Customer Reviews

Caliban's Hour

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

 

 

This is my first Tad Williams novel, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed. When my friend thrust this slim volume into my hands, I confess, I had my doubts. Not another entry in the "two-sides-to-every-story" genre. I have to admit that there are some very good novels that fall into this category -- Rys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Maguire's Wicked, to name two -- but there are some very bad novels that fall into this category as well. Caliban's Hour, I'm happy to say, falls into the former category.

Particularly impressive is the way Williams managed to catch the cadences of Shakespeare's Caliban. I had recently finished teaching Shakespeare's The Tempest in a World Literature class prior to picking up this novel, so Shakespeare's Caliban was fresh in my mind. While Williams has a decidedly different approach to the character of Caliban (and, indeed, Ariel), he captures the rhythm and poetry of Shakespeare's character.

At the beginning of Williams's tale, Caliban is a character bent on revenge, and the object of his vengeance is Miranda. It soon becomes clear, however, that what Caliban really wants is a chance to tell his side of the story, to make Miranda understand him. Over the course of one night, he unfolds the story of his life on the island, beginning with his life with Sycorax, his mother, and culminating in the irrevocable changing of his life with the coming of Prospero and Miranda.

True to Caliban's promise that his story will only take one evening, this novel can, indeed, be read in one evening. It's short -- 201 pages -- and the story is compelling enough to keep you turning pages until the story is complete. It does, however, take more than one hour to read!

Caliban's Hour is a well-written, moving, and ultimately magical re-writing of _The Tempest_ (in the same basic genre as R+G Are Dead and Grendal). Like many of us (or at least like me), Williams read Shakespeare's play and found himself most attracted to Caliban, the "savage" native who's love for Miranda is brutally refused and who is generally mistreated by Prospero et al. So he decided to re-tell the story from Caliban's point of view, adding in some key background (like scenes with Cicatrix, C's mom) and, of course, the present-day "sequel" elements which make up the book's action. And it works! William's Caliban, like Gardner's Grendal, is an epic, tragic, wonderful character whose story cannot help but enthrall and move. The prose is top-notch (no suprise for anyone familiar with Williams' other works). The debt to Shakespeare, while obvious and intentional, is not over-played, as Williams clearly stakes out his own ground apart from the master. And the ending is both surprising and awesome! All in all, this is one of the better, most underread and -rated books of the last ten years. For anyone who loved Tailchaster, MS&T, or Otherland, anyone who loves Shakespeare, and anyone who appreciates classic literature that reinterprets classic literature, Caliban's Hour is a must read.

The audio version of Tad William's book as narrated by Ron Perlman (of television's "Beauty and the Beast") is absolutely wonderful. The tale is told, for the most part, in Cailban's "voice." Ron Perlman gives Caliban the same sort of realism and pathos that he gave to his television role. William's Caliban, however, is no "Vincent." He has his own agenda to fulfill with Prospero's daughter 20 years after she has left the island. Mr. Perlman's voice is mezmerizing and he gives Caliban the perfect voice with which to tell his tale.

As a Tad William's fan of many years, I was excited to have the opportunity to read Caliban's Hour. The book was gifted to me by Tad's wonderful wife Deborah Beale who I have corresponded with on Facebook. She took the time to critique my poetry which I appreciated very much. They have decided to jump on the e-book train with the reissue of Caliban's Hour to digital format.
Another take on "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, the story is told from Caliban's perspective. Tad Williams delivers a masterful story retelling that pulls you into the mind of Caliban. I was pulled into the story immediately with the intricate descriptions of people and places. You feel as if you are immersed in Caliban's world and see reality from his perspective.
The story begins with Caliban's journey from his island to the darkly rich landscape of Naples, Miranda's & Prospero's world. Here he again meets up with Miranda, an unwitting victim of Caliban's revenge. He proceeds to tell her his story and why he comes to be there. You soon learn that love turns to hate, and that they both merge to complete the cycle of vengeance.
I couldn't help but find myself on Caliban's side and felt that he was an unwitting victim to circumstance. I applauded his reasons for doing what he does in the end.
If you are a fan of Tad, this is a must read. His world building skills and descriptions do exactly as a good story should. He pulls you into the character's heart and soul and leaves you wanting more.
I gave this masterpiece a 5 star rating as it did exactly as it should and allowed me to escape into Caliban's world.

I've been on a bit of a Shakespeare kick recently and so I was surprised to stumble across this book, Caliban's Hour by one of my favorite authors Tad Williams. It is a short novella written from the point of view of Caliban giving his history and version of events from the play The Tempest. For those familiar with his work his novels tend to be on the longish side, and so to read a book only 200 pages long was interesting to say the least. Especially since the entire book is just a single night with Caliban cornering Prospero's daughter Miranda and pouring out his whole life story with the intent of killing her at the end, but first making her understand why.

It was fascinating to read about Caliban's past as a child growing up with a mute mother on an abandoned island seamlessly woven into his story within the confines of the play. Even that though was redone from this new point of view. Caliban is not nearly as sinister as he would be portrayed and how could he be when before Prospero and Miranda had arrived he had never seen another human being aside from his mother and couldn't even speak? The new explanation of what really happened at that island was a very interesting reinterpretation of the tale.

I do think that if you have not read or seen The Tempest then this book might be a little confusing especially towards the end. As the play nears its climax the slow and methodical pace of the book speeds up incredibly to the point where the things that happened seemed too fantastical to be believed. It robbed the point of view of some of its credibility.

The book's ending though, which takes place years after the close of the play, was very well done and that saved this book for me. A note on the cover though, disregard it completely. It is not what it looks like at all and I'm sure some fans of Shakespeare and fantasy were scared away from what is really a fantastic book. The publisher did this book a great disservice by slapping a trashy romance novel cover on this book. If it wasn't for the familiar name (and I actually did wonder if it was the Tad Williams and had to check myself) I would not have bothered to pick up this book at all. I'm glad I did though.

Caliban's hour is the story of a man driven by revenge and his "savage" nature. After being wronged by the woman he loved (Miranda), years and years prior to the beginning of the story, he finally resolves to track her down, not to win her back (like the standard love story) but to kill her. However, before he kills her, he will force her to listen to his story from beginning to end without any interruptions.

This is Tad Williams' finest work in my opinion, of course that could be in part because it was the first of his books I was introduced to back when I was 15 or 16. Williams expands on Shakespeare's The Tempest by delving into the psyche of a character that tends to get overlooked in the play, Caliban, and explores human nature in a very intriguing way.

One of the most interesting points Caliban makes near the beginning of the story is that, until he was taught to read and speak, he was a much happier person. After being taught, what was once an amazing thing that provided him shelter from the rain became simply a "tree", and so on. Questions like these are what kept in turning pages until the end of the book.

It should also be mentioned that no former experience with The Tempest is necessary to enjoy this book; I hadn't read it myself at the time I read Caliban's Hour for the first time. But, if you have read it, it does give you a more in-depth perspective on this story.

One of my favorite things about this book is that there is no perfect character; everyone is flawed and screwed up in some way. While some people may read it and think that Caliban is completely in the right with his actions, others might read it and side with Miranda and see her father Prospero as the true evil. But, in all honesty, no one is completely good or evil here, and no one is completely right or wrong, and that balance is what makes this story Williams' best.

This isn't a book for everyone, though. It isn't a fast-paced story with a lot of battles and political intrigue, so if you're looking for something along those lines, you'd best look elsewhere. However, if you like stories that pull you in every direction and make you wonder, in a way, who to root for while raising questions about the nature of humanity, then this is definitely the book for you.

Williams is best known for sprawling multi-volume SF and Fantasy sagas, but here has written a very brief work of only 200 pages that is quite successful. (It's amusing that even at this brief length, Williams still feels a bit wordy. This very short book has a few passages that could have been cut with no real loss.) Caliban has, many years later, finally found his way off the island where Prospero left him and, cheated of revenge by Prospero's death, has instead sought out Miranda to tell his story to, after which he intends to kill her.

From this device, Williams gives another perspective on the events of 'The Tempest', as well as the earlier story of Caliban and Sycorax arriving on the island, Caliban's life alone after the death of Sycorax, and Caliban's early encounters with Prospero and Miranda. The story is nicely told, with language that feels appropriate to the character. This is a Caliban who does indeed know how to curse, but also how to explain why his curses are justified by what he sees as betrayal from both Prospero and Miranda.

The ending is a bit weak, with a clever, but not really persuasive, device used to prevent the promised final and fatal confrontation. The book is still, overall, a genuine pleasure to read.

Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams is a small, dark, interesting tale. It is not necessary to read Shakespeare's The Tempest to understand or enjoy it. Caliban is born on an island to a banished witch. After she dies he is alone for many years then a magician and his young daughter are banished to the island. From them he learns about civilized life, but then fate turns on him and he is abandoned to live alone again. Now he knows what life and love can be his island is no longer his paradise and the pain of it sends him on a mission of revenge. It was a good read and I loved the ending.

Caliban's Hour was a great story, and I could I could listen to Ron Pearlman read forever. If you want to know what the stroy is about you will just have to listen for yourself, I don't like to give things away ;).

If you've read or seen The Tempest, and been intrigued by Caliban, this book is for you. If you've wondered about his youth, his perspectives on the story, his appearance--in short, who this complex and mysterious character IS--this is probably the fullest answer you'll ever find. If you want him for yourself (it happens), you may be left grumpy, but will still enjoy reading it.

Most of the book describes Caliban's pre-"stage" life at a leisurely pace, in vivid and beautiful detail. Scholars of Shakespeare would call it unsubstantiated fantasy, but it meshes smoothly with the few references given by the original play. Prospero and Miranda, when they enter midway through, are portrayed in believable contrast to their familiar selves.

The last two chapters are much weaker and more rushed. One sums up the "on-stage" events of The Tempest in about six pages, and blatantly contradicts it to an unnecessary extent (though I'm sensitive about that, having acted in the play). The other ties up the tale with an ending which would have been delicious had it not been so forced. But for fans of Caliban, this tale is still a very worthwhile read.