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This is the first of Roy Chapman Andrews' books I have read. This one documents his "Second Asiatic Expedition" 1918-1920 in Mongolia and Northern China.
As the blurb says, the book is written entirely from the sportsman's standpoint and has purposely avoided scientific details which would prove uninteresting or wearisome to the general public.
Andrews makes his way through the narrative with various companions, including his wife who gets credit for the many very good photographs in the book, and towards the end it breaks into chapters of which each is a separate outing, with a range of companions.
Making use of of various modes of transport, including cars, horses and walking and seldom with out a rifle in hand, Andrews collects mammal specimens for the American Museum of Natural History (of which he is the associate curator). While the needs of the museum dictate the animals 'collected' it is obvious that Andrews is also a keen hunter, and along with his companions they take most opportunities to bag their prey. Many of the villages eat well after their outings!
The irony of his suggestion that ...because of unceasing native persecution, lack of protection, the continued destruction of forests and the ever increasing facilities for transportation to the remote districts of the interior, many of China's most interesting and important forms of wild life are doomed to extermination in the very near future... is not lost on the modern reader.
Among those animals collected in the general narrative are antelope, bustards, geese, cranes, gophers, wolves, marmots, wapiti, various deer species (including roebuck and sika, muskdeer) and wild pigs.
At the end there are separate chapters on the great ram of Shanxi, the Mongolian "Argali," the horse-deer of Shanxi, the Wapiti, Roebuck and Goral, wild pigs, and the hunting parks of the eastern tombs.
Within the middle of the book Andrews describes village life in Urga (now Ulan Baatar), including descriptions of Mongolian men and women, their lifestyle and beliefs, lama's and religion.
Other than details of the animal species they were hunting, this book provided an insight into the variety of landscape in Mongolia. Despite having spent 4 weeks in Mongolia myself, I still think of Mongolia as the Gobi Desert, of desert and desert scenery. Andrews visits other parts of Mongolia which are forested and valleys carpeted with flowers, rivers and swamps.
3.5 stars.
This is the first of Roy Chapman Andrews' books I have read. This one documents his "Second Asiatic Expedition" 1918-1920 in Mongolia and Northern China.
As the blurb says, the book is written entirely from the sportsman's standpoint and has purposely avoided scientific details which would prove uninteresting or wearisome to the general public.
Andrews makes his way through the narrative with various companions, including his wife who gets credit for the many very good photographs in the book, and towards the end it breaks into chapters of which each is a separate outing, with a range of companions.
Making use of of various modes of transport, including cars, horses and walking and seldom with out a rifle in hand, Andrews collects mammal specimens for the American Museum of Natural History (of which he is the associate curator). While the needs of the museum dictate the animals 'collected' it is obvious that Andrews is also a keen hunter, and along with his companions they take most opportunities to bag their prey. Many of the villages eat well after their outings!
The irony of his suggestion that ...because of unceasing native persecution, lack of protection, the continued destruction of forests and the ever increasing facilities for transportation to the remote districts of the interior, many of China's most interesting and important forms of wild life are doomed to extermination in the very near future... is not lost on the modern reader.
Among those animals collected in the general narrative are antelope, bustards, geese, cranes, gophers, wolves, marmots, wapiti, various deer species (including roebuck and sika, muskdeer) and wild pigs.
At the end there are separate chapters on the great ram of Shanxi, the Mongolian "Argali," the horse-deer of Shanxi, the Wapiti, Roebuck and Goral, wild pigs, and the hunting parks of the eastern tombs.
Within the middle of the book Andrews describes village life in Urga (now Ulan Baatar), including descriptions of Mongolian men and women, their lifestyle and beliefs, lama's and religion.
Other than details of the animal species they were hunting, this book provided an insight into the variety of landscape in Mongolia. Despite having spent 4 weeks in Mongolia myself, I still think of Mongolia as the Gobi Desert, of desert and desert scenery. Andrews visits other parts of Mongolia which are forested and valleys carpeted with flowers, rivers and swamps.
3.5 stars.
My lack of research before I bought this book has come back to bite me. I didn't enjoy this book, and had I understood its premise I would not have bought it... so let me explain...
This is the GR blurb: It is 1912, the age of Antarctic exploration. Scott's journey has ended. Mawson's is just beginning. This book transports us to the last days of those expeditions in the white continent. Sweeping through deaths and disasters, this book lays bare the forces that drove these explorers.
The back of the book however says: It is 1912, the age of Antarctic exploration. Scott's journey has ended. Mawson's is just beginning. Adrian Caesar's stunning stroke of imaginative re-creation transports us to the last days of those perilous expeditions in the heart of the white continent.
And so, there is my problem "imaginative re-creation". In other words this author is fictionalising the known facts and filling in his own gaps.
So both RF Scott and Douglas Mawson were carrying out Antarctic expeditions over the period of 1911 to 1913, independently of each other, although they did have history together. Scott was racing to be first to reach the pole, against yet another expedition - led by Amundsen the Norwegian. Mawson was on an Australian expedition exploring the Antarctic coast closest to Australia.
This book concentrates on the end of both Scott and Mawson's journeys. In each case he has diaries of the men on the expeditions and in Mawson's case various information released after his return - Scott of course dies (not a spoiler to most I expect!).
I found it ironic that Caesar mentions more than once that when carrying out his research at the libraries where the archives of the respective explorers are held, the staff at Scott's said the hoped it wasn't another hatchet-job, and the staff at Mawson's said they hoped it wasn't another hagiography... because that was exactly how this book read.
Nothing about Scott was very upbeat and Caesar was critical of everything. For Mawson it was more that events conspired against his planning. I didn't find the writing very even-handed. But worse that this, there was far too much speculation in this for me - speculation about conversations with the other men, speculation about things the mend did and things they thought. There were even several examples of where the author outlined a dream these men had and what it meant...
This type of speculation just does not appeal to me, and I really should not have started reading this book, let alone finished it... so really my fault...
2 stars
My lack of research before I bought this book has come back to bite me. I didn't enjoy this book, and had I understood its premise I would not have bought it... so let me explain...
This is the GR blurb: It is 1912, the age of Antarctic exploration. Scott's journey has ended. Mawson's is just beginning. This book transports us to the last days of those expeditions in the white continent. Sweeping through deaths and disasters, this book lays bare the forces that drove these explorers.
The back of the book however says: It is 1912, the age of Antarctic exploration. Scott's journey has ended. Mawson's is just beginning. Adrian Caesar's stunning stroke of imaginative re-creation transports us to the last days of those perilous expeditions in the heart of the white continent.
And so, there is my problem "imaginative re-creation". In other words this author is fictionalising the known facts and filling in his own gaps.
So both RF Scott and Douglas Mawson were carrying out Antarctic expeditions over the period of 1911 to 1913, independently of each other, although they did have history together. Scott was racing to be first to reach the pole, against yet another expedition - led by Amundsen the Norwegian. Mawson was on an Australian expedition exploring the Antarctic coast closest to Australia.
This book concentrates on the end of both Scott and Mawson's journeys. In each case he has diaries of the men on the expeditions and in Mawson's case various information released after his return - Scott of course dies (not a spoiler to most I expect!).
I found it ironic that Caesar mentions more than once that when carrying out his research at the libraries where the archives of the respective explorers are held, the staff at Scott's said the hoped it wasn't another hatchet-job, and the staff at Mawson's said they hoped it wasn't another hagiography... because that was exactly how this book read.
Nothing about Scott was very upbeat and Caesar was critical of everything. For Mawson it was more that events conspired against his planning. I didn't find the writing very even-handed. But worse that this, there was far too much speculation in this for me - speculation about conversations with the other men, speculation about things the mend did and things they thought. There were even several examples of where the author outlined a dream these men had and what it meant...
This type of speculation just does not appeal to me, and I really should not have started reading this book, let alone finished it... so really my fault...
2 stars
Hard book to review (and rate) this one. I sought it out when the second in his "empire series" was recommended to me (The Siege of Krishnapur), and typically for me, I needed to start with book one.
This book is set from 1919 to 1921, in the fictional town of Kilnalough in Ireland, in and around the fading glory of the Majestic Hotel. The protagonist is Brendan Archer, former British officer, and supposed fiancé to Angela Spencer, the eldest daughter of the hotels owner, Edward Spenser, and aging Anglo-Irish Tory. Archer, referred to almost exclusively in the novel as 'the Major', is making a visit to Angela, who he met when on leave in Brighton during the war - he has no recollection of proposing to her, but her weekly letters while he was in service were all signed off as his fiancé! Through her letters, the Major knows much of the background to the hotel, its guest and Angela's family.
This is a pretty difficult book to assess, published in 1970, it is essentially historical fiction. It revolves around the Major's relationship with Angela , but it can't be judged a romance. Political satire, with its symbolism (more below)? A Fawlty Towers-like comedy in the crumbling hotel, with forgetful old ladies, Spencer's dogs and the rougue cats? There is also the Irish Situation always bubbling in the background - the Easter Rising having taken place in 1916, where the Irish rebelled against British Rule before being suppressed. Now events were moving back in the favour of the Irish, and as we know British rule in Ireland ended in December 1921 - but this is more of a background to the story. There is a bit of everything mentioned, all wrapped up in this book.
For large sections of the book, to story moves slowly - glacially you might even say. It is more a catalogue of existence within the hotel that a narrative that moves the story forward - likely intentional, as it exhibits the uncertainty the Major feels in his relationship.
There are metaphors or symbolism evident in this novel - I am usually not good at figuring these out, but as other reviewers have outlined - the dilapidated hotel (The Majestic!) represents the fading British Empire - literally falling apart, and the parallels with the narrative interrupted by reportage articles on the unrest in Ireland, India and South Africa. The upper floor of the hotel has been overtaken by ginger (orange) cats with green eyes - the Republicans? One of the cats which attacks an old lady is brutally put down, as the Irish resistance is dealt with by the British.
There is much to consider in this 450 pages, and much more to the plot than I have outlined here.
I enjoyed reading this, but would not be satisfied with the pace if I read another novel this slow in the next 10 or 15 books!
4 stars
Hard book to review (and rate) this one. I sought it out when the second in his "empire series" was recommended to me (The Siege of Krishnapur), and typically for me, I needed to start with book one.
This book is set from 1919 to 1921, in the fictional town of Kilnalough in Ireland, in and around the fading glory of the Majestic Hotel. The protagonist is Brendan Archer, former British officer, and supposed fiancé to Angela Spencer, the eldest daughter of the hotels owner, Edward Spenser, and aging Anglo-Irish Tory. Archer, referred to almost exclusively in the novel as 'the Major', is making a visit to Angela, who he met when on leave in Brighton during the war - he has no recollection of proposing to her, but her weekly letters while he was in service were all signed off as his fiancé! Through her letters, the Major knows much of the background to the hotel, its guest and Angela's family.
This is a pretty difficult book to assess, published in 1970, it is essentially historical fiction. It revolves around the Major's relationship with Angela , but it can't be judged a romance. Political satire, with its symbolism (more below)? A Fawlty Towers-like comedy in the crumbling hotel, with forgetful old ladies, Spencer's dogs and the rougue cats? There is also the Irish Situation always bubbling in the background - the Easter Rising having taken place in 1916, where the Irish rebelled against British Rule before being suppressed. Now events were moving back in the favour of the Irish, and as we know British rule in Ireland ended in December 1921 - but this is more of a background to the story. There is a bit of everything mentioned, all wrapped up in this book.
For large sections of the book, to story moves slowly - glacially you might even say. It is more a catalogue of existence within the hotel that a narrative that moves the story forward - likely intentional, as it exhibits the uncertainty the Major feels in his relationship.
There are metaphors or symbolism evident in this novel - I am usually not good at figuring these out, but as other reviewers have outlined - the dilapidated hotel (The Majestic!) represents the fading British Empire - literally falling apart, and the parallels with the narrative interrupted by reportage articles on the unrest in Ireland, India and South Africa. The upper floor of the hotel has been overtaken by ginger (orange) cats with green eyes - the Republicans? One of the cats which attacks an old lady is brutally put down, as the Irish resistance is dealt with by the British.
There is much to consider in this 450 pages, and much more to the plot than I have outlined here.
I enjoyed reading this, but would not be satisfied with the pace if I read another novel this slow in the next 10 or 15 books!
4 stars
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