Customer Reviews

The Leper

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This might be Steve Thayer's best historical suspense novel. Readers watch as protagonist John Severson evolves from military officer to schoolteacher to leper. The startling diagnosis and label ruin his promising life in Minnesota, and he lives the next sixty years in secluded colonies in Louisiana and Hawaii. This is the most epic and original of Thayer's work. Much about leprosy is misunderstood and this book attempts to educate as well as entertain. Fans of the author will delight in cameos by characters in his previous bestselling novels.

Few novels have been written from the perspective of a leper, so this historical novel spanning from World War I to the 1990s promised to be an interesting read. Indeed, The Leper starts off with a bang, with a bedraggled group of lost Marines stumbling upon a mysterious leper colony hidden deep in a remote forest in Europe.

Time quickly passes. Our hero, a tall and handsome young Swedish-American, returns from the war and becomes a high school math teacher in Minnesota before contracting leprosy from his wartime exposure. He is captured (and I'm not spoiling the plot here, as all this becomes apparent early on) and sent first to a hellish leprosy camp in Louisiana and, ultimately, to the larger colony on Molokai (Hawaii). Along the way, he falls in love, and makes friends and enemies.

So far, so good. The problem with The Leper is not with the plot outline, but with the execution. The characters are so wooden that it is hard to suspend disbelief. Even the larger-than-life hero never comes fully to life. Instead, we are treated to a parade of one-dimensional, cardboard characters, entering and exiting the hero's orb. The female love interests are especially stereotyped - the alluring student, the vixen Negro prostitute, the hula-dancing native Hawaiian. Most unbelievable of all are a series of phantom-like characters from the past whose sole purposes in life revolve around "the Swede."

Contributing to the difficulty in escaping into this novel is the poor quality of the narrative. Mr. Thayer started with a promising outline, along with quite a bit of historical information (much of it gleaned from The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai, which I recommend as a nonfiction account). But, rather than integrate it all into a nuanced narrative, he merely talks at us for 400-odd pages.

Most jarring of all is the clichéd and error-filled writing itself. Breaking Stephen King's cardinal rule on the use of adverbs (see King's On Writing), the pages are strewn with excess adverbs, including the dread "literally" (as in, "he was literally covered with raw ulcers)." Almost every misspelling that a computer spell-checker will miss (e.g., ores-oars, lightening-lightning, breath-breathe, whose-who's, there-their) can be found in abundance, indicating a lack of competent human editing by North Star Press.

In the end, much as I started off wanting to love this book, the flaws are severe enough that I can only give it a half-hearted nod. If you know little about leprosy and want to learn more without reading nonfiction, and if you are not too picky about clean writing, you might enjoy it.

I was surprised to see all the positive reviews for this book. I have enjoyed Thayer's other books, found them very suspenseful. This one seemed to me like he might have written it first, and improved with the others. Also, I can't remember reading a book with so many proofreading errors, looked like he recorded it and had it typed by someone who couldn't spell: fair for fare, road for rode, mote for moat, passed for past, wrapped for rapped, your for you're - you get the idea. His other books are far superior.

An English and journalism teacher for thirty-five years, initially I, like other reviewers, had a hard time getting past (or is it passed?) the ubiquitous proofreading errors in the book. I found myself laughing, scratching my head, and wondering how in the world such errors could have passed (or is it past?) a proofreader even as inexperienced as my high school students. In fact, I even checked to see which (or is it witch?) company had published the book. That's when I realized that a very small publisher, reputed to employ one to four (or perhaps it's for or fore) staffers, released the book. Ah, now I think I see (hmm, could it be sea?) the problem.

The story, however, was intriguing, and the protagonist, admirable. I had read (red, maybe) Molokai by Allan Brennert recently so I already possessed some insight into this devastating disease and the havoc it has wreaked, not only on the victims but also on their family and friends. I truly found myself so caught up in the story that I read way past my bedtime. Although, thankfully, I've never been plagued with a disease or situation comparable to the Swede's, I can identify with his love for teaching and the loss he felt when he was deprived of those things of which he was most passionate. This was my first book by Thayer; it will not be my last.

This book uses good descriptions to explain the stages of leprosy (Hanson's disease). The stages are portrayed graphically. Action begins in the first chapter and continues throughout the book. Thayer has researched the history of leprosy treatment in the U.S. The reader can feel the fear experienced during the time of this novel. There are many typographical and grammatical errors but the story is worth these inconveniences.

It is impossible to read the last few chapters of this book without feelling the heartache. Leprosy,or Hansen's disease, may be all but forgotten. What should never be forgotten is how the rights and humanity of those who suffered from it in this country were tread upon. It's no wonder that AIDS sufferers fought ignorance and fear so aggressively in the early years of the AIDS epedemic. They hadn't forgotton history, and refused to be "treated like lepers." This is a heart-rending story of love lost, a life lost, and a struggle to regain dignity. This is a damned good book.

Overall this work of historical fiction was a fair read. I was amazed at the number of grammatical errors found in this. "There" instead of "their"? "Wrapped" in place of "rapped"? "Magnate" for "magnet"? Come on! this is ridiculous. How is this even rated as a best seller when the editor or writer cannot even take care of the basics. Outside of these typos, the storyline jumped about, leaving broad swaths of time unaccounted for, this is understandable seeing as how it is historical fiction but at times there wasn't even an explanation or an attempt at dovetailing the sections together. Not to tear this novel down completely, there were definitely several good sections, full of suspense and intrigue, and accompanied with the whole historical stigma of leprosy made for an interesting read. Towards the end it began to die down and become quite melancholy and a little mundane, honestly I couldn't finish it.I'm not particularly familiar with this author outside of this novel so maybe this is just a slump in his work, riding on his prior successes or something.
Either way, give it a try, there are better things to read though.

I have read & re-read all of this author's previous books.
I consider this the most interesting historical fiction novel I have ever read (and I read a lot!!).
I recommend it to everyone...

Steve Thayer is one of the finest writers around. I have read all of his books and The Leper is one of the best. His research on the topic of leprosy shows throughout the writing. He weaves a spellbinding and surreal plot throughout the book. I especially enjoy his weaving of the characters from Minnesota in all of his books. Being, originally, from Minnesota, I can relate to his characters and plot locations. I highly recommend this book. Both my wife and I could not put this book down. His style of writing is easy to understand and his use of vocabulary is excellent and not overburdening like some authors. I can hardly wait for his next book.

I think I'm prejudice - anything that has to do with the Twin Cities of MSP and STP I will like, therefore I'm a big fan of Mr. Thayer. This was a good, original story line. I didn't care for the beginning, during WWl, and I thought maybe ST had lost his touch for grabbing attention. How happily wrong I was. It was an education on leprosy and the political history of the disease. More important, the story shows how a person can survive the disappointments of life as dreamed and still be a great contributor to society and others. This was good.