TW

A tale with three stories

Revisado: 01-11-25

The story in the introduction about Brook Astor snubbing Cooper as a child then as a waiter established the uneven playing field of American society at the outset. This story, as Cooper suggests, is neither new nor unique. These same patterns of behavior are repeated in landed rural families today. I'd love to hear Cooper's perspectives on this considering he grew my in the circles that permitted him encounters with this class of American Royalty which, contrary to our fictional industry, would NEVER happen to a kid from Broadus, MT, Mobridge, SD, or Rugby, ND, growing up in working class families.

This is a well written story, but it reads a bit like a geneology, which is not a mark against the writers as much as the generational love for repeated names. In other words, I recommend this for folks who steadily attend to details. A brief distraction might leave you disoriented. I'm curious why Cooper chose the perspective to divide chapters rather than event. Would an event approach been easier to follow? Why or Why not? Was this layout the result of a volume-of-content-creation drive? I have no idea.

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Not A Religious Foretelling

Revisado: 04-11-23

This work is a product of its times and its writer. It contains concepts and moral lessons and cautions, to be sure, and can be enjoyed as a piece of distopian science fiction, but nothing more.

It is written in the classic literary style of the early 20th Century. At times, it waxes philosophical on subjects not readily known to non- catholics which tends to bog down the story.

There are many references to pre-Vatican II Catholic practices and prayers which seem more to showcase these than to reflect much on the story.

Despite the title, the story primarily theorizes how the Catholic Church might survive an adverse rise in socialism in politics and an atheistic culture, two noted concerns in the wake of the First World War. This is more the "antichrist" than Felsenburge, the human "antichrist". If anything, "The Lord of the World" could be either the "antichrist" or God. There was much more Benson could have done with this element, but he was a clergyman long before he was a novelist. Still, I give him credit as the story would make an excellent film. As a novel, it gets deep into weeds of religion and gets boring.

This novel will readily appeal to devotees of traditionalism as the hero is an early 20th Century priest, but I caution that this is not a prophetical book and should not be taken literally regarding world events.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

never skip original sources

Revisado: 06-29-21

The writing is a perfect example of it's era. In other words, it's long-winded, but it is a primary source which I needed to read for my own understanding. I encourage all Traditional Catholics to read this in addition to an overview of the Church Councils, the lecture series on Vatican II and The Reformation 500 years later. These have been the most helpful for me in my quest to understand the SSPX, SSPV and other Traditionalist diversions from the main Church and the truths behind everything.

As a critique, the reader mispronounced several words including anathema, Magisterium and most of the Latin. Otherwise, his pace and rhythm were good and his performance was pleasant.

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Can't Beat a Good Twain

Revisado: 01-27-17

Everyone knows Mark Twain, and by now they know well enough if they like him as a writer or not. So, I shall not say more than that this book is an excellent look into life of that Era, not just the area.

Norman Dietz reads very well and gives the listener the sense of one speaking from that time.

Overall, very enjoyable!

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Good Biography

Revisado: 12-15-16

I expected a bit more about the medical side, but this turned out to be a interesting exploration of how emergency services have worked in other times and places. It's also a good view of small-town life. However, and I'm not sure if this is cultural or not, the narration often relied on passive verbs which resulted in wordy sentences that tended to distract me from the story.
The narrator was vivid in her portrayal of the varied dialects and accents, but her reading often sounded stilted, repetitive in tone and sometimes inappropriate for the context besides being slow for the normal reading pace setting.

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Very Believable

Revisado: 12-04-16

Having grown up in small town Minnesota I found much of this story's setting believable. The small town politics in this story brought me back there with stark clarity, for better or worse, and made the story oddly enjoyable.
Scott Merriman did an excellent job of reading. He doesn't suffer from rote rhythm and portrayed a full array of characters and attitudes effectively, from compassionate to raw, without sounding awkward or unconvincing.
I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend this book for anyone looking for psychological thriller.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Wonderful story!

Revisado: 05-05-16

The first time I read "Monte Walsh" was in high school, and I believe many of the lessons taught in this book about character and camaraderie prepared me better for the real world than college ever could. Schaefer never fails to bring characters to life and his stories never fail to interest. Re-reading this book now with an additional decade of living behind me, it rings more true than before. Dove reads the story excellently and in a manner fitting the setting of the story, familiar and easy in tone, and allows the listener to imagine the scenes with ease. I will very likely listen to it again in the near future.

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Narrative much improved over the first book.

Revisado: 03-17-16

This is another great episode in the Odyssey One series. Currie keeps you guessing and has much more realistic science than the Star Trek universe.

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This is one of the best westerns ever written!

Revisado: 03-15-16

I first read this story in my early teens and have re-read it a couple of times since. Every time my understanding of the story grows and I love it even more.
I was worried that the narration might spoil the story as it was my first time listening to an audio recording of "Shane". I was not disappointed in the performance. The narration flowed easily and never once distracted me with awkward intonations. I will definitely be listening to it again.
If you've never read the story "Shane", and love westerns, I highly recommend you read the text or listen to this audio book. The movie, with all due respect to those involved with it, was an exceedingly poor portrayal of this very powerful story that captures the essence of all that is good in the genre.
Additionally, I recommend "Monte Walsh" also by Jack Schaefer and "The Virginian" by Owen Wister, both available in audio format through Audible.

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Not what I hoped for

Revisado: 02-12-16

The writer is well versed in procedure which lends extensive technical descriptions to the story. Overall, the story is dry and lacks a descriptive aspect mainly pertaining to the characters. It also fails to bring the reader onto the universe created in the story. The plot is intriguing however.

The reading is at times melodramatic and often off from what seems realistic and rarely varies in tone.

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