With Fire and Sword

So ... erm ... in the war of recommendations, this book was added because I'm friends with Richard but it was Jacob's review that added the final clinch. See thread below.

This book, and all this authors books (I've read about 4000 pages of this guy so far, but I still can't spell his name) are terrific reads. This one is the first of a set that it probably unique in the worlds' literature, i.e. a four volume trilogy! (Hint, volume 2 has two volumes). I wish it was in more volumes because the books would be easier to handle, they are huge. Anyway, now that the important stuff is out of the way, I find a guilty pleasure in reading these books. Tremendous scope, epic painterly depictions of huge scenes, an impressive list of recognizable, unique and colorful characters. Plus he has a great sense of humour and I laughed out loud at the jokes many time. On the other hand, corny plot lines, one dimensional women of only two tppes: saint and sinner. And one can never quite get a grip on what the authors attitude is towards the values of the period he is depicting: brutal ignorance ruled by superstition chivalry, vicious nationalism, hatred of the "lower classes". Can't help thinking he actually likes this stuff. It's easy to see why his work was not promoted during Poland's communist leadership period. I think that someone reading these books should read Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court immediately after to get a healthier view of the reality of feudalism. But I can't stop reading. Forward Husaria!

So I saw the movie to this a few years ago with some of you folks out there. Its like the Polish version of the Three Musketeers (except of course, there are four of them. Three Poles and a Lithuianian. It is a BIG book. About 1200 pages, of small print, so it took a while to read...and then there was having to learn Polish....
Ok, so I didn't read it in Polish. This is so far the best book I have read this year, I doubt I'll read it again anytime soon, because its quite a commitment (and there are two sequels).
The characters themselves are not especially deep, and the author seems to believe that all military action is solved by the cavalry (rather than the infantry, as it actually is). Despite this, it was a wonderful look into a bit of Polish history that I knew very little about (how many of you people knew there was a Polish Civil War?). They don't merely hang malefactors, they impale them. There just isn't enough impalement in modern literature. And the savage desolation that he writes on the country and the ghastly (consider the source here...I'm essentially immune to human suffering, so when I say ghastly, I mean ghastly) things that occur during the sieges, is stunning. The orchard of fruit trees heavy with the corpses of hanged Jewish children made me read it over a few times to make sure he'd written people that were actually capable of that. That scene didn't make it into the movie, and I think I'm ok with that. ( )

With Fire and Sword takes place in 17th Century Poland, and it chronicles the war between the Cossacks and the Polish gentry, from the perspective of the people involved. Once again, I'm reminded that this is an immeasurably more interesting way to view history than rote memorization of names and dates, and I wish I could go thump all my history teachers over the head with this big fat book.

It's mostly about Pan Yan something-or-other (the names gave me fits), a distinguished young lieutenant in the service of Prince Yeremi (or Yarema--I never did figure out the difference--I'm guessing one is the familiar form?). He's returning from a mission, when he sees a man who's been attacked and nearly killed, so he rescues him. The man turns out to be Hmyel...whatsis, whose feud with his neighbor is what starts the Cossack rebellion.

Pan Yan meets a young woman and falls in love, but her family has promised her to Bohun, of whom she's afraid. Much of the book concerns Pan Yan and his friends' attempts to rescue her and get her back together with Pan Yan, with an extremely brutal war in the way. Pan Yan is a romantic hero, a knight in shining armor, full of honor, devotion to duty, and devotion to his lady.

His friends are fascinating and entertaining characters. There's his squire, Zjendjan, who's a tricky young man, always out to make a profit, but nonetheless absolutely loyal. There's the giant Podbipyenta, who's vowed to remain celibate until he can best his ancestor's record and chop off three heads with one stroke. There's the diminutive Michal who's a master swordsman. And there's Zagloba, fat, older, prone to extreme exaggeration, a drama queen, who's a reluctant hero.

The Prince, Bohun, the rebel leader, and the government officials are more minor characters, but like the main characters, they're made real, and their motivations and doubts and emotions are all clearly drawn.

The story goes from one hair-raising situation to the next, and just when it looks as if things will be okay after all, something even worse happens. I think I read, either in the foreword, or in my research when choosing this book, that it was initially serialized in a newspaper. If it wasn't, it should have been, because that's how it reads. I could easily imagine reading one of the segments and then anxiously waiting for the next edition so I could find out what happened next.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by how entertaining and readable it was, by how engrossed I became in the story, and by the fact that I wasn't tempted to put it down and read something else, even though it took me the better part of a week to read it.

So, why only 4 stars? It's purely for the enjoyment factor. I did enjoy it, but it's not something I'll ever read again, and not even something I feel enriched by. I didn't finish it thinking "what a great book!" I'm not a student of history, or of eastern Europe, so the fact that it's written from apparently the wrong side of that conflict completely escaped me (until I read the reviews that pointed it out, of course).

I'm glad I read it, and I'll remember the characters, but I doubt I'll look for the other two books in the trilogy, or by Sienkiewicz's other works. ( )

Tremendously entertaining and memorable historical novel about the struggle the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth undertook to maintain its integrity in the face of Tartar and Cossack rampage! ( )