1359 pages. 1359 pages!!! I don’t know what the frak I was thinking when I took this book on. Or rather, I do know what I was thinking and now I have come around to believe that this was some kind of book fever insanity. After CBR7’s breakneck pace and 230 reviews, I took a break and thought about what I wanted to do with my CBR8. Last years’ accomplishment went way beyond my original plan to simply step out of my comfort zone and read new genres and new authors, then actually try to write about them. I felt like I could use this year to tackle so
me of the big books I passed over last year (and to be truthful, years before) for expediency’s sake. I may not look like it, but I am built for speed. Marathons have never interested me and I thought it was time to change that. Then I spied this two-and-a-half pound behemoth at the bookstore.
This book was serialized in the Journal des Debats from June of 1842 through October of 1843. Partly inspired by Eugene Francois Vidocq’s Memoirs and the Natty Bumppo adventures by James Fenimore Cooper, it pairs big ideas about social reform with good old fashioned sensationalism. The mysterious Rodolphe, who easily moves through all strata of society, slips into the Cite, that seething amalgamation of crime and abject poverty. He first encounters The Slasher and The Songbird, whom he ends up helping out of their horrific circumstances, while running afoul of the evil Schoolmaster and his accomplice, The Owl.And that’s just the beginning. As the story gallops on, we learn Rodolphe is actually a prince from some (fictitious) German kingdom and with the help of his loyal friend Murph and the doctor David, a former slave, he sets about bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots on a very personal level.
While the writing was indeed absorbing, I am afraid that I hit sensory overload on these characters and their circumsta
nces. (1359 pages!!!)I can certainly see that in serial form it would be satisfying, the tension maintained partly by the simple passage of time. Spending a lot of concentrated time in this world got a bit tiresome for me, undercutting the power of its ideas.
Still, I am glad I tackled this mighty tome, now in a new translation by Carolyn Betensky and Jonathan Loesberg for Penguin Classics. At the very least, it’s led me to order the new translation of Vidocq’s memoirs (for kindle at only .99!)
How funny — one of my goals this year is to tackle some of my bigger books, too. I listened to some long ones by audiobook last year (the Dark Tower series, primarily), but passed over a few long tomes on my shelf (Wolf Hall & its sequel, Telegraph Avenue and a Neal Stephenson novel that I’ve had forever but its size intimidates me). I have never had an issue reading long books (hello, Outlander and all my fav Stephen King novels), but I think I’ve been sticking in the under 400-500 pages realm for the last couple of years in order to keep my CBR total high. Y’all make me too competitive!
that IS funny. now I look forward to your loooong book reviews & recommendations & wonder who else out there will consider the challenge. go team CBR8!
I’m just glad the two of you are still Cannonballing.
Seconded. With years like you had for CBR7 no one would blame you for taking a break. But we’d miss you terribly.
Many thanks! You veterans are an inspiration to this newbie:^)
After 230 reviews, you aren’t a newbie anymore. :)
That’s a dauntingly huge number of pages for one book. I suspect the only book I’ve read that is bigger is The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander, book 5) and that nearly broke me on a re-read (not really because of the size, but because of the large amounts of boring). So glad you’re both still taking part, you were both such inspirations last year. After last year, with the two of you reading and reviewing such a scary number of books, I came to the concusion that I don’t have the time or focus to be hugely competitive anymore. I’ve been first to 52, 104 and 156 at least once and I’ve completed a triple Cannonball twice now.
This year, I’ve massively cut back on my reading challenges to (which gives me so much more freedom in deciding what to read that I can barely make up my mind – it’s very strange). I want to read some bigger books too, like Brandon Sanderson’s first two books in The Stormlight Archive. I know they’re both more than a thousand pages. I just hope I have the attention span for big books. In the last couple of years, I often find that I get restless when I read massive tomes, just wanting to move on to new worlds and new characters. It makes me sad, because I used to think that the bigger and longer the book, the better.
I seriously despaired of finishing with my sanity intact at times:^) Those of you who regularly read longer, involved works are a real inspiration. CHEERS to your endeavors this year!