Customer Reviews

The Adventurers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you expect literature, read something else. This book is a classic is its own right, and is much better than the trash churned by other writers in this genre, such as Jackie Collins.

The Adventurers is the story of Diogenes Alejandro Xenos, or just Dax. The book follows his struggles against circumstances and for his country, how his family becomes the victim of yet another revolution perpetrated in the name of justice. Graphic sex and violent scenes are depicted here, but not unnecessarily. Every word gives an insight into the development of the main character.

You will be thrilled reading this book, you will have moments of elation, and of sadness. And you will realize the futility of the struggles of the subjucated people in a number of third world countries. Harold Robbins very poignantly points out that for many of us, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Dax appeals to the hero in all of us. I recommend this book highly. I hope you enjoy it.

If ever lived the idea of the men of men, Diogenous Alejandros Xenos is this character. Dax is a phenomenon which makes me wonder if this is an extention of Harold Robbin's innerself, or the ideal man which many men would love to be represented as. READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT WHY!!! It is very violent, depicting rape and torture but these atrocities set into play the character Dax becomes. Set against the tale of a South American country's struggle for liberation, Dax becomes a foster child of the revolution, and this is only the beginning. A must read for every man.

Anybody who's read Robbins' recent work like "The Raiders" and "The Predators" would write him off as tawdry, degrading sex and that's about it. But not when you get this far back, gang. In those days, a Robbins book had a story--one you could sink your teeth into. And this one is one of the best. Nothing depresses me more than a book where the protagonist is the least disgusting of a number of slimeballs, and Robbins makes you like this one. Robbins was always best at stories that covered most of his main character's life. "Adventurers" is the epic story of the rise of a Latin American generalissimo from an embattled childhood through a playboy young manhood to the rule of his country. It's a great story, but one word of warning--Robbins has slight deficiencies in portraying nationalities not his own. In the early stages of the story when it's largely set in rural areas of the ficticious South American nation "Corteguay", characters tend to sound like a cross between Speedy Gonzales and Baba Looey. Dax's caretaker/ mentor Gato Gordo ("Fat Cat"), before he was played by Ernest Borgnine in the movie, made me think of the comical Sergeant Garcia from the Disney Zorro series. You almost expect policemen to declare that they don't need no steenkin' badges. In my opinion, once you tune that out, you've got a story on your hands of a magnitude that Robbins himself can't seem to manage anymore.

I would be the last person to suggest that anything Harold Robbins wrote had any literary merit. I just had to write a paean to an author who made me realize, as a 12-year-old back in 1963, that I could make it through two large novels (this one and The Carpetbaggers) and come through it with a taste for fiction. Of course I was titillated and thrilled and thought Dax the coolest guy this side of the Man From Orgy. I only recall that there was a plethora of money, women and adventure, ingredients that would appeal to any 12 year-old-boy's imagination. It appears, from the dearth of reviews, that Old Harold's books are pretty-much neglected these days. They're probably too dated for a contemporary 12-year-old. I wonder what 700+ page books today's 12-year-old boys are reading?

I highly recommend this wonderful book. :)

Although I didn't understand a lot of the finer points, I was captivated by this story when I was 16, spending several weeks fascinated by Dax and his Latin American adventures.

Someday I'll re-read it to recapture the magic.

finished the kindal version of the adventurers by harold robbins and it is just as good and gripping as it was when i read it in high school in the '60's. mr. robbins books were always popular with the high school set because of the steamy passages but, re-reading them as an adult, mr. robbins' books have stood the test of time and is more enjoyable and clearly understandable. Will be re-reading his books and others on kindal.

I read this great tale - the adventures of Dax and his pal Fat Cat - ages ago when I was a young teenager and thought it was a great book then. In clearing out my house, i came across it again and have just re-read it - and it was just as good and just as powerful. If you are are looking for a great tale - check it out!

This is one of the books that make you take a second look at the title and the author, and it will be worth looking up his biography, even if you only look him up on Wiki.

I read this novel in 1967, borrowed from a neighbor who had great taste in popular books. Think about the early days of Hippies, Playboy clubs and the Vietnam war was a distant news topic. Herb Albert and his Tijuana Brass seemed like a throwback from the 1950s. Most American's had some working knowledge of Europe, but almost no idea about the corruption in 3rd world countries dominated by Puppet Governments and cruel, selfish dictators. Cuba is a good place to start, but Central America and South America were hellish places to live, where outspoken and righteous people were regularly "Disappeared".

So, if the sex and violence in this book offend you, it should! I hate the new book cover and I wish they wouldn't do that. It's a work of fiction, of course, but it paints a frighting scene, which makes the soft sex very welcome relief. I found the ending to be neat and satisfying, even if the facts weren't very accurate.

I hadn't read the book but the movie was great.I like The Betsy and The Carpetbaggers even better.A friend told me to read The Stallion,I plan to buy it in paperback soon.But I like the film versions better.

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Kirk: You mean the profanity? That's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays attention to you unless you swear every other word. You'll find it in all the literature of the period.

Spock: For example?

Kirk: Oh, the neglected works of Jacqueline Susann. The novels of Harold Robbins...

Spock: Ah. The Giants.
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THE ADVENTURERS was actually inspired by the life of Dominican diplomat Pirfirio Rubirosa (1909-1965), a suave, jet-setting, Latin lady-killer who was renowned for his personal charms. It is said that pepper mills were commonly referred to as "rubirosas" in his circle; he was named as a co-respondent in several high profile divorces. He was married to a bevy of Hollywood actresses and dallianced with quite a few more, usually at the same time. Rubirosa was the sometime son-in-law of the dictatorial President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, who assigned him to be Dominican Ambassador to Nazi Germany. When he fell out of his father-in-law's good graces for a while, Rubirosa supported himself by selling Dominican visas to Jews seeking to flee Europe. Rubirosa ended his days in a ball of flaming wreckage in Paris, after smashing his Ferrari into a brick wall at top speed.

Given that Rubirosa's life was the stuff of tawdry fiction, it was entirely in keeping that Harold Robbins would write a book based on Rubirosa's life just as soon as Rubirosa couldn't file a libel suit against him. Not that he'd want to. THE ADVENTURERS is an advertisement for Rubirosa, who comes out of it smelling like a red rose. Robbins has often been accused of being "the man who invented sex," but he really just managed to move it out of the back rooms of peep show parlors and put it on display on supermarket book racks where, unsurprisingly, it became the basis for dozens of cheesy best-sellers.

THE ADVENTURERS is actually fairly well written. It is the story of Diogenes Alejandro Xenos (DAX), the hot-blooded son-in-law of the dictatorial President of Corteguay, a fictional Latin American country suffering from terminal Banana Republic-itis. DAX bounces his way through one boudoir after another in titillating detail, making millions of dollars along the way in business deals of varying legitimacy, a few well-planned seductions, and some outright cash-only nastiness.

This is an hypnotic book for twelve year old boys, who like I did so long ago, will "borrow" this book from Mom's night table and forget to return it. Said adolescent males will get stuck on descriptions of DAX's various conquests.

If you're older than twelve, this book is still worth reading if just for the fun of it. THE ADVENTURERS is a kind of Entertainment Tonight "True Hollywood Insider" episode, let's say the one focusing on the Seedy Success of Lindsay Spears-Hilton, except that the divine Ms. L. could never keep up with DAX, much less the real Pirfirio Rubirosa, who would send her home to Mommy, assuming Mommy wasn't already in the room.