Customer Reviews

Flash for Freedom

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4 star:		(9)
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In the 3rd installment of the Flashman novels, Harry Flashman (rogue, dandy, coward) takes on the mid-19th century trans-Atlantic (and within-America) slave trade from pretty much every angle. Although I thought it was not among the best of the Flashman books, it's great entertainment, and provides a great "feel" for the period. Who other than Harry Flashman could, in the space of a few months, inadvertantly find himself chatting with a young Disraeli, then a young Lincoln? And then (who knew??) provide inspiration for "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? And meanwhile be a slave buyer, slave stealer, slave emancipator, slave protector and, well, slave, while still being the irrepressible Flashy (oh, yeah, not for kids or for the easily offended). A fine book -- lots of fun.

Flashman is shown at his vile best in this installment of his saga. Signed unknowingly onto a slave ship by his malicious father-in-law to get him out of the country following a scandal, Flashman plunges up to his whiskers into that century's nastiest business. Sailing under an insane, Latin-quoting captain, who brings his tea-serving, equally insane wife along for the voyage, Flashy's misadventures take him from the Slave Coast of Africa to the whorehouses of New Orleans, from the back roads of Mississippi to the frozen Ohio River. Fraser's research into the slave trade is compelling; this is one of the more detailed fictionalizations of the slave trade in most of its horrors that I've ever read. The author gets credit for layering his dark satire onto this diciest of subjects, not something every author would have dared, and not sparing it in the least. It is, of course, almost the perfect vehicle for Flashman's unPC sensibilities, if the reader will forgive the anachronism. His encounter with Abraham Lincoln is absorbing even while satirical; Fraser presents a Lincoln with a frontier-tuned wit that penetrates further than can the capital's shallower sophisticates .

Harry Flashman, the lovable misogynist, blackguard, cheater, liar, adulterer and above all coward, has returned in another rollicking adven- ture by George MacDonald Fraser.

Shanghai-ed aboard a slave ship by his miserly Scottish father-in-law, Flashy soon finds himself smuggling "black ivory" across the Atlantic. Caught by the Yankee Navy, he masquerades as an abolitionist agent fighting the slave trade from within--and finds himself running slaves once again, this time north on the "Underground Railroad" to freedom. The author manages to create a story that is at once humorous, bawdy, witty, poignant and historically accurate. A must-read.

Unbelievably funny. From the first brilliant sentence, we have the pleasure of being witness to a series of non-stop, hilariously horrendous mishaps visited upon poor, despicable Harry Flashman. The plot is as tight and the writing as crisp and witty as any book in the series.

In "Flash for Freedom", MacDonald Fraser puts old Flashie through a wringer as incredible as it is unbelievably harsh. From a high-powered political house party, during which he puts the moves on Fanny Duberly and makes mildly anti-Semitic comments to future PM Disraeli, Flashman is politically ruined when he almost murders a man, is then forced by his malicious Scotch father-in-law to lay low on what Flash later discovers is a slave ship, goes on a slaving expedition in Africa, fights the American Navy, is coerced by the Underground Railroad into running a supercilious slave to freedom up the Mississipi, then becomes a slave driver on a Southern plantation, eventually being forced into slavery himself, subsequently escaping to freedom with an attractive octoroon, inspiring "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and running into Abe Lincoln along the way. MacDonald Fraser somehow makes it all seem plausible. Phew! As usual, we learn a good deal about history. Although Flashman couldn't give two pence about slavery, GMF paints a vivid picture of the brutality and corruption of the institution, while pointing out the necessary complicity of the Africans themselves and the naive romanticsm of the Abolitionists towards the slaves. John Charity Spring, one of the best characters in the Flashman series, is introduced in this novel. As with all of these books, you'll learn something through your laughter.

Fraser has created another excellent Flashman adventure. The first half (or so) of the book concerns how Flashman ends up serving unwillingly in the crew of a slaving ship (after running afoul of his despicable father-in-law). The second half of the book - a bit weaker than the strong first half, I think - involves Flashman's exploits in the American South after he gets dragooned into helping the Underground Railroad. Flashman encounters a soon-to-be retiring Congressman Lincoln a couple of times during the course of the novel, and these scenes should be fun for fans of Abe.

The plot is strong, the pacing very fast, as we've come to expect from Flashman, and the dialogue is lots of fun. Fraser's historical accuracy is as good as ever. This is the third Flashman book I've read, and it's almost as good as the first book in the series ("Flashman"), which I liked quite a lot, and it's considerably better than "Royal Flash," the second book in the series. I'd recommend "Flash for Freedom" to anyone who's enjoyed the series so far. As with other Flashman books, if you're easily offended by bawdy - though not obscene by any stretch - language or activities, you should take a pass on this one.

Accused (falsely, amazingly enough) of cheating in a friendly game of cards, the Victorian rogue Harry Flashman injures the accuser in a rage. His reputation damaged, Flash joins a ship's crew until the scandal cools down - only to realize to his horror (his own neck being on the line, of course) that it's a slave ship. Here begin Flashy's adventures on the high seas and America, where at various times he is dragooned and bluffs his way into nearly every role concerning the slave trade: buyer, trader, seller, driver on a plantation, underground railroad smuggler, anti-slavery double agent, almost even a slave himself at one point. It's all tremendous stuff, full of the usual (on Fraser's part) erudtion and wit and (on Flashy's part) lechery, as well as, of course, the historical tweaking: Flashman meets a young Disraeli, a young Lincoln, and even serves as the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous book. Superb historical parody, historical fiction, and pure entertainment all in one. Oh, a final thought: Flashy's definitely gotten a lot braver since the first book. Scared or not, it takes guts to pull a gun on a killer, or even keep one's wits enough to play-act in the face of danger. That's most likely a good thing, of course; as a reader, one can take only so much helpless, quivering terror from the narrator.

If you are easily offended, then you will probably be offended by "Flash for Freedom," but if you are in search of well- written, yet hilarious historical fiction, then Flash is your man. Be forewarned though, if you are not careful you will learn more about history from this book than any textbook.

One of the finest in what is likely the greatest series of historial comic novels ever. Harry Flashman is one of Victorian England's most decorated heros and its most craven coward and in this book finds himself unwillingly thrust headlong by his own Scottish merchant father-in-law into the slave trade. During this book, Flashy poses as slave raider, government anti-slave agent, overseer and slave stealer. As always, Flashy's quest to entrench himself in the Garden of Earthly Delights along with his unrivaled ability to create enemies propells him from a quiet card game with Disraeli and friends inexoribly along a twisted and tortuous road that will continue on to Africa, Cuba and New Orleans and in other novels will find him accompanying John Brown on the Harper's Valley raid (Flashman and the Angel of the Lord) and eventually to the Battle of the Little Big Horn (Flashman and the Indians) which he survives to his own great astonishment. Among the cast of unforgettable characters he meets is the mad cashiered Oxford Don and slave ship captain, John Charity Spring, who lashes his crew with the cat and numerous classic Latin quotations. Abraham Lincoln makes several unforgettable appearances as well. Not for the prudish or the PC crowd, but there's scarcely any equal to it for both enlightenment and entertainment.

I can certainly see why some readers of this book have been put off by the difficult (and frought) subject matter; or rather by its treatment. Fraser's interpretation of these events, as revealed by his cynical and self-serving narrator can be challenging and unsettling. In FLASH FOR FREEDOM we are presented with a panoramic view of the slave trade both as an (horrific) economic process and as an expression of a deeply ingrained racism born out of what we now refer to as "Imperialist" attitudes.

But before you write this book off as a thinly veiled excuse for a misplaced and romantic nostalgia for an earlier age, take a moment and consider the not inconsiderable achievements in storytelling that the author has accomplished here. After all, something as fundamentally wrong as the slave trade required certain social and economic conditions to develop and to flourish. This, it seems to me, is one of Fraser's great strengths as a writer of so-called "historical fiction". More than most contemporary writers, he is able to divorce himself from the compulsive moralising that afflicts much of our public language today (not an offence in itself, except that most of it reeks of crowd pleasing "correctness" and insincerity), and recreate not only the events of an earlier age, but the attitudes that helped to foster them. We may find many of these repugnant by the standards of our own self-declared enlightenment, but it doesn't make them any the less true.

Therefore, the question becomes, "Does the author endorse or fail to codemn the brutailty that the novel graphically details?" The answer to this it seems to me is readily accessible in the text and in the working out of the plot. Without wanting to give anything away, as much of the fun is lies in its suspense, the final stages of Flashy's nightmare journey and his reaction to these events serve to personalise the full horror of the slave system and bring home the extent of its barbarity. If our narrator doesn't manage to summon up much sympathy for anyone but himself, well, Fraser is remaining true to Flashy's essential character - as he should. Anything else would be unconvincing.

What I really like about Fraser as a storyteller is his ability to spin a rattling good "yarn" that moves at a pace, his apparently effortless skill with language (and period language in particular), his ability to create lively and interesting characters and the depth of his research. So many recent attempts at historical fiction fail in one or more of these areas that I find myself to be immensely grateful to be in the hands of a master of the genre.

And Flashy remains, despite (or perhaps, because of) his apalling behaviour, a narrator of great interest. I couldn't help but feel sympathy for his plight and curiosity for his fate - although were he a personal acquaintance I wouldn't trust him with either my credit card or my girlfriend! What's more, Fraser has the rare skill of creating a varied cast of interesting and well drawn supporting players, from the monstrous to the heroic, and all shades in between. Even well known historical figures get their turn, and the author can throw a surprising light on them as well.

Highly recommended if you want your historical fiction to be more than just a grisly picture postcard of an earlier age. I look forward to many rereadings of the books in this wonderful series.

Harry Flashman, England's most irrepressible scoundrel, is back for more international adventures. Flashman meets all the greats in this superb historical novel from the future British Prime Minister Disraeli to the future American President Lincoln. Fraser makes things consistent, I'll give him that. Flashman is still looking out for, well Flashman, but somehow he ends up winning accolades for committing criminal acts that seem to somehow get misinterpreted. Not that Flashman minds or cares mind you. The novel centers around the issue of slavery during the mid-19th century before the American Civil War. Flash for Freedom is another example of historical story-telling that is packed with real events. Losing his chance at a political career, Flashman is forced to join a ship of slavers headed for West Africa. Flash makes eyes at an alluring Amazon there and then finally ends up in New Orleans. Posing as a dead naval officer, Flashman manages to lie and cheat his way across the country with nothing on his mind except vengeance against his miserly father-in-law and getting into the pants of every half-way decent woman he encounters. Filled with twists and turns, you'd think ol' Flashy was done for except for the fact that he is writing this posthumously sometime in the future when he has become an aged Flashman. This book has it all with lots of adventure, romance (well sex anyway), intrigue, humor, drama, and much more. Highly recommended for those interested in history or those who just want to read the adventures of a lousy no-good scumbag who somehow manages to get us to root for him!