The Silver Horde

Ever read one of Jack London's adventure stories? Maybe you had to read Call of the Wild or something in school. If you did, you know a little about the image of Alaska, the final frontier, where the Old West ended up.

The Silver Horde,  by Rex Beach,  is one of those stories. A desperate man meets a charming, mysterious woman in a surprisingly civilized setting in one of the most remote places in Alaska. She offers him a chance to make his fortune...adventure, romance, danger, intrigue, a hint of sex...and the question of a happy ending.

I've never been a big fan of westerns. I've listened to (and enjoyed) one Zane Grey novel, a handful of romantic novels set in the great untamed territories and I've lived in a couple of formerly Old West-type communities. But I like a good adventure, and I like strong women characters.

Actually, the secondary characters in this book are, for me, rather more interesting than the hero. He's okay...driven, determined to reach his goal of wealth (and thereby the girl of his dreams) in spite of all obstacles, handsome, young, etc., etc.  But in spite of his good qualities, he's just a little bit...dumb, particularly in relationships. Also, one minor character seemed to promise interesting developments, but by the final third of the book, I no longer found him interesting)

Overall, though, the pace and the adventure, along with the supporting characters, kept me involved with the story. Even though I'd suspected the final twist since the beginning (hmmm, why haven't we heard more about this character? Could it be I'm not supposed to notice him/her until the end? Hmmm)

This one goes on the kitchen bookshelf. I'll probably read it again in a year or so.

Tomorrow will be Better

A whole bag of books for $5? Exactly what I wanted for Christmas, as my family knew (when your Christmas wish list says only "old books" it takes family to understand). So after opening a huge stack of books, I've got a lot of reading to do.

The first book I read was Tomorrow will be Better, by Betty Smith (Harper Brothers, 1948). Betty's the author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I read about a year ago and didn't have any desire to re-read. I thought maybe this book might be...well, better. I was mistaken.

I don't know exactly why, but the author seems to feel superior to her characters even as she tries to portray them with sympathy. Nobody in the Brooklyn neighborhoods she describes (with one exception--more later) seems able to escape the situations they're born into; no parents are able to let their children go; no marriages are happy unions of compatible people.

The exception? An Italian-American young man who persuades his girlfriend that since marriage seems out of the question for them (due to parental disapproval because of religious differences), and since they love each other, sleeping together is their best option (I don't know how they managed this with the frequency they seem to have done, actually. She lived with her dissaproving mother in a tiny flat and he lived with his parents. Automobiles and hotel rooms were not available to them). Of course, she becomes pregnant, they marry and move in with his indulgent parents, who love her and treat her with compassion and sensitivity. Oh, and the young man financially supports everyone by means of his very successful shoeshine business. This guy was, for some reason, considered to be a bad sort.

The heroine, thoughout the book, struggles to find her identity, and in the end, merely moves on. Sort of.

So out the book goes.