A readable yarn of warriors, kings, and Scythians set amid plagues and invasions. There's a Christian mystic element pervading all, even the semi-demonic force that starts the tale (and has barely any necessity to the plot.) All over Europe, our trio of adventurers escape insurmountable odds - from giant armies to a hostile Venezia. (honestly, H. Rider's distaste for Romance culture and Catholicism is palpable in those passages.) The ending is disappointing, however, and the muscle of the trio is an indestructible Munchkin.
Aldous Huxley wrote this masterpiece about people he'd like to punch in the groin, makes you know why he'd like to punch them in the groin, and does quite a knowledgable job of it. I'd imagine he hung around these sorts of folks plenty during his lifetime.
I'm glad I stumbled upon and read this novel. It was a revelation for me regarding the spirit of the pen behind the words. Before one sets down to spread the ink, one must have the mental flexibility, intelligence, and will to make the unbelievable not only believable, but tangible to the reader. I think that's what I meant.
Whatever qualifications I'm looking for in a novel, I realized them because "Betty at Fort Blizzard" lacks them to an unbelievable degree. Its got this simplistic story, lower-than Hollywood B-movie-level characterization, and all-too-perfect Munchkin main characters, all wrapped within a lazy, cloistered depiction of military life so unrealistic that this non-military man smelled the fake in 20 pages. In a quality book, an ethnic stereotype is an insignificant annoyance explained away by the attitudes of the times; in this tripe, the character sticks out like a watermelon vine in a corn patch.
Occasionally, I found myself wondering what author Molly Elliot Seawell was going on: Did she research anything she didn't know? I understand this was one of the later books in a series; are there superior, early Betty novels? I suspect she was a demure, bored military wife. Its the kind of book so dismal in its craft that it insults its own author.
Considering the time period it was written in, I was surprised at the liveliness and directness of this quick-reading Victorian novel.
While the parochial themes (Will that cad get her fortune?) characterizations (oh, feminine jealousy! Angelic female lead!) and hyper-emotional actions (ladies weep a creek!) are par-for-the-course Mid-Victorian, Stretton's writing is actually lively from the first sentence, rolling along at a pace averaging the speed of thought, with very few purple-prose passages.
The rather stereotypical characters moved along at a pace that allowed me to appreciate an action they've taken, then get on to the next development. While they are a bit stiff, main characters Martin Dobree and Olivia Foster are likable. I can root for them, and by association, their rather two-dimensional friends as well. Folks get swifted off to foreign countries to evade nasty baddies - and get chased to their exact locations. Marriage seems to be a biological (re: plot advancing) weapon. And at least Stretton *tried* to justify those coincidences, even if she did it only halfway.
In reading "Dilemma," I became painfully aware that Stretton was either recalling information at the outer edge of her knowledge base or wasn't doing it right: descriptions of all medical terminology related to Dobree's doctoral career are vague; foreign words are shoehorned into sentences to denote other language speakers;
Reading up on author Stretton (real name, Susan Smith), I find she was a devout Christian as well as a vigorous charity-worker, and every light wave of her traditional Christian belief spectrum shines through in every character and development. Christ's name or image is invoked many times, and there are some Biblical allusions. This ought to be a nice tale for a Christian reading group - the nits to be picked about the weak characterizations and hokey plot will supply much critical discussion fuel, but Stretton's heart is in a very moving place.
Overall, I call "The Doctor's Dilemma" a pleasant surprise. Apparently this is not her best or most famous work. I guess she's no Dickens (a wannabe, perhaps), but it would be unfair to sweep her under the rug as she's been.
E L Kelly II’s book reviews
Whatever qualifications I'm looking for in a novel, I realized them because "Betty at Fort Blizzard" lacks them to an unbelievable degree. Its got this simplistic story, lower-than Hollywood B-movie-level characterization, and all-too-perfect Munchkin main characters, all wrapped within a lazy, cloistered depiction of military life so unrealistic that this non-military man smelled the fake in 20 pages. In a quality book, an ethnic stereotype is an insignificant annoyance explained away by the attitudes of the times; in this tripe, the character sticks out like a watermelon vine in a corn patch.
Occasionally, I found myself wondering what author Molly Elliot Seawell was going on: Did she research anything she didn't know? I understand this was one of the later books in a series; are there superior, early Betty novels? I suspect she was a demure, bored military wife. Its the kind of book so dismal in its craft that it insults its own author.
While the parochial themes (Will that cad get her fortune?) characterizations (oh, feminine jealousy! Angelic female lead!) and hyper-emotional actions (ladies weep a creek!) are par-for-the-course Mid-Victorian, Stretton's writing is actually lively from the first sentence, rolling along at a pace averaging the speed of thought, with very few purple-prose passages.
The rather stereotypical characters moved along at a pace that allowed me to appreciate an action they've taken, then get on to the next development. While they are a bit stiff, main characters Martin Dobree and Olivia Foster are likable. I can root for them, and by association, their rather two-dimensional friends as well. Folks get swifted off to foreign countries to evade nasty baddies - and get chased to their exact locations. Marriage seems to be a biological (re: plot advancing) weapon. And at least Stretton *tried* to justify those coincidences, even if she did it only halfway.
In reading "Dilemma," I became painfully aware that Stretton was either recalling information at the outer edge of her knowledge base or wasn't doing it right: descriptions of all medical terminology related to Dobree's doctoral career are vague; foreign words are shoehorned into sentences to denote other language speakers;
Reading up on author Stretton (real name, Susan Smith), I find she was a devout Christian as well as a vigorous charity-worker, and every light wave of her traditional Christian belief spectrum shines through in every character and development. Christ's name or image is invoked many times, and there are some Biblical allusions. This ought to be a nice tale for a Christian reading group - the nits to be picked about the weak characterizations and hokey plot will supply much critical discussion fuel, but Stretton's heart is in a very moving place.
Overall, I call "The Doctor's Dilemma" a pleasant surprise. Apparently this is not her best or most famous work. I guess she's no Dickens (a wannabe, perhaps), but it would be unfair to sweep her under the rug as she's been.