Young Harvey Cheyne, son of an American business goliath, never knew a day of poverty or hardship in his life. Raised by an overprotective mother and
absentee father, his pockets fairly bulging with his overgenerous allowance, he saw his future set before him on a gilded platter. While traveling to Europe
for a dose of Continental education, Harvey falls overboard into the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A cod-fisher snags him in his dory and brings him
back to the Gloucester schooner We're Here. Nobody believes his grandiose claims of wealthy parents waiting to receive him. Out here, he's just
another body on a vessel with no room for idlers. During the ensuing summer, the spoiled young Harvey learns more about people and life than he ever learned
any of his fancy schools.
Review
An object lesson in how to bore and alienate an audience, Captains Courageous wallows and drifts like a waterlogged dory. The narrative, thick with
sailing terms and thin on explanations, hardly cares whether or not the reader is intimately familiar with nautical lore. Likewise, the dialog demonstrates how
aggravating it is when an author writes exclusively in near-phonetic dialect; English itself becomes a foreign language when rolling off the tongues of New
England sailors. Things appeared to happen, as often as not without significantly affecting Harvey (his growth from spoiled brat to sure-footed sailor boy
happens largely by implication), but for the life of me half the time I couldn't figure out what, let alone why I should care. I came closer to giving up on
this story than I have in many a moon. Unfortunately, my persistence went unrewarded as I slogged through a boring, overlong ending which only confirmed the
racial, ethnic, and social stereotypes that ran rampant through the whole thing. (Normally, I cut older books more slack in this department, but I was
disgruntled enough at this point not to bother here.) Despite being a free-for-Kindle public domain download, I nevertheless walked away convinced I'd
overpaid.
This is a reprint of Kipling's classic tales of the Indian jungle. Included are: The Jungle Book: The boy Mowgli is raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, the black panther Bhageera, and the bear Baloo, after the great
tiger Shere Khan kills his father. Rikki-Tikki-Tav: A mongoose protects a British family from deadly cobras. The White Seal: A seal tries to save his fellows from hunters. Toomai of the Elephants: A young boy witnesses a never-before-seen marvel of elephant culture. Her Majesty's Servants: A man overhears the animals of the British army discussing their jobs.
Review
This is another book I'd always thought I should read but never got around to until now. The dialog is a bit thick with "thee"'s and "thy"'s, but beyond
that it's a fairly good book. Mowgli's tale and Rikki-Tikki were the best, followed by The White Seal. I didn't find much of a point to Toomai, and
the last tale seemed disjointed and over-talky. Admittedly, some of this is the result of me being a modern person looking back at the views and practices
of another time. For instance, catching and beating wild elephants (in Toomai and the Elephants) doesn't strike me as a particularly noble occupation,
but I'm looking at it during a time when both elephants and the Indian ecology teeter on the edge of extinction. No doubt Kipling's era saw an endless wildland
begging to be tamed. On the whole, however, Kipling's stories are well-paced and memorable, which is more than I can say of a few "classics" I've read. I found
it odd how Kipling seems to write with a sort of reverence for the Indian subcontinent's wildlife in some stories, then glorifies its destruction and English
rule in others. In his era, I suppose this didn't seem as contradictory as it does today, reflecting different idea of "reverence" from another era.
After Mowgli defeated the tiger Shere-Khan and fled the cruel and superstitious Man-village, he thought he could return to his old life, as a child of
the Seeonee wolf pack, hunt-brother of the panther Bagheera, and pupil of the bear Baloo. But the mark of Man is upon him, a poison in his blood, and even
as he rises to Master of the Jungle, his birthright calls to him. Mowgli's further adventures are interspersed with tales of Jungle lore and other short
stories and poems.
Review
To be honest, a good half a star was lost to the Public Domain version I found online; inexplicably, it cut out some of Kipling's work, most notably the
songs and Jungle law, with unhelpful bracketed summaries of the prose I'd hoped to read left in their stead. Unfortunately, the other two stars were lost
honestly. While lush with intricate descriptions and imaginative lore, the stories themselves drag and meander, mostly so Kipling could cram in yet more
descriptions and lore. I also found Mowgli to be a clueless, selfish little twerp more often than not; why Bagheera, Kaa, and the rest put up with him for so
long without gutting him, I cannot fathom. Once again, Kipling's works display a strange duality, being both a literate love song for the wonders of the Indian
wilderness and a not-so-subtle praise of English domination and destruction of said wilderness. In his time, perhaps, the two somehow melded into a unified
vision, but from my 21st-century American standpoint I can't see how, seeing the fallout of that occupation and mentality. In any event, this sequel hardly
seems necessary, though I don't doubt Kipling and his publishers profited well.
In a world where dirigibles are as common as carriages, where war itself has been rendered obsolete, take a memorable journey across the Atlantic with
a postal flight. Included with this tale are advertisements and articles from the contemporary periodical where it appeared.
Review
This one lost out on a solid Good by a proverbial gnat's wing. One of the first sci-fi stories that relied on immersion (dribbling bits of information through
the text) rather than infodumping (stopping the narrative dead in its tracks to explain itself to the reader), it feels surprisingly modern for such an inherently
dated story. Kipling obviously took his time, mapping out the technology and the future world of the story - even allowing for changed cultural attitudes on gender,
religion, and nationalities. The tech-intensive dirigibles would fit right in with today's steampunk resurgence. The articles and advertisements at the end add to
the milieu of his "future." Unfortunately, the main story itself (which only covers half of the book) lacks a point. It partially succeeds as a "slice of life"
glimpse into a blimp-dominated retro-future world, but the characters are too thin to care about and the technobabble gets a bit thick now and again. On the whole,
it's highly imaginative and well crafted.
(To be honest, I found myself thinking that With the Night Mail would make a great basis for a steampunk computer game; this is the kind of thing game makers
used to throw in with game manuals, back before a good, mood-setting game manual became a lost art in the industry. It's by a known author, it plays into a modern
trend, and it's public domain... come on, programmers! Make it happen!)
