Customer Reviews

the betsy

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

 

 

As with most of the Harold Robbins books that I have read this one was action packed and kept me interested all the way through. This Book is about a shrewd and cunning business minded race car driver who rises to meet the challenges of building a product against all odds. I saw the movie and then I read it again, It was interesting to visualize a younger Tommy Lee Jones as Angelo Perino. I found I enjoyed the book just as much the second time through. 5 stars

I never read any Harold Robbins books before so to start, I have no previous work to relate/ compare this to. That being said, here's what I thought of 'The Betsy':

It's a book about cars, capitalism, family corruption and sex (lots of that). I didn't realize going into it that every few chapters there would be a few paragraph to one page description of the sex these characters were having. It wasn't drawn out too much, but definitely rated R.

Looking beyond that, there is lots of technology, engineering, and fast cars. It doesn't have a lot of action (I recall maybe 2 fist fights), but lots of deception, and a shock at the end.

It was a quick read for me. I tried to watch the movie and just couldn't. I think the characters are developed well and it reads like a really good story. Being written in the 70's there are lots of discussions about new 'up and coming' cars like The Gremlin and Pacer. That was pretty funny seeing how much those cars were hyped back then. It gets 4 stars because it was a good story, but probably could have generated more buzz (and made a better movie) if it wasn't so raunchy.

"The Betsy" is a novel about the Detroit car industry. Former race car driver Angelo Perino is hired by Loren Hardeman I (aka "Number One"), founder of Bethlehem Motors, to help develop a new car, "The Betsy". This forms the main plot of the novel, and then there are a number of subplots about Perino and three generations of the Hardeman family (there are three characters named Loren Hardeman, all of them often referred to as simply "Loren", making it difficult sometimes to know which one the author is referring to at the moment).

"The Betsy" doesn't live up to Robbins's best work. It lacks focus and direction. There are plenty of subplots and minor characters but none are interesting enough to really keep the reader's attention and interest. There's more focus on business dealings and board meetings than on human emotion and relations. There's plenty of sex but, again, little emotion. And the ending is less than satisfying. A very weak 3 star rating.

I had read this when it was first published and liked it. I liked it when I read it this time, too, though maybe for different reasons. I was glad to see the pictures and have the names of the actors who portrayed the characters in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones (a younger version) will always be Angelo in my mind. Enjoyable fast read, though a bit dated in style, as should be expected for a book written more than 30 years ago.

Harold Robbins' The Betsy is a book that should appeal to the petrol head types a little, as well as the usual fans of his formula and style. He again follows a young man growing up, and this man wants to race cars and make money. If he has fame, power, money, women and sex, then that is all pretty cool too.

To me, Harold Robbin's 'The Betsy' is about finding true love. I kind of skipped through the corporate wheeling and dealing pages and focused on Angelo's personal angst and love life. I loved Angelo. He is at the same time an every man and a hero. I found Betsy highly energetic, optimistic, and the ending, just beautiful. This is a far cry from his usual gritty and grim novels.