Customer Reviews

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

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I am not going to sit here and claim to be the expert on English language poetic literature my 12th grade English teacher would like me to be. I have often fallen prey to the boredom of reading long poems and look upon poetry generally with some weariness.

When my father went to New Orleans, I asked him to bring me something back. He brought back a copy of this poem. It was required reading for my parents growing up - I had never heard of it.

I confess I was probably hesitant when I sat down to read it. But in no time I was hooked. The poetic language is perfectly styled to slowly tell the tale of two Acadian lovers doomed by the path of Acadian history to separate lives. Reading this poem is like suckling slowly on a sweet nectar under the gently rustling leaves of an oak on the side of a gently flowing river. If this sounds appealing to you, then you will enjoy this poem.

This edition of Evangeline is a beautiful book that is ideal if you would like to give it as a gift (or keep for yourself). It is a hardcover, beautifully decorated with gold colored print and flower designs. The spine is cloth covered. The poem is laid out attractively inside on ivory colored pages, illustrated with many black and white etchings throughout. A note in the back of the book states that the illustrations are by several artists and were "first brought together" in an edition published in London in 1866. Also noted is that this edition "follows the text of the Minehaha Edition, published in New York by Van Cleve-Andrews in 1895."

I heard about this book from my mom a few weeks ago after I went to see the movie Serendipity. I told her about the plot of the two people in love searching for one another and just missing every time. She said it reminded her of another story, Evangeline. Since i attend an engineering school I am always very eager to read books with real meaning behind them, given that all my textbooks focus on is wastewater treatment, biological processes, etc... So given that I wasn't really expecting too much but a relief from textbooks when I picked up this book. Little did I know it was soon to become one of my favorites. I was pleasantly surprised by the Christian influences behind the poem and found myself crying a lot more than I expected. I highly recommend this to anyone who has a great appreciation for well written, romantic poetry and literature.

Evangeline is Longfellow's masterpiece. The poem begins with
the famous "forest primeval" . The reader is taken to the home
of the Acadian farmers and the famous village reminescent
of a variety of tradespeople. The work describes whole
communities dispersed and separated from the homeland in the
mid-1700s. Evangeline and Gabriel flee home and experience
the pain of separation despite the fact that Gabriel seems to
keep a step ahead during a major part of the story. The work
attests to the beauty and strength of a woman's devotion.
In many ways, our fate and destiny tend to be random events which are out of our immediate control. This work traces the
fate of important characters living in a state of uncontrolled
flux and uncertainty . Readers of the poem will discover
how the story unfolds and the difficult choices presented
at various stages of Longfellow's journey. The work is
written utilizing an advanced vocabulary typical of the
writers during this period .

I have a passion for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's lyrical lines of Evangeline. Therefore, I was uneasy in the purchase of Evangeline, A Novel. I shouldn't have been. Finis Fox's insight into the lives, loves and losses of the Acadians is remarkable. He adds to the story lines rather than detracting from them. His words are at once romantic and colorful, lulling you into passive reflection. The emotions are all there, the joy, the pain and the suffering. He does not stray far from Longfellow's poem, using the same names of people and places. It is a story worth reading! It would be worth the price if it were twice as much. I wish it could have been longer, but in staying true to Longfellow, the story moved much the same as did the poem. If you loved Evangeline, you will love this novel as much or maybe more!

Carries me away. Great read. This guy can write...has a great future. It is entrancing, haunting. I wanted it to go on. In addition to the lyrical euphoria, this gives a great perception of the life and times surrounding the historic conflict and relocation. I am encouraging all my friends to put down their heavy, current books and revive the other side of their brains.

This tale nearly defines a people in the eyes of the world. The beauty of language, depth of feeling, drama, and pathos are unexcelled.

I bought two of this item. My step mother wanted to find this storybook for a long time friend. So one for my stepmom and one for her friend. Both books arrived in first class condition and the subject matter was exactly what was wanted. Worth the price and I'm thankful that such literature is still printed. I was surprised to find the story was about early Nove Scotia and it's people.

It's beutiful language and lirical and eluquent style set it apart from any other novel I have ever read.