The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 

Review of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow.

The "Legend" relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. Crane, a Yankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth.

My Review:

 

In honor of the fact that many people here in the USA will soon celebrate Halloween, I have chosen a book, or rather a story, which reflects the Halloween mood. The Legend of Sleepy Hallow is of course a classic favorite. It has been so long since the last time that I read it that I wrongly assumed that it was a novel instead of a short story.

Still, I have always loved it. It is a great story which seemed unique to me from the first time I read it. The style of the writing is much more in the period of the time yet I have found it much easier to read than many of the works of Charles Dickens. 

One of the most obvious ways that it differs from modern stories is that three main characters emerge (or perhaps four if you include the headless horseman as a character as well). The first one is the one that I remember most—one Ichabod Crane. Mr. Crane is a local school teacher who is attempting to settle down in the area where he now lives when the story opens. In life he loves chiefly two things: food and girls. However he also hopes to improve his wealth with his latest pursuit of a local young Dutchwoman whose father owns a great deal of land.

The next main character is naturally the young lady herself. Her name is Katrina and she is described as attractive as well as plump. Boy how times have changed. She is also apparently quite a catch since many of the local bachelors have all tried, more or less unsuccessfully, to court her. She always keeps them guessing though.

Our final character is one Brom Bones who is also one of Katrina’s suitors. He is nearly the complete opposite of Crane. While Crane is the thin and scholarly type, Bones sounds more like what we would now call a jock. He is a big, burly sort of guy, or at least that’s how I had always pictured him.

In our story, Sleepy Hallow is haunted by one Headless Horseman. Brom Bones himself has boosted of nearly beating the horseman in a horse race. He claims that the same horseman disappeared as he passed a bridge otherwise he would have one. It is this claim that later leads to Crane’s own disappearance in connection with the same horseman.

Overall, this is still a great story. I enjoyed reading it. I think I could read it over and over again and not get bored. I try to imagine what really happened to Ichabod after I finished reading it. Last time I was trying to figure out who the horseman was. I still wonder about that but now I wonder more about Ichabod. What happened to him? Where is he now? Think about the next time you visit an isolated wooded area and keep a look out for the Headless Horseman.

Peter Pan

Review of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Scottish writer J M Barrie wrote both a play and a novel about the boy Peter Pan, who wouldn't grow up. This is the novel. Peter Pan lives with all the other Lost Boys in Neverland, where they never have to grow up. He visits Wendy Darling by flying through her bedroom window, and brings she and her brothers into Neverland where they encounter the fairy Tinkerbell, the princess Tiger Lily and the pirate Captain Cook.

My Review:

What could anyone possibly say about this classic that hasn't been said before? I am not sure but I am going to give it a go. Maybe nothing.

I will say that on this latest read of one of my favorite classics what struck me the most was how much the Walt Disney version retains from Mr. Barrie's original about the boy who refused to grow up. I grew up on all the Disney classics, including this one and read most of the books in later years. Most, if not all of them, had many details and nearly the entire stories changed in the film versions.

Peter Pan on the other hand  kept many characteristics. In reading it this time I remembered a lot of things from my reading that had also been in the movie. Namely the crocodile with the ticking clock inside his stomach. Don't ask me why I especially remembered that but I did.

The second thing that struck me was how Mr. Barrie often inserts himself in this story as it is told from an omniscient point of view. Maybe it is because I had recently read a book on the subject of writing that discussed this characteristic of Victorian literature and why it should probably be avoided in books for modern readers. But it was something that nearly hit me in the face this time around and I understood why my writing book suggests that it be avoid. Nevertheless, for me, this was just part of the book's charm.

So I am recommending this book particularly for children and those of us who used to be children. I think it is good reminder of what it is like to have fun, use your imagination, and never grow up, or at least don't take yourself too seriously.

The Secret Garden

Review of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: A treasured classic from Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden is the story of young Mary Lennox. The newly orphaned girl is sent to live with her uncle and soon discovers many secrets at the estate-among them a neglected garden hidden behind a locked gate she will work to revive with her cousin as well a local boy with a green thumb changing not only the garden, but the lives of everyone as well.

My Review:

This week’s selection is one that I have read before at least twice though I can’t be sure that I have not read it more often. It tells the tale of three young children, beginning with Miss Mary Lennox, who has just recently moved to a large house in Yorkshire after a sudden unexpected illness, has just killed both of her parents.

Mary arrives at the home of her uncle in a foul mood for she has already made up her mind to dislike everyone that she meets. She is described as “yellow” and “sour” by all who meet her but despite herself; her attitude slowly begins to change.

It begins when she encounters her new maid, Martha. She is unlike any other maid that Mary has had before. She tells Mary exactly what she thinks about everything, including herself. Mary had never before considered what other people thought of her. She mostly spent her time considering how much she disliked others but now that the truth was brought to her attention she found it fascinating.

Later things begin to improve for her even more when she meets Dickon, Martha’s younger brother, and finds the key to a secret garden that her uncle and guardian, Mr. Craven has locked up. When she later finds that the source of the crying she hears in the night belongs to a cousin that she didn’t know existed, she looks forward to the day when she can share her secret garden with him as well as Dickon. She believes that the garden will help him recover from his illness.

As you may already know, this book is considered a classic by many people today. There were even a couple of movie versions made. I remember seeing one of them in the 80’s I think when I was growing up. I also found another version on Netflix recently. I hope to watch it sometime in the future.

I remember liking the one from the 80’s. I am not sure if I will like the other one but maybe I post a review of that one as well.

As to the book itself, it is a very interesting book, even for adults. In fact, I’d have a hard time imagining children of today reading since the vocabulary is more advanced than I think many children of today are capable of understanding.

It is also an interesting study in the power of positive thinking. I noticed that much more this time around than I had before. And in the vain, I will close with a quote that illustrates that.

“Two things cannot be in one place

“’Where you tend a rose, my lad,

“’A thistle cannot grow.’” P.198

Little Women

       


Review of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with “woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the “girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

My Review:

Revisiting the Louisa May Alcott classic this week was somewhat of an emotional experience. Tackling this story, I thought, would be easy.

After all, it has all the characteristics of a Hallmark channel movie for those who remember those. A nice, cutesy little story about four girls growing up with limited means. The forward of the Barnes & Noble version of this classic tells how the novel was something of a mirror of the author’s own life and experiences.

Jo is basically Alcott, we are told. I knew this already but what I didn’t know much about was the involvement of Alcott’s father, Amos Bronson, in the Transcendentalist movement. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a close family friend who Bronson often depended on. Alcott’s father was also one of the residents of  “Fruitlands” in Harvard, Massachusetts, where the Transcendentalists conduct their first experiment in a social utopia. (And fail.)

So the saga of the March sisters is not just about the “little women” but also has some underlying messages in it that the author, for the most part, tries not make too heavy-handed. However, in many cases she fails. She even admits it at one point when she digresses into a sermonette on how old maids ought to be treated and then says: “Jo must have fallen asleep (as I dare say my reader has during this little homily).”

Back to the plot now, I mentioned Jo who is the writing sister and based on Alcott herself but we also have some other great characters. The oldest March sister is Meg who seems to be easy-going while hoping to be somewhat fashionable. Jo is second, followed by Beth, whose goal in life is simply to take care of the rest of the family as well as make life easier. The only selfish thing she asks for is time alone with her piano and music. While Amy starts off as the spoiled one who later hopes to bag wealthy husband in order to help others.

The girls grow up mostly on their own with the guidance of Marmi, their mother, and Hannah, the housemaid. That is until their neighbors Laurie and his irritable grandfather, Mr. Laurence, intervene. And then we also have the persnickety Aunt March who is constantly telling the girls and their mother how things should be done but to no avail since no one really listens to her.

Later Papa survives the Civil War to come home to his “little women” but is worse for the wear. Nevertheless trouble still stalks them in their personal lives as well as the issues of the time such as racism and the attitude of the wealthier set towards poverty.

Even though it seemed sadder to me this time that the last I really enjoyed the story. It was impossible for me not to fall in love with the girls all over again and feel their pains as my own even when I didn’t agree with them. Jo fancies herself a boy but finds that she is after all, a woman. The others become better women and in the end make the lives of those around them better for having known them. And that was the best thing about this story.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

       


Review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain


Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Perhaps the best-loved nineteenth-century American novel, Mark Twain’s tale of boyhood adventure overflows with comedy, warmth, and slapstick energy. It brings to life and array of irresistible characters—the awesomely self-confident Tom, his best buddy Huck Finn, indulgent Aunt Polly, and the lovely, beguiling Becky—as well as such unforgettable incidents as whitewashing a fence, swearing an oath in blood, and getting lost in a dark and labyrinthine cave. Below Tom Sawyer’s sunny surface lurk hints of a darker reality, of youthful innocence and naïveté confronting the cruelty, hypocrisy, and foolishness of the adult world—a theme that would become more pronounced in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Despite such suggestions, Tom Sawyer remains Twain’s joyful ode to the endless possibilities of childhood.

My Review:

I decided this week it was time to return to a classic and one that I’d actually read before. It has been a while since I have read it however. I thought that I probably wouldn’t remember a thing. When I sat down to read it the only memory that came to mind was the episode of whitewashing the fence but as I read on I was amazed at the things that came back to me. The segment where Tom and Becky are trapped in the cave, for example.

On the other hand there were characters that I had forgotten about entirely such as Sid, Tom’s “half-brother.” I didn’t remember Tom having a half-brother let alone anyone named Sid. Of course he doesn’t play a huge role in the story but he is in there quite a bit.

The story itself is told in a more episodic way that reveals his character. He is a young boy, growing up in the South, who likes to have adventures and doesn’t mind getting into trouble to do it. Yet he also has a conscience.

Along the way Tom discovers “great law(s) about human action,” such as, “in order to make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.” (p. 18) And towards the end, his journey brings him to the brink of adulthood as Twain tells us he must end the tale hear least it become the tale of a man instead of that of a boy.

Other than forgotten characters, this pass through The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also brought to light the vast amount of superstitions that Tom and his friends placed great stock in. Some of them seemed downright silly but at the same time interesting. Although Twain tells at times that some of them are just childish beliefs, I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the South wasn’t more superstitious than I had previously guessed, especially in the past. Anyone from the South have any thoughts on this? Just wondering.

I do recommend this one but I wonder how many people will need my recommendation since most have probably already read it. For whatever its worth though, here it is.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

       


Review of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson




Overview from www.bn.com: "This Master Hyde, if he were studied,' thought he, 'must have secrets of his own; black secrets, by the look of him; secrets compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine.'" —The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

When Edward Hyde tramples an innocent girl, two bystanders catch the fellow and force him to pay reparations to the girl's family. A respected lawyer, Utterson, hears this story and begins to unravel the seemingly manic behavior of his best friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and his connection with Hyde. Utterson probes into both Jekyll and his unlikely protégé, increasingly unnerved at each new revelation. In a forerunner of psychological dramas to come, Robert Louis Stevenson uses Hyde to show that we are both repulsed and attracted to the darker side of life, particularly when we can experience it in anonymity.

My Review:

It is strange to think that though I knew the story of Jekyll and Hyde, or thought I knew it anyway, I had never read the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. In fact, until I saw this as a Free Friday book by Barnes & Noble, I couldn’t even have told you who had written it though I suspected it was Stevenson. So maybe I did know, somewhere in the back of my mind.

I have always had questions about this story. For example, what ingredients did Dr. Jekyll use to turn himself into Mr. Hyde? Why did he want turn himself into Hyde in the first place? How did he create the alternate name and personality? And finally what kind of man goes to this extreme in the first place?

These were the questions that I had in mind and though I wanted to enjoy the ride like I usually do with novels, I also kept the questions at the back of mind my mind throughout. But would the author answer them to my satisfaction? The answer turned out to be both yes and no.

I understood that the doctor created Hyde to indulge in his darker side and smaller but dark nature that lurked inside of him, hence Mr. Hyde’s small stature. What I didn’t get was why a respected doctor like Jekyll, known for his good nature, felt the end to indulge the dark side at all. Perhaps the answer is that he is not as good as his friends supposed him to be or that in the Victorian Era indulging any dark impulses could get a person into a heap of trouble. But for me that just wasn’t a good enough reason. We are supposed to try to weed this stuff out, not encourage it, if it was done under a different name. It made me like Jekyll less.

As to the ingredients in the potion, some of them were listed though in the end it turns out to be not what we expect or even what Jekyll expects. As they become harder and harder to find, Jekyll risks being stuck in Hyde’s body and facing death at the gallows for one of Hyde’s foul deeds when can’t make his potion anymore.

The alternate name and personality were easy to create owing to the resources at Dr. Jekyll’s disposal.

However I had a hard time understanding why Dr. Jekyll felt the need to do this in the first place as I said earlier, even after I read his explanation at the end. It just rang hollow. This also limited my sympathy for the man. Unlike the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein, Jekyll’s experiment seemed to have no intrinsic value whatsoever.

So while I still find the story interesting, the main character was not likable for me, either as Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.
Contains: some violence

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Review of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Overview from www.bn.com: The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian (whimsically) expresses a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than he. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, and when he subsequently pursues a life of debauchery, the portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of ageing.

My Review:

My review for this week focuses on one of the works of Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Surprisingly I had never read this novel before. I think in my high school English class we only read, The Importance of being Earnest. While I liked that one I have always been curious about the other one. Now I have finally gotten around to reading it.

The tone of this novel is much different from “Earnest.” Whereas “Earnest” was a little comedy, this one is much darker—it’s opposite entirely.

The story centers around the title character who is convinced by another character, Lord Henry Wotton, that being young and good looking is the best think for his life. Having just had his portrait painted by an artist named Basil, he laments that the picture will stay forever young while he gets older, taunting him for the rest of his life. It is then and there that he wishes for the portrait to age while he stays as he is in that moment.

Not realizing at first that his wish has come true, he continues on with his life. He eventually falls in love with and secretly gets engaged to an actress. However, one night, in fit of anger, he denounces her and declares that he no longer loves her.

When he arrives home that night after that episode, he discovers that the image on his portrait has been marred, presumably by his cruelty.

The next day, he laments his earlier behavior and writes the actress a letter trying to make amends. He later discovers that she has committed suicide which he thinks probably accounts for the change in portrait—not only does the portrait age in his place, it seems to absorb all of his sins. But our “hero,” if he can really be called that only becomes worse in his behavior as his anger and hatred consume him.

The story is brief (less than 200 pages) but interesting, I think. The idea that Dorian thinks that he is getting away with so much but really is “losing his soul” made me wonder what my soul would look like if it were reflected on a painted canvas in all its glory (or ugliness).

The character of Dorian however, is not that likable. He has his moments of remorse but on the whole he seems mostly selfish. When he does something wrong he always finds a way to justify it no matter how far fetched the reason might be.

And everyone who challenges him makes him angry. He prefers to remain shallow so anyone who tells him he is not “the fairest of them all” is a threat to his ego.

Though the story is interesting, the main character is not. I guess it makes more sense with the ending that Wilde has written though. Anyone else would have tried to mend their ways long ago so in that sense his main character makes sense, even if we don’t like him. Still, the story is worth a look. At least it won’t take you too long to read it.