Herbert Rowbarge (Hardcover)

by Natalie Babbitt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Why is successful Herbert Rowbarge so cold of heart, so lacking in the delight or merriment one would expect of someone so devoted to his popular amusement park and its old-fashioned merry-go-round? The answer, readers are aware throughout, is that "a vital piece of him was wrenched away in his third month of life" - a twin brother adopted from the Home to which both abandoned infants were confined when a day old. After that Herbert's first pleasure in life is a second-hand Noah's Ark, with the animals all in pairs except for "one lonely lion that had lost his twin forever." (It is to the pair of lions on his merry-go-round that the grown-up Herbert goes for comfort.) At three, he finds joy in an entrance-hall mirror, but his tantrums on being carried away result in his being exiled from the hall. Through life, he experiences a pleasurable but terrible "twinkling down the spine" when he catches himself in a mirror. Herbert never returns the affection of his "older brother" from the Home, though the two are business partners through life. He marries for money, is repelled by his wife, and resents through life the twin daughters she bears five years before her death. When they are 40, he arranges for one of the twins to live with and care for a newly widowed aunt; as it doesn't matter which one goes - he can't tell them apart anyway - the two switch off by the month between their aunt's house and their father's. In his later years Herbert has a few near-brushes with his twin, but is never aware of the other man's existence - not even when he kills him in a car accident on the day of his own death at 72. Babbitt alternates chapters in Herbert's life, from birth to death, with dry observations of his devoted 45-year-old daughters Babe and Louisa on those last days before his death liberates them to live together in drab contentment. It's an expertly turned artifact of a story, which is not to deny its human sympathy and penetrating edge. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Relates the history of a self-made man, his dreams, achievements, peculiarities, and his relationships with his twin daughters and others in the small circle of friends and relatives around him.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (J); 1st edition (November 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374329591
• ISBN-13: 978-0374329594
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,607,323 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #54 in

  Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( B ) > Babbitt, Natalie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ironic twin story should be renewed in print, February 25, 2001

By	dikybabe "admeyer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

While checking the shelving of our library's fiction pit, I came across this curious Babbitt title from 1982. Looking quite new and seldom read, I put it with the stack of other titles that I knew I must read. Thus I discovered the magically tragic little saga of orphaned twins, especially the one who would grow to self-made success despite the haunting background of leaving his other self behind. He, Herbert Rowbarge, is the unchosen twin for whom life seems quite bleak. And yet by ruthless self determination, he rises to power and wealth through a business world which, of all things, reaps riches from a fantasy world theme park. His is a determined and cold mien. He loses the love he really wants and takes a rich second best; he closes his heart to both his wife and twin daughters. He attempts to destroy those who reject him, as well as those who loyally serve him, as he controls the world that has offered him little warmth and comfort. He is respected and wealthy, and the recipient of his daughters' solicitude. No one seems to know his dark secrets. The twists that Babbitt employs in Herbert Rowbarge are certainly more adult than her children's titles, but typical of her style with its twist at the end. Reading Herbert Rowbarge is a curious trip with an unforgettable result. I'd like to see a renewed interest in this O.Henry like little tome. Good reading!

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will stick in your mind..., February 13, 2008

By	S. E. Torian "sarah_t" (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a 35-year old woman who read this book, I believe, when I was in the 6th grade. I have carried its powerful and moving story with me since then. The randomness of the choice which charts such divergent paths for the twin boys in this book and the impact of having a warm, nurturning and loving childhood have echoed in mind over the past 20 years. I honestly think that the underlying message in this book have played a significant role in who I am and what I do today. I can't offer a detailed review of this book right now because I have not read it since I was a child but, like Bridge to Teribithia, this is one book that I am extremely eager to digest again as an adult.