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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An action-packed epic virtually reeking of salt-spray .,
By jdtbush@erinet.com (Monroe, Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Lively Lady (Paperback)
Few authors today take such careful pains to be as historically accurate as Roberts does. This is just one more fine example of his masterful skill. In Lively Lady he takes us back to America's "Second War of Independence", the War of 1812. After some preliminary plot foundation-laying and character development you soon feel the swell of the open Atlantic as it lifts your sloop-of-war and carries the reader along with Captain Nason in search of merchant ships of the Crown of King George.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not up to the standards of Rabble in Arms or Arundel,
By
This review is from: The Lively Lady (Paperback)
Don't take me wrong: "The Lively Lady" is a darn good read. I've read enough of Roberts now to know his basic formula: take a stock love story (boy sees girl, circumstances come between boy and girl, circumstances clear up by end of book and boy gets girl), interwine it with gripping battle narratives, and inject oodles and oodles of history into the narrative. Roberts is a good enough writer to always get mileage out of these basic ingredients.
They're all here in "The Lively Lady," but never jell as well as they did in the earlier novels I mentioned. I think Roberts was running out of steam by the time he came to write this, the third installment in his "Chronicles of Arundel" series. This time out, Roberts' narrative pace is in hyperdrive. The book has a third as many pages as either of the first two books, and it shows: "The Lively Lady" reads like a Reader's Digest version of "Rabble in Arms." Characters are described rapidly, without really being developed: the character of King Dick appears all at once as the acknowledged "King" of Dartmour Prison. But how white prisoners in 1814 would have come to accept a black - even a physically powerful and intelligent one like King Dick - as a leader is never really explained, as though racism and slavery didn't exist. Even the history Roberts typically teaches is shortchanged: precious little is said of the reasons for the War of 1812, and the lasting effects of that conflict - a new sense of American nationalism - is explored in a mere paragraph or two. That is in sharp contrast to Robert's superior (and far longer) novel, "Oliver Wiswell," which reads at times almost like a history lecture on the Loyalist viewpoint during the American Revolution. The love story suffers likewise; we are simply told that Emily falls in love with Richard Nason almost at first glance... but never learn why she is attracted to him, save for a bad marriage. The relationship seems a bit too obviously contrived for the sake of the narrative. Still, I have read reviews of "Oliver Wiswell" on Amazon complaining the book is too long and boring; if you want "Roberts Lite" in a condensed version: "The Lively Lady" is it. It's probably the Roberts book of choice who want to enjoy a Roberts book without investing the time to read his better, longer work. I do think anyone who likes Roberts should read this book - you'll enjoy it, but don't expect the same sense of satisfaction you had reading "Arundel" or "Rabble in Arms" if you love history.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Romance/adventure novel,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lively Lady (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel, first published in 1931, has gone through many editions. It is written in the style of the period, e.g., Errol Flynn type stories. It goes into excessive detail at some points which can make the story drag a bit. In some ways, it reflects a Thomas Hardy type writing style. It is a narrative style as told by the main character. Some parts of the action were borrowed by later writers.The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures. After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended. Captain Nason, of course, survives (narrators usually survive), meets the woman again, etc.
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