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rich71's review
3.0
This book receives quite a bit of vitriolic language about how it's the "worst book ever written" and other predictably trite rantings of those who have different expectations than the book satisfies. I began this book with an open mind and with an interest in the writing style of an author I hadn't read before. Although I freely admit the prose is a bit longwinded, it contains some eloquent passages among the numerous pithy and dry paragraphs (think Romantic Period of literature and nature writing). Descriptions run a bit long in some cases and the characters set off on lengthy soliloquies at the oddest of times, but the book simply isn't without merit. It's a fairly unique voice offered in the age of Manifest Destiny and bigoted attitudes towards Native Americans, the author commits quite a few of these himself, it must be admitted, but offers a generous view for its era.
Twain probably does more damage to Cooper's legacy than any other American author with his quick-witted and poignant critique of Cooper's style. His typically viperous tongue slashes to the bone while at the same time coaxing a smile from the reader. I am a huge Twain fan but to compare these two authors is folly. I would imagine Cooper never expected to be a gritty American author like Twain but most likely envied those like Emerson or Thoreau. It can be debated whether he successfully accomplished this aim, but to cast this book unfairly into the bonfire as so much kindling is unfair. It is clearly not the best example of American writing of the era, but clearly it isn't the worst either. It's a modestly enjoyable book with moral lessons for the era, which I believe makes it a limited success.
Twain probably does more damage to Cooper's legacy than any other American author with his quick-witted and poignant critique of Cooper's style. His typically viperous tongue slashes to the bone while at the same time coaxing a smile from the reader. I am a huge Twain fan but to compare these two authors is folly. I would imagine Cooper never expected to be a gritty American author like Twain but most likely envied those like Emerson or Thoreau. It can be debated whether he successfully accomplished this aim, but to cast this book unfairly into the bonfire as so much kindling is unfair. It is clearly not the best example of American writing of the era, but clearly it isn't the worst either. It's a modestly enjoyable book with moral lessons for the era, which I believe makes it a limited success.
kellyrenea's review
4.0
Beautiful story, although I can’t help but feel this story is romanticized in the interactions between the English men and the Huron and Iroquois.
The main thing I disliked in this novel is the jumping into an omniscient narrator. This is distracting and pulls the reader from the story.
The main thing I disliked in this novel is the jumping into an omniscient narrator. This is distracting and pulls the reader from the story.
jdintr's review against another edition
I actually liked this book better than Last of the Mohicans. Subtitled, "The First War-Path," it covers the rise of Natty Bumppo--named "Deerslayer" by his Delaware friends--to manhood. He takes his first life, but like a respectful, Christian man, he foregoes the scalp of his victim, who renames him "Hawkeye" with his dying breath. There is a love interest, a vivid embrace of Romanticism, and Nature above all else.
I'm planning a trip to upstate New York, and this book has sealed the need to see Cooperstown and Lake Otsego, where "The Deerslayer" is set. I have gone so far as to look it up on Google Earth. I can find the sunken island where the Castle set, the point where much of the action took place. It's all there, and I can't wait to see it for myself.
One more point about the book, the female characters are marginally better than LOTM. Judith, the love interest, is pretty well drawn, although her sister seems to remind people on every page that she is halfwitted--as if Cooper just wasn't a good enough writer to let us figure that out for ourselves.
Don't read this for the characterization, unless you're trying to frame Natty Bumppo as a Romantic hero. Read it for the adventure, the setting, the taste of American wilderness that existed long, long ago.
I'm planning a trip to upstate New York, and this book has sealed the need to see Cooperstown and Lake Otsego, where "The Deerslayer" is set. I have gone so far as to look it up on Google Earth. I can find the sunken island where the Castle set, the point where much of the action took place. It's all there, and I can't wait to see it for myself.
One more point about the book, the female characters are marginally better than LOTM. Judith, the love interest, is pretty well drawn, although her sister seems to remind people on every page that she is halfwitted--as if Cooper just wasn't a good enough writer to let us figure that out for ourselves.
Don't read this for the characterization, unless you're trying to frame Natty Bumppo as a Romantic hero. Read it for the adventure, the setting, the taste of American wilderness that existed long, long ago.
dblainev's review against another edition
2.0
Thanks, JFC, for making an adventure tale preachy and boring.
maxfetter's review against another edition
1.0
What could have been a fun little adventure story was made insufferable through utter lack of character development and trite moral/religious concepts. I despise Cooper's boring, robotic droning. There's almost no evidence that he had any fun writing this, which I had planned as a preliminary to reading The Last of the Mohicans... but forget that. It feels good to say "I'll just watch the movie" with a clean conscience.
mysteriousbibliophile's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
pussreboots's review against another edition
2.0
Back in December I had fun reading Mark Twain's infamous review of Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. Before Christmas when I had some time off from work we bought a copy to see if the book is as bad as the essay would imply. The short answer is yes and no. It was bad enough that I gave up on reading it seriously at about page 150, but did skim to the end
Twain cites an abuse of language, a lack of plot and impossible action scenes for his reason for hating the book. Yes; Cooper's use of language is sloppy but I've read worse. His action scenes (when there are any) are ridiculous (but no more so than Clive Cussler or Dan Brown at their worst). The plot though, that's where the book falls apart. The scenes jump for setting to setting and action scene to action scene without segue, explanation or motivation. While memorable scenes stuck with me I had a hard time following how they were all sewn together into a coherent story.
Another problem I had with the book was in the dialogue. As Twain notes in his review, no character has a consistent voice. Sometimes they are eloquent and sometimes they are speaking a backwoods dialect. There is no rhyme nor reason to how or when characters speak the way they do.
One of the things the characters spend a lot of time debating (as they are running from the Indians) are the various merits of the different races and the differences of men and women. These arguments seem to be set up to show Deerslayer (Natty Bumpo) as a progressive character compared to Hurry Harry (Henry March) but these scenes are excessive and get in the way of the real plot (the war with Indians). Then there is the domestic story of the man and his daughters who need protection in the middle of the hostilities. Ultimately the book ends with this plot ending poorly and it was the book's concentration on this rather dull plot that convinced me to stop reading.
Twain cites an abuse of language, a lack of plot and impossible action scenes for his reason for hating the book. Yes; Cooper's use of language is sloppy but I've read worse. His action scenes (when there are any) are ridiculous (but no more so than Clive Cussler or Dan Brown at their worst). The plot though, that's where the book falls apart. The scenes jump for setting to setting and action scene to action scene without segue, explanation or motivation. While memorable scenes stuck with me I had a hard time following how they were all sewn together into a coherent story.
Another problem I had with the book was in the dialogue. As Twain notes in his review, no character has a consistent voice. Sometimes they are eloquent and sometimes they are speaking a backwoods dialect. There is no rhyme nor reason to how or when characters speak the way they do.
One of the things the characters spend a lot of time debating (as they are running from the Indians) are the various merits of the different races and the differences of men and women. These arguments seem to be set up to show Deerslayer (Natty Bumpo) as a progressive character compared to Hurry Harry (Henry March) but these scenes are excessive and get in the way of the real plot (the war with Indians). Then there is the domestic story of the man and his daughters who need protection in the middle of the hostilities. Ultimately the book ends with this plot ending poorly and it was the book's concentration on this rather dull plot that convinced me to stop reading.
tapsandtomes's review against another edition
2.0
https://ilayreading.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/the-deerslayer/
elisabeth's review against another edition
1.0
So boring and so long.........
I hate how I can't give it zero stars
I hate how I can't give it zero stars