1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
American Eden, January 20, 2011
American Eden was not Ms. Harris' best novel. Anyone else would have been glad to have written it, but it was not up to her normal standard. The thing that was best in it was the creation and education of Eve Stanhope.
Ms. Harris is very good at creating women that we like. They have strength and vitality even when young and innocent. Her main message in all her books seems to be that women have a responsibility to be women first and foremost. Then she tries to define what that means.
American Eden has many weaknesses, but the reader is urged to treat it as a very long introduction to Eden and Honor or a very long post script to The Women of Eden. It is no accident that Eve is named Eve. She reflects the innocence and charm of the original Eve (perhaps) and the strength later on.
It is also, I think, no accident that Mark Twain is introduced in this book. A little known but powerful short story written at Livy's (his wife) death writes as though he were Adam. He (Twain) ends by saying "wherever she was, there was Eden." It is a heartbreaking obituary, one that only someone who loved so deeply could write. Marilyn Harris undoubtedly read this story and she thought of Eve as Twain did. If one cannot see the love Steven had for Eve, then that person must be stone dead. Do we think such a love existed? In this day age? Not on your life. But Harris thought so. And her characters thought so. Maybe we should reconsider.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
American Eden, November 2, 2009
This review is from: American Eden (Paperback)
Another fine novel by Marilyn Harris. All of her Eden series books are a delight to read!
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3.0 out of 5 stars
"I wonder what took him so long.", November 14, 2011
This review is from: American Eden (Paperback)
I was asking the same question for 300-400 pages...
American Eden is the sixth book in a seven book series, and begins in 1889. At the end of book four, American Eden, Mary and her husband Burke left England behind and returned to his family home near Mobile Alabama (we didn't hear much about them in book five). Fate has blessed them with three beautiful children, but Burke's Northern sympathies do not endear him to the Southern populace and he's under fire from The Knights of the White Camellia, and their first strike at Burke is a deadly one.
Into this steamy little cauldron of tension comes John Murrey's eldest son Stephen, who is on his way to Montana to investigate the dealings of a cattle operation his uncle Lord Richard invested in. At his family's request, Stephen stops by Stanhope Hall and gets one look at young Eve and she's the girl for him. Those who have read Women of Eden know that Stephen's father did some seriously nasty things to sister Mary, and neither she or Burke (especially Burke) are in a forgiving mood, John being reformed or not. Stephen's strong resemblance to his father doesn't exactly help matters and Burke's greeting is not exactly a welcoming one.
To make an overly long story short (red pencil guy, where are you?), the evil Knights strike again and Eve is caught in the crossfire and eventually ends up in a travelling show headed west with Stephen in hot pursuit - although he's always a day late and a dollar short of finding Eve. Over and over and over and over and over again. The *adventures* Eve has are mind numbingly silly, even charming a group of savage Indians bent on abduction and rape by singing Jenny Crack Corn (no, I am not kidding). Stops along the way include Dodge City (including Bat Masterson), Denver (a brief meeting with Horace Tabor and wife Baby Doe), Leadville (how a sea level person can drink that much whiskey at that altitude and not be dead is beyond me...), and on into San Francisco.
The first five books in this series have been beyond awesome. Murder, madness and mayhem and more, all wonderfully colored with bits of real history and historical characters. There were bad people and good people, but everyone had shades of gray - no one, but no one was perfect - so I was rather surprised to find this merely an average run of the mill historical romance. Eve was perfection personified, the ultimate Mary Sue. Stephen was handsome as could be, loving and true and a knight in shining armor ready to rescue his damsel in distress. You would have thought with his family background he'd have some psychological screws loose somewhere but no...
What happened? Was Harris busy elsewhere and someone ghost wrote it? Phoned it in? Did the changes in romances from the 70's to the 80's dictate something lighter and fluffier? Did the reading public demand another Eden novel and her heart just wasn't in it anymore? Inquiring minds want to know, and if someone does please comment, I'd love to have an answer to this one. Despite my disappointment in this I do recommend the first five books highly and plan on finishing off with book seven, Eden and Honor. The series,
This Other Eden
The Prince of Eden
The Eden Passion
The Women of Eden
Eden Rising
American Eden
Eden and Honor
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