spoil the suspense by telling. This is my first Harry Collingwood book, and definitely not my last - he seems to specialize in a variety of adventure stories.
The Avalanche
by Gertrude Atherton
This is a drawn out tale about a 33 year old wealthy San Francisco businessman who marries a 19 year old beautiful woman, Helene, after a ship board romance. She is accompanied by her mother who is very protective and rather vague about their French origins and past. Once married, he begins to suspect something is awry. Is Helene having an affair? Is she a spendthrift? Was her mother once the queen of a bordello in San Francisco? Is Helene her illegitimate daughter? Who can he trust? He hires a private detective to unravel everything. For me this was a lackluster set of characters enacting a dreary plot.
The Haunted House
by Walter Hubbell
In contrast to other reviewers, I thought this short story failed miserably in conveying dimension in its characters and the mystery, suspense, horror, fear, presence of evil that quality ghost stories possess. To me it was a parody of a ghost story, trite, predictable, childish, and aimed at young readers, if that.
Black Oxen
by Gertrude Atherton
A woman in her late fifties undergoes treatment to become younger and now looks 30. She falls in love with a 34 year old man and the story focuses at length on his/her struggles to overcome their real differences in ages, outlooks, and priorities in life.
I was rather bored with the lengthy descriptions of New York High Society in the 1920's, their values and prejudices within their cliques as well as towards this odd couple.
Can an old woman in a young body really find happiness? Read the book.
The Accused
by Harold R. Daniels
Alvin, a meek, self-deprecating college teacher and Louise marry after a brief friendship, to relieve their mutual loneliness, despair and search for love. Her tawdry past, unknown to Alvin, includes promiscuity, gambling, drinking and unbridled spending. These traits begin to surface soon after the marriage. Three months after the wedding, Alvin is charged with the murder of Louise. Did Alvin kill Louise? Was it justified? The plot unfolds via many accounts of the court-room trial followed by Alvin and Louise's related life experiences. The author excels in describing motivations, emotions, strengths and weaknesses governing this tragic couple. This is a poignant story of unfulfilled lives and lost love.
Lady Audley's Secret
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
This book was a best seller in its time, but to me it was much too long and drawn out to qualify. I tried my best to plow through the interminable scenarios and sub-plots, and I just couldn't finish it. Perhaps the fault lies in me, not the author.
The Call of the Wild
by Jack London
What a story! Full of the most descriptive, insightful passages I have ever read concerning an animal, Buck, the featured dog. I felt like I was there observing and experiencing all of Buck's happy and terribly painful, sad times. A heart-wrenching story with a beautiful ending.
The Miracle Man
by Frank L. Packard
About the triumph of good over evil and the power of faith, under very unique circumstances. Four criminals (3 men, 1 woman), who specialize in scams, organize a phony faith healing enterprise to make millions fast. They target an elderly, unsuspecting, blind, deaf, mute man, The Patriarch, who, based on faith, has been quietly healing a few people in his small town. The faith healing business becomes an international attraction, bringing fortunes to all. To the crooks' shock, within a few weeks of operating the scam, they undergo a slow transformation into honest, Godly, benevolent persons. Fast-paced, vividly sketched story. "The Miracle Man" was a silent movie featuring Lon Chaney Senior.
Bella Donna
by Robert Smythe Hichens
This novel is about an evil, immoral, greedy, vain woman, the Bella Donna of the title, who is past her prime in looks, and ostracized by London society. In London she meets and marries a young English heir to a Lordship for the sole purpose of gaining riches and societal stature - she does not love him, although he is totally mesmerized and infatuated with her and blind to her character failings. On their honeymoon shipboard voyage to Egypt where he lives and works as an Egyptologist, they meet a wealthy Egyptian businessman with whom she forms an immediate attraction, and whom she pursues later in the story. Her husband fails to inherit the Lordship and related estates - at this point she decides to slowly poison him with lead in his food over several months. Her goal being to get rid of him and become the Egyptian's lover. The author excels in creating most vivid pictures of Egypt's customs, natives, music, landscapes, and Egyptian relics/pyramids based on his personal travels to Egypt in his life time. The descriptions of the characters' thoughts and motivations are superb. I thought the book was rather long but riveting. Does Bella Donna succeed with her nefarious plans? Read the book to find out!