2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful characters, March 12, 2009
This review is from: The Last Paradise: A Novel (Paperback)
Michael Kasenow clearly did his research for "The Last Paradise: A Novel" a wonderful testament to the enduring fortitude of the outcast and underprivileged in Galveston, TX circa 1900. In Paradise, Kasenow paints a vivid portrait of a bustling, thriving port city alive with ambition and progress. Indeed, by 1900, Galveston was dubbed the "Wall Street of the Southwest," being home to the largest wholesale houses west of the Mississippi. Galveston enjoyed Texas' first medical college, first opera house, first naval base, and the list goes on.
However, all of this progress came at a cost. During the age of unregulated capitalism, the trench between the haves and the have-nots was enormous and oftentimes insurmountable. Good old boys wearing police uniforms, (or judicial robes, or three-piece suits for that matter) by day donned KKK hoods by night, ensuring that Jim Crow laws were strictly and enthusiastically enforced. The stench of corruption and racism permeated the entire city, but nowhere more so that the alleyways inhabited by the poorest of Galveston's citizens.
Lest you get the idea that this is a depressing novel about a wretched underclass, let me assure you nothing could be farther from the truth! Kasenow's cast of characters is one of the most endearing motley crews I've had the pleasure of joining since John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flats!
Kasenow constructs a diverse group of souls including Newt, the Harvard-educated blasphemous rogue, Maxwell, the prison-escapee who could teach a class on personal integrity, Scurvy, the sailor who burned down a ship while frying bacon in the galley while in a drunken stupor, and many more wonderful and rich souls. The most moving characters are the novel's oppressed African Americans, for whom Kasenow reserved the kid gloves:
"The Galveston alleys were filled with...black women who cherished their freedom and who refused defeat during the age of Jim Crow - who pushed their husbands, cajoled, gave them confidence and aspiring wisdom - who whispered secrets into the tired and weary ear of hard-working men - who bathed and dressed their children, worked ten hours a day...kept the faith, believed in righteousness, followed the path of goodwill - who mended their tears and patched up broken souls."
It is this kind of evocative writing that makes "The Last Paradise" so enjoyable. I highly recommend "The Last Paradise."
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A top pick for those looking for a good story about people, June 11, 2009
This review is from: The Last Paradise: A Novel (Paperback)
The Union's treatment of the former Confederacy was in no way saintly. "The Last Paradise" is a fictional tale focusing on post-Civil War Galveston, Texas. Focusing on the town as a whole several decades after the conflict, author Michael Kasenow draws a picture of a town trying to forge their way in the world. A tale of fighting upwards against societal and corporate pressures, "The Last Paradise" is an inspiring story and an utterly fascinating read. "The Last Paradise" is a top pick for those looking for a good story about people.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An Act of God, May 25, 2009
This review is from: The Last Paradise: A Novel (Paperback)
As the twentieth century began, Galveston Island was home to a boomtown with a seemingly unlimited future. For good reason, the city called itself "Wall Street of the Southwest," a title its citizens felt secure to claim because of Galveston's number of large banks, cotton merchants and brokers. Most importantly, Galveston Bay formed a natural harbor that allowed Galveston to have become the largest city in the state of Texas, home to some 42,000 citizens.
It is at this point that Michael Kasenow's debut novel, "The Last Paradise," begins. Rather than telling Galveston's story through the eyes of its wealthiest citizens, however, Kasenow decided to do so from the point-of-view of the racially diverse bunch inhabiting a lively Galveston neighborhood called the Alleys. The Alleys is home to former slaves, prostitutes, gamblers, alcoholics and other down-and-outers of all stripes.
Starting his story at a deceptively slow pace, Kasenow introduces a host of characters that readers will long remember. The character around whom the book is centered is drifter Maxwell Hayes, a man who, despite having experienced the worst that life can throw at a person, still knows right from wrong and is willing to defend those unable to defend themselves. Newt Haskins, Maxwell's best friend, is a former Yale man and card shark who works on the docks with Maxwell. Maxwell, despite himself, is fond of prostitute Fanny Brown, a woman willing to sell herself if it means that her son Cody will be able to afford college one day.
Despite what the rest of the city is like, in the Alleys blacks and whites mingle freely and skin color is not a big issue. Jake Bishop, a black man who works with Maxwell and Newt, wants nothing more than to see his son and two daughters make more of themselves than he was allowed to make of himself. As the book opens, young Jake is preparing to leave Galveston for his first year's schooling, still trying to choose between becoming a doctor or a schoolteacher.
These are just some of the characters that readers will come to know. There are numerous others, including the delightful Catholic nuns who run the orphanage, a happily in love, but mentally handicapped couple, corrupt businessmen, deadly policemen who double as Klan members, and other colorful hangers-on who frequent Maxwell's favorite saloon.
"The Last Paradise" is a frank look at how those at the bottom of the economic ladder were exploited by those at the top in turn-of-the-century America. Life is not easy in Maxwell's world but those who inhabit it along side him are surprisingly happy with their day-to-day existence right up to the point that others decide to remind them of how powerless they really are. Just when their little community suffers a mortal blow, and it seems that things cannot possibly get any worse, the famous Galveston hurricane of September 8, 1900 strikes the island.
Michael Kasenow's description of the storm and its aftermath is haunting, especially knowing that Galveston was almost destroyed again in 2008, this time by Hurricane Ike. What Kasenow describes is so gut wrenching and horrible that the reader begins to feel like a storm survivor in search of loved ones. It is only when all the book's characters are finally accounted for, in fact, that readers will feel ready to learn what life has in store for the survivors.
"The Last Paradise," filled with humor, drama, tragedy and colorful characters, is a worthy piece of historical fiction. Michael Kasenow tells the story of a city that would likely be much different today if not for the storm that almost destroyed it 108 years ago.
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