FLAMES AND FURIES!
Get ready for hundreds of pages of exclamations, ejaculations, and interjections! But really, there is a lot of ejaculating in this book.
The Hidden Hand was originally published in the 1850s in serialized form, but later published as a book in 1888. This is an overly dramatic, noir-styled, mustachioed twirling romp in which the characters only seem to speak in all caps and exclamation points. And to give you a feel of the writing, I will be ejaculating several times throughout this review.
HOITY TOITY!
The book is named for Capitola, our brave and bold heroine. She is independent and bucks societal norms. And by page 100, I was thinking we hadn't heard much about her.
PISH! TUSH! PSHAW!
The book is also about an old curmudgeony man who adopts Capitola after learning of her from a woman on her deathbed.
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!
And we learn about several others whose lives are so intermingled you might need a venn diagram to parse them out, but it all comes together in the end, if only because of a series of strange coincidences.
POOH POOH, NONSENSE!
There are of course villians, soliloquies, and plenty of humphs.
HEAVEN OF HEAVENS NO!
And if you are short on how to describe people, this is your book.
YOU ARE A PERFECT DRAGON! A GRIFFIN! A RUSSIAN BEAR! A BENGAL TIGER! A NUMIDIAN LION!
Despite the constant ejaculating and age of the story, it was surprisingly easy to read. But after reading over 300 pages, I think it's safe to say, this is not my genre. While I'm proud of myself for finishing it and reading something completely out of my wheelhouse, I'm not sure this is a book I'd recommend given all the other options out there.
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