Anthony Adverse

This book so impressed me in my early 20s that I was consumed with it for several weeks, really. The sweep of time (generations, decades) and global scope (continents) impressed the heck out of me. This historical adventure including the Spanish colonies of America during the time of Napoleon struck me as wildly exotic. I was so awed that I wrote - by in hand in pen in a spiral notebook - my own epic twin-based novel called "Castor and Pollux" and completely blew past the requirements in my community college creative writing course.

This book was published in the 1930's, but took place in about the 1830's. The themes of these 9 volumes (I have a 2 volume set in which all volumes are contained) are: slavery, personal responsibility, ruggedness, and faith. Anthony surely had struggles in his life, which he overcame. I'm sure this book would be considered racist today what with almost every volume centering on the slave trade when it was legal and smuggling when it was not. Although, our hero, Anthony, was anti-slavery and even bought up the slaves not sold at the market because of a "defect" and kept them employed at his mansion so they would have an easier life. Ditto for Father Francois, who cared for the children left as orphans after a slave round-up. This 1238 show more page omnibus was also not short of romance, as Anthony marries twice and has liaisons in between. At times I thought it was going to be a great book and at times I thought it was a stinker. 1238 pages show less

An epic adventure novel that took six weeks to read. Mr Allen put his heart into this work. There's serious historical research been undertaken with this. It is compelling because the ventures in which Anthony is involved are themselves complex and fraught with possibilities. My favourite rascal, Aaron Burr even makes an appearance. An excellent picaresque novel.

Excellent narrative spanning many years and several continents. Details the life and adventures of an orphan (Anthony Adverse) from birth to death. The book I have is in two volumes and has original artwork by NC Wyeth and pen decorations byAllan McNab. Seems at once to be too wild to be true and too realistic to be fiction. It was made into a film a number of years ago but the film fell far short of doing justice to Mr. Allen's epic work. A must read for anyone who has an interest in adventure, romance, intrigue and human interest all rolled into one fantastic story.

This novel has a rather slow start, but picks up speed as it goes along. If you like to follow a character from childhood to adult, and span the globe this is a great book.

3723. Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allen (read 30 Mar 2003) This famous book was the no. 1 fiction bestseller in both 1933 and 1934 and is listed in Vincent Starrett's 1955 book Best Loved Books of the 20th Century. It starts out in great style, telling the story of the events leading to the eponymous character's conception and birth and the fate of his parents, then goes on thru his fantastic times in Italy, Cuba, Africa, Switzerland, France (where he meets Napoleon), Spain, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico. This is the ultimate picaresque novel, but I could not help thinking that The Cloister and the Hearth, by Charles Reade (read by me 19 Mar 1963) and The Three Musketeers (read 19 Nov 1972) and its great sequel, Twenty Years show more After (read 25 Nov 1972) by Dumas pere were much better books, though this book had its moments. 1224 pages! I wondered whether it was the most-paged single volume I ever read so I went backwards in my list and found Michener's The Covenant (read 12 Oct 2001) had 1238 in the edition I read and Gotham, the fascinating history of New York City till 1898 (read 9 July 2001) had 1311. So... But they were better than this book, though I knew I would not be satisfied until I read this so I did. show less

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