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Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution

by Jerome Charyn

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1697159,918 (3.17)2
This comic masterpiece reimagines the American Revolution with a one-eyed spy, a heroic whorehouse madam, and a cunning George Washington.
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Adult fiction; historical. Charyn gives an amusing account of what might have been the seedy underbelly of the American Revolution. He gives personality to G. Washington and other historical figues and invents others--prostitutes who become spies and freedmen who become heroes during that time of great change in US history. ( )
  reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 |
"Where should I begin my unremarkable life?"~Johnny One-Eye

Johnny One-Eye proclaims to have led an unremarkable life.

Don't believe it.

Born John Stocking, age uncertain, as is his sire; son of Gert, madame of Queen's Yard, and raised with her nuns; King's College educated and former classmate of 'Ham' Alec Hamilton; lost an eye serving under Benedict Arnold; employed and threatened by patriots and redcoats alike; a scribbler, a pirate, an innkeeper, prisoner, changeling, divil---and "a man who hid beneath a madrigal of words."

"Are you soldier or civilian?" the general asked John when they first meet. John is bound and with a rifle against his side, caught in the act of adding a purgative to the general's soup.

"Both. I'm a secret agent," Johnny quips.

Major Treat, Washington's chief of intelligence, calls Johnny a frog "who leaps back and forth between the royals and us." Which makes him a brilliant character to bring readers behind the scenes, patriot and British.

Johnny is buffeted by the shifting tides of war, depending on which army is in control of New York. He is only loyal to the people he loves.

John loves the king for his education at King's College. He loves Benedict Arnold, even after his acts of treason. He loves Gert. He loves George Washington who finds solace with his beloved red-haired Gert--and in games vingt-et-un at Queen's Yard. And sometimes he finds solace with Johnny, a tenuous connection to Gert.

Most of all, Johnny loves Clara, a foundling octoroon who is more than a nun for hire, even more than an Aristotle-reading uncommon beauty. Imperious and defiant, Clara dominates unforgettable scenes, including ministering to the African soldiers abandoned by the British after the battle of Yorktown.

Charyn's war novel takes readers through history in the style of the 18th c novels with stories adventurous and bawdy, panoramic in scope. Yes, it is "rollicking" and "picaresque" as the cover contends. Perhaps it is this time of Covid-19, but I also felt the hangman's noose and cold rifle against my ribs, the losses and the desperation.

***

Like so many civilians caught up in times of war, Johnny serves at the pleasure of those in power. He is surrounded by men desperate to gain advantage over the enemy. Everyone can be forced to become a spy--an orphan boy, a desperate widow, an octoroon whore.

I think of my own ancestor conscripted into the Confederate militia although he came from pacifist Swiss Brethren who did not believe in oaths to the state. Or my German nationalist Baptist great-grandfather who left Russia to escape serving in the czar's army. The winds of war drove my husband's Palatine ancestors to leave their once verdant homeland, some to England and America, and some to Poland then Russia and finally to America. My ancestor's grave marks him a Revolutionary War veteran, but he was conscripted. We little people are nothing but chaff buffeted by the wind.

Our true stories are about who we love.

***

This 'tale of the American Revolution' includes all the history I have read, Benedict Arnold despised as a traitor by patriots and loyalists alike, John Andre and Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton and Peggy Shippen and the British generals and admirals appear.

As do the major moments.

George Washington, his leadership threatened, shocks and softens the hearts of men when he dons his spectacles and admits, "I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind..."

I get a lump in my throat. He was not perfect. But he did forgo personal power for an idea--a country ruled by the people and not a monarchy. A republic, if we can keep it.

"But this war cannot go on forever. One side will win," Johnny says to Mrs. Loring, 'war wife' of General Howe of the redcoats. She responds, "I am not so certain. Both sides might also lose." Johnny considers that perhaps both sides had already lost, "with killing and plunder as a permanent language."

George Washington won the war and a nation was born. At the end of the novel he is lionized, his errors overlooked. But he is a ghost after seven years of war, wandering his farm, peacetime "but a sweet deception."

Johnny survives the hurricane. He gains the reward of true love. It is all any of us really want in this life. Survive the battle anyway we can and cleave to those we love. ( )
  nancyadair | Apr 2, 2020 |
John Stocking, aka Johnny One-Eye is an enigmatic character. Is he a loyalist or a rebel? Is he for the British or for America? Is he George Washington's son or not? None of these questions really get answered, but that's not really a problem in this novel. Charyn succeeds in bringing across the precarious nature of America during the Revolutionary War. The ins and outs of British occupied Manhattan are quite confusing. I found myself scratching my head several times wondering who was on whose side. We are introduced to famous characters such as George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Alexander Hamilton and we are exposed to their characters and personalities from the point of view of Johnny One-Eye. Does his one eye give him a skewed view of the world? Sometimes it would seem so. Was George Washington hopelessly in love with a woman who would become a madam? Possibly true. Did Benedict Arnold turn traitor because his beautiful wife was intelligent and a British spy? That would seem true as well. All of these intrigues are portrayed nicely in the book and although they may not be altogether factual, one can't help but believe in their plausibility. I will warn you, this may not be a book to read if you have no interest in history. As a history buff myself, I found the book to be a refreshing look at the Revolutionary War.
( )
  TheTrueBookAddict | Mar 22, 2020 |
Article first published as Book Review:Johnny One-Eye by Jerome Charyn on Blogcritics.

In the early years of America, a ragged group of volunteers, led by George Washington, dealt with the American Revolution and fighting for freedom. Many of them began as farmers, and yet become a part of history and recorded as heroes. Many of these men became the forefathers of our nation and are the very reason and beginning of our independence.

In Johnny One-Eye, Jerome Charyn has used history and rumors of the time, to build a story of heroes, a tale of love and revenge, and of the difficulties and possibilities of the revolution. He has used actual events and characters in history and peopled it with imaginary characters and events of his own.

Drawing from dark times of revolution, Charyn has given us a novel set during the eight years of the revolution, a gritty and difficult time. He uses Johnny as a character and narrator, which ads a different and unique take on the times. Johnny is a young man raised in a whorehouse and a double agent as many were during those times. He first comes to our attention when caught trying to poison Washington’s soup. Johnny is relatively educated and often works as a scribe, and it is during one of these missions, scribing for Benedict Arnold that he loses his eye.

Johnny seems to lead a charmed life, getting in and out of danger while balancing his confusion and concerns about the war. He loves his king, and yet now that he knows him and understands him a bit better, he is drawn to George Washington. There are also the rumors that he may be the illegitimate son of George Washington, a rumor that seems to keep him alive. Both sides have a bit of a soft spot for him, and yet there are those too that want him dead. He is in love what Clara an octoroon whore whom he grew up with and it is obvious to all in the know that the Madame is his mother. This all plays a part in this story and his mother is set as the other woman in Washington’s life.

Through the difficulties and avenues traveled by Johnny, we learn of many of the characters of the time of the revolution, notables such as Hamilton, Arnold, General Clinton, King George III and Washington himself. Set mainly in Manhattan and surrounding areas we read of the skirmishes and problems encountered by Washington and his crew. We learn about the courageous African stevedores and slaves that lay their lives on the line to help make this a new country free from England’s control. Full of both darkness and lightness, it is also full of real history and information as well as riddled with fiction.

Charyn has taken us to a time in history, when America was just becoming a new nation. His descriptions of the times and events both real and imagined, take you inside of the pain and anguish of the characters involved. You feel as though you are there, the descriptions of the winter scenes with Washington and his men such when they left bloodied trails because of lack of money for warmer clothing and shoes, left a lasting impression on me. While I read much of this same information during history classes in school, it was dryer and less real. Charyn makes it real, you can feel their pain and also feel their love and adoration of their leader. It is what keeps them fighting in the harshest and worst of conditions.

Johnny One-Eye is an engaging character that creates more of a story, and gives us an opportunity to see the unfolding of our history from a different and unique perspective. His involvement with both the women of the whorehouse as well as his own bits of intrigue keep it interesting, giving us both a more in-depth look at reality, and offering us a different perspective of events.

Jerome Charyn brings us wonderful fictional characters and weaves them into actual events in history, setting encounters with actual historical figures, which creates an interesting fictional history that reads like reality. Often truth is stranger than fiction, and while the added characters come from imagination, the truth of the times only adds a darker more sinister cast. The character of Johnny adds a bit of humor to a story that could be quite daunting.

If you love historical fiction, you will enjoy Johnny One-Eye. It is riddled with the actual events in history and is a different and more mercurial look at history. It is a view as evidenced by a young man, in the middle of a time of turmoil. This would be a great book for a reading group or book club.

This book was received free through Tribute Books. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material. ( )
  wrighton-time | Jun 19, 2011 |
Recently I've been in a historical fiction binge, that is why when I received the email to participate in the blog tour of Johnny One-Eye I sign up immediately. I should preface this review with a confession, I am not familiar with N. American history beyond two courses I took while doing my bachelor's degree (long story short I only live in the US now when I go to university), so to me this was a novel concept to explore when it comes to historical fiction. This is why unless I recognized the name directly from my US History course, I did not know which were fictional characters or not until the author's note at the end of the book.

Unlike say 99.99% of the historical fiction I've read this book is centered around a male protagonist. Scandalous! But incredibly refreshing. The narrator is John Stocking himself, who happens to lose an eye in a battle and thus is known as Johnny One- Eye. Johnny's voice is spot on for a man of the era, and because he is somewhat educated and very aware of what is happening around him we get very interesting details of the revolution. There are hints of him being George Washington's (I recognize that name!) bastard son, Johnny has also interactions with Alexander Hamilton (another name i recognize from my US History course!). Johnny is often pining for Clara, who happens to be the "most coveted harlot" at the whorehouse where Johnny grew up. When it comes to Clara I'm a bit unsure what to say, I did not feel like she was a well developed character. We are told who Clara is as opposed to shown who she is. As a reader you mostly know Clara through Johnny's memories, or biased view of her. Clara's name and Johnny's infatuation with her comes up in some very funny situations, as a form of comedic relief when Johnny is sad or being tortured. I have to say I did chuckle a couple of times.Johnny becomes a "double spy" for the British through "Black Dick" Howe, and I have to say, in the beginning I was confused as to where did Johnny's loyalty lay with. This was not made any easier by the author use of transition, sometimes we were in the past in a memory, sometimes we were not.



I feel this was a light read with a splash of history, and certainly made me want to explore more historical fiction set in the US. The book comes with a picture of an old map of New York which I loved looking at the end of every other chapter. I'd like to comment on Charyn's writing style, while this is a historical fiction novel, I can safely say it does not read like a history college textbook. To me this is very important when reading historical fiction because after all I am reading this book in my spare time and as a hobby. ( )
  BookPurring | May 29, 2011 |
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This book is for Bob Weil.

And for the late Jim Shenton,
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more than anyone I know.
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It was the very mask of war.
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W.W. Norton

2 editions of this book were published by W.W. Norton.

Editions: 0393064972, 0393333957

 

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