Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.99 You Save: $12.00 (75%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.24 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Ship of Fools
Book Review: A Writer's Writer
Summary: 5 Stars
I stumbled across this by novel by accident only to discover that this must be one the 10 greatest works of fiction! While a darkish portrayal of the human condition, and man's inability to escape the pettiness of mankind, this is a very clever novel that entertains while thrusting more truth your way than you may be prepared to accept.Book Review: Closely Observed; A Superior Work
Summary: 5 Stars
Less a plot-driven novel than a closely observed portrait, Porter's famous novel deftly exploits the author's ability to focus on the telling details of personality--and the result is a sometimes funny, often touching, and ultimately stinging examination of the insularity, hypocrisies, and pretensions of shipboard passengers en route from Mexico to Germany on the eve of World War II.Porter's cast of characters are primarily German, but a handful of Spanish, Mexican, Swiss, and American characters give the novel an international perspective. Whatever their individual backgrounds, the characters tend to adopt reactionary postures toward and make assumptions about their fellow travelers based on both class and nationality; consequently, they tend to regard each other in a stereotypical light--but even as they fail to understand the truths behind the stereotypes, Porter highlights their lack of comprehension in a frequently comic but extremely disconcerting manner, thus demonstrating that her characters are at sea in more ways than one.
There is obviously a certain symbolism to the novel, but Porter does not belabor it, and we are free to decide if we wish to read for pure pleasure or for deeper meanings. Fortunately, there is an abundance of both. Still, this not a novel to read quickly or casually. It requires time to develop clearly in the mind, so readers are advised to approach it with ample time in which to enjoy this superior work.
Book Review: Good, but trundling.
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm an avid, dogged reader, and I plowed through Tolstoy's War and Peace at a quicker clip than I managed Porter's Ship of Fools. I love Porter's short stories--I cannot recommend more highly purchasing her collected fiction in paperback--but her talent doesn't translate as well into the long work. Unfortunately, I found the characters in this novel uninteresting, the lack of plot without much underlying substance somewhat tiresome, and the entire book as slowly moving as the ship these characters are traveling on from Mexico to Germany in the 1930s. The writing is good, the observations sharp, but I had trouble engaging with this book and, therefore, found myself reading other things before picking it back up. Ultimately, this is a good book by a good author, but it probably is not worth the effort required to trudge through it.Book Review: Learned Reading
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is more over based on the everyday lives of those who "thwart in human folly." Porter's style of writing is delicate and precise. If her style was a painting, it would be the Monalisa with all its graphics of language and detail.Book Review: Maybe it's just me...
Summary: 2 Stars
...but I abandoned ship halfway through. After enjoying the movie, and reading the great praise for author Porter, I assumed I'd enjoy diving into this good, long read. What I discovered was a rambling and excrutiating book...droning characterization page after page until I could no longer concentrate on the essentially non-existent plot.
I assume this is strictly for fans of Porter, who was a master at short story telling. She should have stuck to it. Anyone expecting a "Grand Hotel" or Maugham like saga will be sorely disappointed.
1 2