Joseph [Paperback]

Julian Rathbone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

Spain - 1808 to 1813 - where Revolution collides with Reaction, a British Army with a French; the Spain of Goya, where ignorant armies clash and from under them all comes the voice of Joseph: by birth European, by education enlightened, and living in Salamanca which suffered a new invasion every six months and saw one of Wellington's greatest battles. From the moment in early childhood when Joseph hurls a stone at a playmate and makes an evil enemy for life, to the last page when he climbs a hill in North Spain accompanied by a donkey, a giantess, and a new-born babe, and blunders into a battle, he takes the reader by the elbow and hurries him 'will he or will he not' across the terrible years that saw the birth of our own times. Racy, picaresque, but with an underlying seriousness, JOSEPH is a panoramic novel of the Spanish Penisular War, revealing as Goya did its grotesqueries and ironies as well as its horrifying waste of life. Rathbone's wit, sensitivity and confident grasp of the subject are superbly matched to this brilliant historical scene. JOSEPH has never before been published in paperback.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julian Rathbone was the author of many highly-acclaimed novels. Two of which (KING FISHER LIVES and JOSEPH) were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He died in February 2008.

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown UK (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0349112274
• ISBN-13: 978-0349112275
• Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,279,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly Detailed, Superb Storytelling, January 8, 2004

By 

Paul McGrath (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joseph (Paperback)

About forty pages into this novel the narrator and his two eleven-year old friends are playing near their home--Salamanca, Spain, 1801--when off in the distance, they hear an unusual rumbling noise, a noise the narrator later in his life would quickly learn to identify as that of a large army on the march. It is the French army, and the boys are fascinated by its approach. An advance scout breaks from the main body and reins up near them: "He had a tall round black hat swathed with a yellow scarf beneath a small black plume; his coat was dark green with silver frogging, black shoulder straps, and wide white sash; his breeches were red above black boots." His sword was a, "heavy, long, sabre, slightly curved," which would, "cleave you from the top of your head to your crutch and leave you in two halves like a sucking pig." His face was, "lean, bronzed, narrow-eyed beneath curling eyebrows that sneered, with moustaches waxed and turned up, and white powdered hair tied back in a knot like a bullfighter's pigtail." With this kind of detail, you realize at that moment that you're going to be in for a great book.

The story is narrated by Joseph, and the premise is that he is writing to Lord Wellington--years after the events he relates here--in an attempt to finagle some money from him. He says he can prove he was a member of the English army, he implies that Wellington was the father of the bastard son he has raised, and though born in Italy and raised in Spain, he also has the audacity to claim an English heritage. Sounds a bit preposterous, but then this Joseph has a way of making one want to believe him. He's a clever, conniving little fellow who we find nobody trusts but everybody likes. He's an admitted coward, an opportunist, a toady, a libertine--and a charmer. Most of all, he is a survivor, as he will tell you, again and again. He will also tell you that he is completely truthful. Heh, heh. Not exactly, but to a certain degree, well, yes. He is.

In any event, Spain was a hotbed of activity in the early 19th century as it was invaded by Napoleon and then governed by his brother, although they were never really able to conquer it. The Spanish Ulcer, as Napoleon referred to it. Spanish citizens were bitterly divided over their support for him and bloody conflict raged. Our hero spends the early part of this era in a brothel operated by a madam who may or may not have been his mother, (and with whom he never, EVER, had sexual relations), ignobly spying alternately for both sides and for no other purpose than to save his own skin. He eventually ends up as a member of the English army--possibly--after they save him from a gang of gypsies who may--perhaps--have castrated him. He is present at if not exactly a participant in the two decisive battles of the war: Salamanca in 1812, and Vittorio in 1813, the latter of which drove Napoleon out of the country for good. Luckily for us, whether drunk with wine, or running in fear, he remains a remarkable observer.

Aside from the hugely original and entertaining narrator, the novel is great for several other reasons as well. As exemplified above, the detail is outstanding. Landscapes, villages, taverns and fields; heat and rain; food and wine at banquet and in camp; weapons and wounds; the attire of soldier, peasant, priest, and slattern: all are richly evoked and have the solid ring of authenticity about them.

The characters are also finely drawn and are clearly creatures of their time and place. Particularly interesting is Joseph's father, with his books and his moral dignity. He lectures his son on his prevailing philosophy: reason, and how men should be guided by it. One thinks, of course! This is the era of both American and French revolution, movements whose leaders were guided by this concept. Napoleon also makes a memorable appearance, gulping wine and devouring a greasy chicken while justifying his bloody actions in the world as a necessary means of bringing order to it. Weights and measures, taxes and tariffs; from country to country and even village to village, none were uniform. Napoleon sought to end this for the good, he says, of man. It is a credit to the author that despite what we know of Napoleon, the argument is quite convincing.

Above all, though, what makes this novel stand out is the quality of its story-telling. This is not a recitation of famous events told by cardboard characters--like so much of contemporary historical fiction--it is a story of one person. His childhood enemies and friends; the girl he loved and the friend who cheated him; the family he betrayed and the Irish soldiers who took him in: these are not "historical" events, these are the little things that all of us experience in our lives. The little things that make great fiction. This novel assuredly belongs in that class.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, entertaining, well-written historical fiction, January 29, 2003

By 

Richard Sawyer (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joseph (Paperback)

Julian Rathbone, the author, has done a remarkable job of telling the fictionalized account of the life of an engaging, adventurous man of the Napoleonic era. Joseph, as a character, is so interesting and well developed that you feel you know him very well. Other characters are similarly developed and portrayed. Furthermore, the plot is fascinating and well-paced, taking the reader across the map of Europe, through villages, battlegrounds, etc. Mr. Rathbone clearly researched his subject well, as he has a clear command of the era in his descriptions of the life of the times. As a reader, you become completely immersed in the story and learn much about this important time in European history. The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and it is easy to see why it was. I have also read Mr. Rathbone's book, The Last English King, which is equally, if not perhaps, more wonderful. Fans of well-written, literary historical fiction will be richly rewarded from reading these books of Mr. Rathbone.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling, November 10, 2008

By 

Tamara Hatch (Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joseph (Paperback)

I've just finished this wonderful novel, one of several I've read by Julian Rathbone, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as The Last English King. Fantastic characterization and vivid historical fiction! It's a shame his novels aren't more widely known in the United States.