Tag: Reading Challenges

Buchan of the Month/Book Review: Prester John by John Buchan

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prester john 1About the Book

Nineteen-year-old David Crawfurd travels from Scotland to South Africa to work as a storekeeper. On the voyage he encounters again John Laputa, the celebrated Zulu minister, of whom he has strange memories. In his remote store David finds himself with the key to a massive uprising led by the minister, who has taken the title of the mythical priest-king, Prester John. David’s courage and his understanding of this man take him to the heart of the uprising, a secret cave in the Rooirand.

Format: Hardcover (245 pp.)    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 1910      Genre: Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Prester John on Goodreads

My Review

Prester John is the first book in my Buchan of the Month reading project for 2019.  You can find out more about the project and my reading list for 2019 here.  You can also read my spoiler-free introduction to Prester John.

Prester John was John Buchan’s sixth novel, written seven years after he returned from South Africa where he served as as one of Lord Alfred Milner’s ‘Young Men’.   It’s described as ‘a boys’ story’ and certainly fits the bill as a tale of adventure and daring deeds.  There are narrow escapes, breathless chases, clever disguises, secret allies, a dastardly villain and coded messages.  As the Literary Innkeeper from The Thirty-Nine Steps remarks on hearing of Richard Hannay’s adventures, “By God!…it is all pure Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle.”

John Buchan endows his hero, David Crawfurd, with a young person’s sense of adventure and seemingly tireless energy along with some of his own interests, such as hiking and mountaineering (the latter proving useful for a perilous escape at the end of the book).  They also share an appreciation for the landscape of  Scotland and South Africa and, as you would expect from Buchan, there are some glorious descriptions of the scenery.  ‘As the sun rose above the horizon, the black masses changed to emerald and rich umber, and the fleecy mists of the summits opened and revealed beyond shining spaces of green.’  One of Buchan’s favourite books, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, also makes an appearance, as it would again later in Mr. Standfast and Sick Heart River.

So far, so good.  However, it is difficult for a modern day reader – even a John Buchan admirer like myself – to overlook the racial stereotyping, colonialism and outdated paternalism that pervades Prester John.  This becomes even more problematic when one considers Prester John was a book aimed at young people (more likely than not, boys).

As I noted in my previous introduction piece about the book, Janet Adam Smith, Buchan’s first biographer, attempts to argue that, in Buchan’s portrayal of African leader, John Laputa, he is depicting ‘a battle not so much between black and white but as between civilisation and savagery’. Unfortunately it seems fairly obvious that the book associates the savagery as emanating from the native people and the civilizing influence as the ‘white man’s duty’.  At the end of the book, David Crawfurd reflects: ‘That is the difference between white and black, the gift of responsibility, the power of being a little king; and so long as we know this and practice it, we will rule not in Africa alone but wherever there are dark men who live only for the day and their own bellies.’  I appreciate these words were written in earlier times but still they rather turned my belly.

David Daniell describes Buchan’s representation of John Laputa in Prester John as being like ‘a black Montrose’ with his ‘military skill, high charisma and religious vision’.   It is true that David Crawfurd develops a curious admiration for Laputa as a specimen of a leader, whilst at the same time feeling it his duty to try to prevent what Laputa is seeking to achieve. In fact, David’s admiration seems to stem partly from the fact that a black man could possess such leadership qualities.  As events play out, David remarks, ‘I had no exultation of triumph, still less any fear of my own fate.  I stood silent, the half-remorseful spectator of a fall like the fall of Lucifer.’

Even writing in 1965, Janet Adam Smith concedes that the references to ‘blacks’ and ‘n*****s’ in Prester John will be found offensive today.   I’m not sure that pointing out, as David Daniell does, that the terms are used only twice and three times respectively makes the situation much better.  Therefore, whilst Prester John is, in one respect, an exciting, well-told adventure story, on this rereading I found myself less able to overlook the problematic attitudes in the book.

Sources:

David Daniell, The Interpreter’s House: A Critical Assessment of the Work of John Buchan (Nelson, 1975)
Janet Adam Smith, John Buchan: A Biography (OUP, 1985 [1965])

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John BuchanAbout the Author

John Buchan (1875 – 1940) was an author, poet, lawyer, publisher, journalist, war correspondent, Member of Parliament, University Chancellor, keen angler and family man.  He was ennobled and, as Lord Tweedsmuir, became Governor-General of Canada.  In this role, he signed Canada’s entry into the Second World War.   Nowadays he is probably best known – maybe only known – as the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.  However, in his lifetime he published over 100 books: fiction, poetry, short stories, biographies, memoirs and history.

You can find out more about John Buchan, his life and literary output by visiting The John Buchan Society website.

buchan of the month 2019

Book Review: The Turn of Midnight (Black Death #2) by Minette Walters

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The Turn of MidnightAbout the Book

As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues its devastating course across England. In Dorseteshire, the quarantined people of Develish question whether they are the only survivors.  Guided by their beloved young mistress, Lady Anne, they wait, knowing that when their dwindling stores are finally gone they will have no choice but to leave. But where will they find safety in the desolate wasteland outside?

One man has the courage to find out.

Thaddeus Thurkell, a free-thinking, educated serf, strikes out in search of supplies and news. A compelling leader, he and his companions quickly throw off the shackles of serfdom and set their minds to ensuring Develish’s future – and freedom for its people. But what use is freedom that cannot be gained lawfully? When Lady Anne and Thaddeus conceive an audacious plan to secure her people’s independence, neither foresees the life-threatening struggle over power, money and religion that follows…

Format: Hardcover (464 pp.), audiobook    Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 4th October 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Turn of Midnight (Black Death #2) on Goodreads

My Review

The Turn of Midnight is the second book in the author’s ‘Black Death’ series, the follow-up to The Last Hours.  The Turn of Midnight can be read as a standalone, partly thanks to the useful rundown of the key characters and events from The Last Hours at the beginning of the book.  Like the first book,  The Turn of Midnight follows the fortunes of the inhabitants of the demesne of Develish in Dorseteshire.  However, whereas the focus of The Last Hours was their efforts to fend off the pestilence, The Turn of Midnight is concerned with the aftermath of the plague and its economic and social consequences for both Develish and the rest of Dorsetshire.

I’ll confess that I wasn’t as enamoured with The Last Hours as many other readers, having come to it with high expectations because of the author’s reputation as a writer of thrillers.  As well as feeling slightly let down by the nature of the ending (as I hadn’t realised there was a sequel planned), I also found the book over long and rather slower than I’d anticipated.  Unfortunately, I have similar feelings about The Turn of Midnight. However, I’m happy to accept this might be partly to do with listening to an audiobook version, which is an experience rather new to me.  I’m still getting used to the fact it takes longer to listen to a book than it would for me to read it!

In The Last Hours, the danger faced by the inhabitants of Develish as the plague sweeps the country, did at least provide a sense of jeopardy.   In The Turn of Midnight, Develish has survived the plague and the focus is on exploring further afield to replenish supplies  and establish the impact of the plague on the wider community.  A number of subplots were introduced in The Last Hours,  chiefly involving Lady Anne’s adopted daughter, Lady Eleanor, but she largely recedes into the background in The Turn of Midnight.  Instead there are lengthy (I am tempted to say ‘interminable’) descriptions of the journeys that serf-turned-steward, Thaddeus Thirkell, takes into the countryside, accompanied by some of the young men of Develish, in order to find supplies of grain and other foodstuffs, to recover other goods of value and visit other demesnes.

Some of the social impacts of the plague foreshadowed in the first book have come to pass.   For example, nobles dependent on serfs to restore the wealth of their lands are waking up to the fact that the law of supply and demand means the few serfs left alive will be able to bargain with landowners for their freedom, or even wages, in return for their labour.  Effectively, there has been a reshaping of the social order with the needs of survival thrusting ordinary people into positions of unaccustomed authority or forcing them to take responsibility for decision-making and organisation where they would previously have been used to taking direction.   Not all the nobility are able (or willing) to recognise how the position has changed.   Lady Anne, unusually egalitarian for a woman of her time, is one of the few who does recognise the need for adaptation.

The author explores once again the conflict between those who support the teachings of the Church that the plague was sent by God to punish the wicked and those, like Lady Anne, who recognise that the plague affected serf and noble, innocent and sinner alike and believe there were more practical reasons why some survived and others did not.  Views like hers are regarded as heresy by some.

Like The Last Hours, The Turn of Midnight is clearly the product of extensive research and contains a lot of historical detail I found fascinating.  However, the slow pace meant I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I hoped.  The narrator, Helen Keeley, does a good job, creating distinctive voices for the various characters (the majority of which are male) and skilfully handling regional and foreign accents.

I received a review copy of the book courtesy of publishers, Allen & Unwin, and Readers First but chose to listen to the audiobook version via the RBDigital app provided by my local library (partly to dip a toe in the water, so to speak, into the world of audiobooks).

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In three words: Detailed, well-researched, slow-paced

Try something similar…The Outcasts of Time by Ian Mortimer (read my review here)

Minette WaltersAbout the Author

Minette Walters is a British mystery writer. After studying at Trevelyan College, University of Durham, she began writing in 1987 with The Ice House, which was published in 1992. She followed this with The Sculptress (1993), which received the 1994 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She has been published in 35 countries and won many awards. The Sculptress has been adapted for television in a BBC series starring Pauline Quirke. Her novels The Ice House, The Echo, The Dark Room, and The Scold’s Bridle have also been adapted by the BBC.  (Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

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