Customer Reviews

The Mucker

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

 

 

Most of Edgar Rice Burroughs' heroes are highborn, chivalrous, and heroic. The Mucker is none of these things. He is a gangster, a hoodlum, a boxer, and a hobo. He is also one tough cookie. Of course, he cannot remain a thug. Over the course of the book he becomes noble, chivalrous, and heroic. One of Burroughs' best non-Tarzan books.

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burrroughs is a wonderful epic adventure that doesn't leave you wanting. Beautiful descriptions sumptuous writing, this is a novel that you can truly set your teeth in. You'll cheer for Edgar's anti-heroe as he travels through 1920's seedy Chicago, to the decks of sailing vessels, to unusual distant lands. The characters are so well fleshed out, that you truly understand the psychology of the protagonist and you know why he behaves the way he does. In his world he has no other choice for he is the mucker. This is a far cry from Tarzan, this character is real and raw, and in some ways more primitive than Tarzan of the apes. It was a joy to read and is a joy to reread. Anyone who likes high adventure cannot help but love this book. It is almost a genre unto itself. Why this book has not been converted into a movie is unimaginable to me.

After reading five ERB books prior to this one, I was starting to think I might be a little burnt out on him for a while, but this book pulled me in with hardly a hesitation. The story is standard Burroughs, sticking pretty well to his formula - man falls in love with girl, rescues girl, loses girl, rescues girl, loses girl, ..., man and girl live happily ever after.

ERB's heroes are seldom less than perfect and when they are (as in this book) they usually rise above it through the love of a good woman, this story remains true to that form. It looks to have been serialized, as many of his stories were, with many a shift of location. The reader is taken from Chicago to Hawaii to a Pacific Island to New York to Mexico with the all of the accompanying naivete of the times. Whether he is battling pirates, head hunting samurai, evil hoboes, Mexican bandits or his own personal demons you can't help but enjoy the raw power of the main character.

For all of it's simple story and predictable events, this remains a fun book to read, excellent for pre and early teens and those of us that just want a little old fashioned escapism.

For further adventures of Bridge see the Oakdale Affair. P-)

I give this version printed by Quiet Vision one star because the quality of the printing is abominable - this book looks like it was printed by some third-rate vanity publisher. Even small independent publishing houses put out better looking books than this! I bought the book new and the spine was already creased, the typeset looks like it was done on a home PC, and the illustration reproductions looks like it was done in a high school photo shop! The clarity of the illustrations was almost nonexistent and the color on the cover art was faded. The worst was the almost condescending attitude of the guy who wrote the forward - he must think Burroughs' readers are either immigrants who don't know English, mentally retarded or three years old! Don't waste your money on this version. Go hunt down a much better used copy from either Ace or Ballantine. This title deserves better.