Everyone who remembers The Sea Wolf with pleasure will enjoy this vigorous narrative of a voyage from New York around Cape Horn in a large sailing vessel. The Mutiny of the 'Elsinore' is the same kind of tale as its famous predecessor, and by those who have read it, it is pronounced even more stirring. Mr. London is here writing of scenes and types of people with which he is very familiar, the sea and ships and those who live in ships. In addition to the adventure element, of which there is an abundance of the usual London kind, a most satisfying kind it is, too, there is a thread of romance involving a wealthy, tired young man who takes the trip on the Elsinore, and the captain's daughter. The play of incident, on the one hand the ship's amazing crew and on the other the lovers, gives a story in which the interest never lags and which demonstrates anew what a master of his art Mr. London is.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of London's "Individualist" stories,
By
This review is from: The Mutiny of the 'Elsinore' (Hardcover)
Jack London was a complicated individual who has left critics baffled at times. London was an avowed socialist, yet in Mutiny of the Elsinore, we read an emphatic discussion of how/why the "ruling classes" are the ruling classes, and that this is just as it should be (contrast this, for example, with London's The Iron Heel). The Elsinore story is similar to London's The Sea Wolf in that we see the gradual "manification" of a too-wealthy and too-underworked "aristocrat" who must discover his manhood on a voyage around The Cape that goes hopelessly wrong. It is an exciting adventure story, set against the backdrop of the "Superman" period of London's writings. There are some serious flaws in the book, however, with a sub-plot about a revengeful first mate that simply never gets resolved or mentioned after a big build-up. A suggestion of cannibalism is made (where are the mutineers getting their food?) but this is also never explained. Three myserious sailors join the trip on the Cape, but who they are and where they really came from is never fully developed. Still, if you enjoyed "The Abysmal Brute" and similar London stories, you'll enjoy this one. Just don't expect much sympathy for the masses (e.g., People of the Abyss). You won't find it here.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
