Cork Boat

by John Pollack

The author, a former speechwriter for a Congressman and Clinton, quits his job to build a boat made out of 165,000-plus corks held together by rubber bands, which he then sails with friends down the Douro River in Portugal.  It sounds like a fairy tale, and it almost is, a heart-warming true fantasy story of childhood dreams and adult sacrifice and priorities and adventure.  Pollack is, of course, a gifted writer, adept at spinning a tale and interweaving personal reminisces, anecdotes and a few strands of history here and there.  But it’s Pollack's determination and optimism, though, that make this such a sweet tale.  After the descriptions of camaraderie, community, despair and dedication, I felt like cheering along as they pulled into Porto on the final day.

Thy Servant a Dog

by Rudyard Kipling

A novella composed of three long stories, as narrated by Boots, a terrier owned by an affluent British couple in the country.

In the first eponymous story, Boots tells how his master met and married a woman with another terrier named Slippers.  Written in fractured and limited English, the story is a series of the two dogs’ simple adventures, from nipping at cows to rolling in bad smells to welcoming the couple’s new baby.  And they meet Ravager, a hunting hound, who grows from a clumsy puppy to a strong, “dretful” pack leader, but remains their friend.

In “The Great Play Hunt,” Ravager, after being hit by a car and can no longer run with the pack, is given to the now older boy.  The three dogs stage a hunt for the boy’s benefit and pleasure with the collaboration of Tags, a lame, friendly fox.

In “Toby Dog,” they meet a trick dog owned by a cockney con artist; Toby helps the pensioned Ravager get some pride back through his trickery.  All wonderful, funny and heart-warming stories.  But Ravager gets sicker, strains himself, and dies; this would be bad enough, but the book just ends there, with Boots mourning his friend, miserable and not understanding why he will not “unsleep” and why they have put him in dirt like a bone.  A very bleak and abrupt ending to such a joyous series of tales; it made me upset.

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1925

This was "the authorized text,” with notes, preface and brief biography of the author by Matthew J. Bruccoli.  Nick Carraway narrates the story of James Gatz, a penniless young man of few prospects, who reinvents himself as wealthy James Gatsby in order to capture the heart of Daisy, the woman he loves.  Unfortunately, she is married to Tom, Nick’s cousin; and Nick has his own relationship problems with Jordan, Daisy’s friend.

It’s far more than a soap opera of the smart set, however, as the bare-bones plot synopsis might make it sound.  It’s an intricately plotted, meticulously written, introspective work on seeking the past and to what extent people can reinvent themselves.  It is also an ironic comment on the seedier side of the American dream, the substitution of flashy tawdriness for true greatness, the warping of opportunity into opportunism.  The prose is superb; Fitzgerald has fine-tuned the cadences of American English and written a symphony of words.  Gatsby is an immediately intriguing character, the sympathetic bootlegger and adulterer who seems to want, aside from Daisy, nothing more than to be understood, at least by Nick.

five stars

Flashman's Lady

by Gorge MacDonald Fraser

1977

Flashy — after, incidentally, pulling a hat trick on the three most celebrated cricketers of his time — accepts a "friendly" wager in a single-wicket match against Don Solomon, a half-breed Etonian socialite. The tie score results in he and Elspeth accompanying Solomon on a cruise to the Far East, where Solomon’s true colors are revealed, and he absconds with Elspeth. Flashman must fight, however unwillingly, to get her back — until they both end up in the hands of the bloodthirsty queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona I.

This is a fine entry in the series, possibly a little more heavy on the humor this time around than the adventure. The first half of the book is all cricket and social intrigue; a more thorough look at Madagascar might have been in order, tho' perhaps Fraser was dealing with limited intelligence on that subject. Another minor quibble: At the book’s opening, our hero is caught in a damned-if-he-does-damned-if-he-don’t trap that pushed him again into adventure (lose the cricket match and see Elspeth go on a cruise with Solomon, or win and be beaten by crooked bookies?). And, as in Flash for Freedom!, the dilemma that prompted him into action, when he returns (in that case, cheating at cards), is completely forgotten. I would have liked to see some closure in the matter of the threatening bookie, at least. All that aside, this is, of course, another witty, well-researched adventure. Bravo!  

five stars