Kane & Abel

Rating:
Summary: I just didn't want to put it down.
Review: This book was superb, I thought that it was displayed magnificently. A story of the lives of two completely opposite men who came together and battled to the death between their two companies. I thought that the author did a wonderful job in getting into detail about Abel's life and how he came to America. It really is a compelling story and I found that at times I just could not put the book down. I found that the book was intricately woven story that slowly began to unravel and the plot begins to thicken. Archer takes you through so many emotions as you read this book. Sometimes you want to laugh and others you fell like you want to cry. eg. When Florentina is killed and the brutality that they suffer. overall I thought that Kane and Abel was an amazing book and I would truly recommend The Prodigal Daughter, a continuation of Kane and Abel also by Jeffrey Archer.

Rating:
Summary: One of the few fiction books that you WON'T put down.
Review: Jeffrey Archer has written many international best sellers and this is one of his best works followed by the sequel to this book - 'The Prodigal Daughter'. Jeffrey Archer himself has quite an impressive background in real life. In 1969, he became the youngest member of the House of Commons in United Kingdom.

This particular book could have been based on a true story as it is mentioned at the beginning of the book that this book was made possible due to two men whose identities cannot be revealed.

The story - is about two men William Kane and Abel Rosnovski who come from opposite backgrounds and make it big in America. Kane is born and raised in a wealthy banking family while Abel is a poor Polish immigrant that survives extreme hardship before ending up in America. Due to his own ability and his background in the banking industry, Kane makes becomes a powerful force in that industry while Abel through his sheer determination and ruthless attitude builds an empire in the hotel industry.

Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding caused by a negative encounter at the beginning of their careers, they become sworn enemies and it seems like nothing can change it. Even when Kane's son and Abel's daughter fall in love, get married, and have a child, it doesn't seem to influence these two men to overcome their intense hatred for each other.

This book is extremely well written and Jeffrey Archer has a way of telling a story where you can't stop reading till you reach the end. The vocabulary is not that difficult but the author uses his extraordinary writing style to tell the story as if you are right there where it's all happening.

It has been a common experience among Jeffrey Archer fans that they literally can't put this book down till they get to the end. The other common experience is that Jeffrey Archer fans read this book again and again every few years and it still keeps their interest. It is true in my own case also where this was the only fiction book in my life that kept me awake till 6 a.m. in the morning when I started reading at 10 p.m. the previous night. I was a teenager and got in trouble with my Mom for staying up all night to read this book (even though it was my summer vacation).

I recently read this book and felt the same sense of awe and inspiration that I did almost 20 years back when I first read the book. I have read it a couple more times in these 20 years and it is always the same amazing experience. That's why I decided to spend a few minutes and write this review to share my experiences with others.

If there is one new fiction author whose books you want to try, you won't regret picking Jeffrey Archer. The best book to start with is this one - Kane and Abel. After this book, the pleasure continues if you read the sequel which is equally engrossing 'The Prodigal Daughter'. The perfect book to read on a vacation but not on a plane as you would regret not being to finish it. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: ENTERTAINING LISTENING PLUS A BONUS
Review: An attractive bonus comes with these CDs - an interview with the author, Jeffrey Archer, famed British politician and, sorry to say, former prisoner. Although Archer was also a world class runner he couldn't out sprint the court where he was convicted for perjury in 2001. The Oxford educated patrician, former member of the House of Lords, was sent to jail on the Lincolnshire coast.

His personal and public life aside he remains a writer of considerable gifts as listeners are reminded with this stellar reading of "Kane & Abel." As mentioned it's a treat to hear the author interview, especially to hear Archer's upper class British voice. Happy to say that reader Jeff Harding doesn't suffer by comparison as he performs this compelling story of two brothers pitted against one another. It's a tribute to Harding's versatility as an actor that he succeeds in vocally inhabiting two distinctly different personas.

William Lowell Kane was born to privilege, the son of a Boston millionaire. Abel Rosnowski is an impoverished individual whose only bond with Kane is a shared birthday. Yet, each is ambitious and fighting to attain his goal no matter the cost.

Set during the turn of the century against a backdrop of a war torn world "Kane & Abel" is prime entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Explore The Human Condition
Review: One of the things that I love about reading a novel is that it is a chance to visit another community, or life, without actually going there.

"Kane & Able" is a story that captures the dramatic lives of 2 men who were born on the same day, in 1906, from 2 completely different socioeconomics.

William Kane was born into wealth. He was stubborn, haughty and all the "attributes" associated with someone who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Baron Able Rosnovski, an immigrant from Poland, was determined, creative and willing to do whatever it takes to never live the impoverished life that he was born into.

Both of these men eventually and repeatedly crossed paths, in business. And they desperately try to outwit one another, at a heavy expense to all around them.

As I read this book, I kept wanting to say, "Look in your heart," because each man was so busy trying to outdo the other that they loss sight of what matters, until the end.

Although this book has 477 pages, you will read it faster than a book that is one third its size, because Mr. Archer has developed the characters so well --- you will feel like you are looking at an IMAX movie.

Rating:
Summary: very well written and very conservative
Review: First of all, I think this is a very well written book. One of the things that attracted me to this book was the idea of following the lives of two characters from different backgrounds. The author alternates nicely from Kane to Abel and stays consistent in describing each character and their friends and family throughout the book. It's very fascinating how he takes us from the day each child is born until the day each character dies. Kane and Abel grow to hate one another and then try to destroy each other. The fight between Kane and Abel starts when one of the characters seeks revenge. In the end, one character wins and the other loses.

Being that Jeffery Archer was a member of the conservative party in England, I think he wrote this book with an agenda in mind. I did not like how conservatively biased this book was particularly with one of the characters. Maybe about half way through this book, a keen observer will notice a conservative slant on things.

Whenever I read books like this, I like to ask myself what I've learned from it. This book is about two greedy men hungry for money and prestige. In reading about these two characters from birth to death and observing how the drama of their lives unfold, it makes me ponder on my own life and what my values are. People equate money with happiness because this is what society teaches us. If you need a lot of money to be happy or content, then you are not a happy person. Life is a constant struggle regardless of how much money you have. Clearly, one can see from the characters lives that their abundance of money did not make their lives hassle free. Quite the contrary was the case. The pivotal point in the book is when someone close to one of the main characters commits suicide. The reason why this person commits suicide has to do with money.

Rating:
Summary: can't put it down
Review: I couldn't put it down! A compelling, fascinating, well-crafted story. Lots of fun.

Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing Multi-Generational Saga Entertains Completely
Review: I am so glad to have discovered this "oldie" originally published in 1979 because it is one of the best books I have ever read. It has drama, suspense, romance, and enough plot twists to keep the most savvy reader breathlessly reading until the heart-wrenching conclusion.

William Kane and Abel Rosnovski both enter the world in 1906. One is born to a wealthy, socially prominent Boston family. The other is born in poverty in Poland to an unwed woman who dies during childbirth. They each have a remarkable life story that makes for spellbinding reading until the finale in 1963.

Abel is rescued from the woods beside the body of his dead mother by a hunter and taken into a peasant family. The Russian occupation of Poland, his fearful and solitary escape to Turkey and later America, will have you cheering this tough young boy.

Meanwhile, young William Kane is growing up in the lap of luxury, attending the finest schools, and winning every honor his father before him achieved.

You will be fascinated by Archer's storytelling and the vivid characters he portrays. You will root for Abel and take him to your heart. You will be fascinated with William and wish only the best for him. Unfortunately, when the two characters cross paths as young men, a fierce hatred erupts and they become life-long enemies, as Abel swears to destroy William Kane.

The author has made each of his main characters so endearing that the reader is torn and loyalties falter. Do you root for Abel? Do you root for William? Dare you hope they will work this out? Whatever you are thinking, you will be surprised. This is not one of those novels where you will see the ending coming, but you will be stunned, sad, and uplifted as a gamut of emotions play with your mind and heart.

I finished this late last night and have been thinking about Abel and William all day. I can hardly wait to start on the sequel, "The Prodigal Daughter."

Rating:
Summary: I'd rather be ably caned than read Kane & Abel
Review: This might have been a good story, if the writing wasn't so bad in so many respects. Author Archer served as the youngest member of the House of Commons in England, and no doubt he got his start in writing through this position, rather than by his merits.
The book is an epic story covering the lives of two powerful men from the day in 1906 that they're both born on separate continents, up until they die in the 1960s. Their lives are parallel in some ways; in other ways, they are a study in contrast. William Kane is born into a life of luxury and power, the only son of one of the most powerful banking families in Boston's elite upper society. Wladek Kosciekicz, who later in life changes his name to Abel Rosnovski, starts his life as a foster son to a poor trapper's family in Poland.
Kane goes to Harvard and impresses everyone with his bearing and financial wiles at a young age. Abel is sent to a Russian prison camp after Poland is invaded during World War 1.
Eventually, Kane works his way in as chair of a large banking firm, due in part to his father's name, but mostly because of his own hard work. Abel escapes the labor camp, makes his way to America, and works his way up from a job as a waiter to a successful businessman.
In the course of a financial dealing between the two, Abel grows to hate Kane, and starts a bitter feud that lasts the rest of their lives.
This could be an interesting book, and in some ways it is interesting. The rough young life of Abel is a fascinating story, as is the story of how Kane grows into his family inheritance. A rags to riches story set alongside a riches to more riches story is a good idea, and the backdrop of an emerging America and two World Wars is engaging.
But the book is rife with problems.
First, the poor editing of the book resulted in a rather high number of typos, ranging from wrong-word misspellings to the unintentional repetition of a phrase. This is a minor concern, but when the rest of the book is so shabby, the effect is magnified.
More important is the writing itself, which is filled with on-purposes, rather than mistakes, and that makes them all the worse.
The tone of the book is generally dreadful, and seems to be infected with the some of the same problems as the books of the day-I wonder if Archer, in researching this book, read so much early 20th century literature that his prose picked up the stiffness of a Sherlock Holmes story.
Certainly, he does far more telling than showing, and he does this in the worst way possible. There are so many instances in which dialogue is summed up rather than presented, in which grief and other emotions are spoken of rather than exemplified, and in which character dynamics are mentioned rather than displayed, that at some points the book reads like the bible.
Another problem is the pacing. The book moves through the years with a strange rhythm, sometimes dwelling on the most mundane of months for no apparent reason, and then whipping through Kane's experiences as a soldier on the front of World War 2.
The biggest problem, however, is the overall lack of theme. Archer presents striking parallels between the two men, describing some of their experiences with the very same language. The book is filled with the most bizarre coincidences, as Kane and Abel encounter each other, through random coincidence, three times without either knowing it. Then, their children meet each other and fall in love without knowing each other's identities. It's absurd. But, we can live with these types of coincidences if they serve a greater purpose, and that it the problem. In Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany," all of the strange coincidences are presented as the will of God. But here, God is barely mentioned, and there is no strong feeling that fate has brought these two men together for some strange purpose. There is no purpose to their meeting at all. Their hatred for each other is spawned through a misunderstanding on Abel's part, and his obsessive determination to take revenge on Kane is cartoonish and out of character. Again, we could understand if there were some reason the two men are drawn to each other, but Archer has given us nothing of that sort to go on.
The stilted writing wrings no emotion from the hearts of its readers, neither joy nor sorrow. They say that the British have the best-developed sense of humor in the world, but all of the jokes fall flat (such as repeated "isn't-he-cute" descriptions of young William's precocious childhood.
Then there are the little things that just don't make sense. A rape victim dies, apparently raped to death without any explanation as to what actually causes the death. A young Kane has been receiving tutoring lessons for months from someone, but never notices that the tutor has gone blind. A woman meets Kane on the train; he is a fugitive and has been told to tell no one his name. The dialogue is presented word for word, and then she uses his name. How did she know it? I thought it was an insidious plot point, but it turned out to be a dumb oversight.
Kane is a supposed genius at mathematics, winning the only Harvard scholarship offered in the subject, but then puts this knowledge to no apparent use. It is as if Archer thinks that the theoretical and highly involved mathematics involved with advanced Harvard studies are the most natural academic pursuit for a banker. That's ridiculous. It would be interesting to hear how he applies this knowledge in interesting ways to the practical matters of making finance decisions, but we never get that sense at all.
Meanwhile, in an astoundingly unrealistic scene, Abel makes a journey as a middle-aged man back to Poland, and discovers that his foster mother is still living a miserable existence in the shack in which he grew up.
Do yourself a favor and pick up something better.

Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: I finished Kane & Abel today. I read this book, unlike most books which I choose on my own, on the recommendation of my dad. I don't think he's ever given me a book I didn't like.

I love Kane & Abel. Really, really do. There's something to be said about a book that can make the business/financial world interesting. For those not familiar with the book, the novel centers on two men born on the same day: Willian Lowell Kane, the son of a wealthy banker in America, and Abel Rosnovski, an orphan shuffled around in his native Poland, who undergoes extremely trying times before coming to America. The novel is basically the life story of the two men- the way they grew up, their motives, their drive, their families, etc. There comes a point where the two men meet, and they develop, surprisingly, an enmity that dominantes their lives, both striving in an effort to outdo the other, while rising to the "top of the world."

It's definitely one of those novels that makes you respect and marvel the drive of some people, and presents you with a million little plot twists that keep it going. You'll be torn between loving Kane or loving Abel, or hating both, or not wanting to care. But you'll have to care. It's the power Archer seems to hold, to be able to write 540 pages of book without fizzling out in a pathetically boring manner. Like any other book, it hurts for this one to end. The sheer amount of events, and the remarkable way these events flow and tie the two men together is incredible.

The only problem I had with the book was the time frame. The book covers Kane and Abel's lives in 540 pages, divided into seven parts, from 1906 to the late 1960s. This means that from one page to ten pages later, 5 years may pass. It's unnerving and almost annoying at times, and you really wonder what went on during all that time. However, there's enough to write about, and what IS written about is executed well.

I'll also add that Kane & Abel gave me a newfound respect for the financial world, one that didn't really exist prior to reading this book. When my dad told me to read this, I said "Wow, a book about two men who hate each other and make a lot of money. I really don't want to read this." But I went ahead and read it anyway, and you can bet that I'm extremely happy that I did. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant till the last page!
Review: The book is brilliantly written till the very last page. The story is very original. This is definetly Archer's best book.