Customer Reviews

Last Refuge of Scoundrels: A Revolutionary Novel

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I read historical fiction voraciously, and particularly enjoy works that focus on the American Revolution. But Last Refuge of Scoundrels has really set a new standard for this genre! Not only did I have to stay up all night to finish the book because the story was so unusual, hilarious and exciting, but unlike most historical fiction, I came away with a radically new understanding of and appreciation for the actual history of America. George Washington now seems to me a man of genuine flesh and blood -- flawed, yes, but remarkable in his humanity, much more interesting and alive than the conventional, starched, remote portraits of this complex man. And Mr. Lussier's main characters, Deborah and John, have now taken significant seats in the pantheon of characters in my psyche. Like Washington, they are both remarkably human and profoundly heroic. I especially love the gamine, vulnerable, passionate aspects of Deborah's character - she rivals Shakespeare's best females in spunkiness and wit. (Not to mention that both John and Deborah are based on real people who fought and brought about the Revolution!)

I've heard a rumor that there's supposed to be a film made of Last Refuge of Scoundrels. I certainly hope this true, as I think Mr. Lussier's writing is cinematic in texture and scope, and I think the story would translate wonderfully to the screen.

I look forward to the next work by Paul Lussier. Last Refuge of Scoundrels is a phenomenal, unprecedented debut and a significant contribution not only to the world of the historical novel, but to the broader realms of literature and history as well. And, on top of all of that, it is quite simply a great read! This is unquestionably the next book you should buy, whatever your taste.

I don't normally read historical fiction or non fiction books but after hearing rave reviews, I picked it up. I am so happy that I happened upon this book. I feel like I have finally discovered the true story! Mr. Lussier's book brings history to life! The Last Refuge of Scoundrels is funny, informative and refreshing.The once cardboard characters that I have heard about since grammar school, suddenly have personalities! Mr. Lussier paints a picture that allows us to experience "A Day in the Life of..." our nations fore fathers. He has opened up a whole new world for me and I am sufddenly interested in the American Revolution. Thank you Paul Lussier for the new insights and fine writing!

You know how funny and creative National Lampoon's Animal House was? And ever since then you keep getting your hopes up that the next National Lampoon film will actually be ,,,, you know, funny .... but it never happens. That's how I felt about this book -- high expectations followed by disappointment. Did all the funny people graduate and go to law school or something?

Based on other reviews it seems people either love this book or hate it, and I am on the fringes of the latter camp. I had high hopes. I was interested in an irreverent and more honest take on the founding fathers and it had been praised by people I respected (Howard Zinn, I feel betrayed!). I wanted to like it, but I was really disappointed -- not hating it so much as being pretty bored. I felt the book droned on and on and on, and then I'd see I'd only read another 10 pages. Usually I get through a book in two or three days; this took me almost three times as long. It was a struggle to finish it. I think a book should be entertaining and/or thought-provoking. This was neither.

The premise is great and the author is talented. He writes as if he's been to 18th century America and come back to tell us about it. There's no denying that his descriptions are great, but the characters never rise above two-dimensional puppets, gumping around without motive or reason. Well-known figures are lampooned but not better understood, and unknown characters, in particular and unfortunately the two protagonists John and Deborah, are never revealed as complex or interesting. The action is erratic and confusing. The POV changes ... but just often enough to be awkward. The humor is great but fades fast and never returns. Anachronistic speech and actions disrupt the narrative flow. I believe the revisionist facts are accurate but this book just wasn't pleasurable to read.

The style is raw. As in junior high school. One example: instead of taking some effort to introduce the characters of the Boston leadership, the author LISTS them with this introduction: "Oh, the men from the Green Dragon, they ruled. There was Hancock and Otis and Warren and Church and, of course, the Adamses: Samuel and John .... Each his own brand of mad." And then he devotes a paragraph or two to each person and gives us irreverent facts about each one. On the level of the "so very fat" John Adams. Hmm. Insightful. And then he goes back to the story. Clunk. The author brings the streets to life, but never the people on them.

Like I said, I wanted to like it. I just didn't. It's not that I didn't "get" it. It's that I was bored and irritated -- not the feelings I want a book to evoke. A much richer, entertaining and accurate book covering the same era is Kenneth Roberts' Oliver Wiswell, and this is one of those instances when the simple truth is so compelling that it doesn't need embellishment or titillation to make it palatable. Why not read something where you have to rub two brain cells together?

Because the reviews are so polarized, there is a chance you will like this book even though I didn't. Obviously some people really liked it, and maybe you will too. This is my opinion and nothing more.

Paul Lussier's main character, John Lawrence, hates his father Henry, longs for true love, and finds solace in a pet turtle named Apollo. In a fit of rage, Henry strangles Apollo and throws her against the wall, shattering her shell. A isconsolate John takes the shell shards and fashions a necklace that he wears for the remainder of his life. You learn these facts in the book's first fifty pages and, believe me, that's as good as it gets.

If you're interested in a book on the Revolution that won't waste your time, read Gregory D. Massey's John Laurens and the American Revolution, a wonderful biography of the historical figure on whom John Lawrence is "loosely" based. John Laurens and his father Henry's loving yet conflicted relationship and their efforts to grapple with the dichotomy between a struggle for liberty and their own ownership of slaves forms one of the most moving stories of the Revolution.

1) The history is meticulously researched and largely true (like it or not!); 2) These are human beings -- not military heroes -- which will offend some readers. Not this reader; 3) The opening sequence is one of the most moving I've read, and immediately got me to feel more compassion for George Washington than I had in all of my previous Ivy-league educated 43 years. This is not a book about battles; not a book about artillery; and not a book about winning and losing. It is a book about suffering, healing, loving and leading -- in ways that made our forefathers and finally us, American. The first writer since Gore Vidal to make American history real for me -- and unlike Mr. Vidal, in this case with an earnestness and sweetness that made me feel (dare I say it?) almost...patriotic!

The people who've written in complaining about how they don't recognize the Founding Fathers as they knew them miss the whole point, which is that we've never known them. This writer brings them to life in a way which may or may not be exactly as they were, but is no less accurate than any other historian's or novelist's educated guess. More to the point, he seems more concerned with the metapicture, which is the magical, fantastical and very human side of the revolution. To present that side he may have taken some liberties with some facts (I don't know), but I think he's attempting to create "a brave new world" which looks beyond mere facts to that which is ultimately far more profound and significant: myth. (After all, he chose to write this in novel form: if you want a straight forward history, read a non-fiction account.) The point I think he grasps which is so exciting, is that facts don't change lives, myths do. I think he's trying to replace the deeply ingrained myths of Parson Weems and the cherry tree and the stranglehold those kinds of stories have on our collective consciousness with a new mythology--one that may or may not be completely historically accurate, but which is far more resonant because it is ultimately more truthful. In that respect, I would guess he's been inspired by the Latin-American magical-real;ism tradition, and if so, this is the first time I've encountered such an approach being applied to our own cultural myths. As someone else wrote, this is indeed groundbreaking and the very fact that so many people have written in to this page indicates that he's succeeded in hitting a very raw nerve indeed.

LAST REFUGE OF SCOUNDRALS by Paul Lussier is a historical novel of the best sort, filled with plenty of historical facts and details that bring the characters and the times alive. The author's keen eye for detail maks the 1700s a living, breathing place where we meet our "founding fathers" and the anonymous masses who really won the American Revolution. This is history at its most human level - with each character painted in brilliant colors, yet each so real you can smell their sweat. Here we see the founding fathers (or were they?) warts and all, politicians who make you want to shout, laugh and tear your hair - just like the ones we read about in today's newspapers. There is a truth here that shines far brighter than the lessons I remember from my American history classes. And the pages of this book turn much faster. Paul Lussier asks us to really question authority and to dust of the facts we accept as reality to see what they actually look like.

Grade school American History has nothing on LAST REFUGE OF SCOUNDRELS! I might have actually paid more attention back then if the Founding Fathers were described in the fresh and funny way that author Paul Lussier does. What's really interesting is that while the F.F.'s get the full "revisionist" treatment in this visceral, gritty, far-from-reverent novel, many of our (my) most dearly-held ideals about why we fought the War of Independence in the first place are brought into sharp focus -- crystallized with a clarity, awe and majesty that I found breath-taking in such an entertaining format. On the way, I got really excited about participating as a soldier in what the author describes as the ongoing American Revolutionary War. Bravo, Mr. Lussier!

When was the last time you smiled reading about Hancock, John Adams and Washington? You will while reading this book. Far from being scandalous, Last Refuge of Scoundrels takes the Revolution and gives a fun human twist to it. Did you know the Revolution was actually being run by a prostitute from behind the scenes? Or that Sam Adams had a flatulance problem? If you can accept the fact that the Founding Fathers were human beings, with agendas that weren't always high and lofty, this work of fiction will delight you. It's rare these days that a novel can bring intelligent insightful fun to the public. This one does.

Wow!! Will this set the American History class rooms back on their heels?? You bet. Although Mr. Lussier has based his book on actual events of the Revolution, his fictional characters(?) are real enough to lend credence to the actual outcome of the story. For the history buff, this is a great novel, which will add humor, romance and tradgedy to the actual events of the American Revolution.Buy it now.