The Lively Lady

Rating:
Summary: A tightly woven adventure!
Review: "Lively Lady," delivers plenty of the sinewy narrative and strong character development that typify Kenneth Roberts' previous novels, "Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms." But it differs from its predecessors in its compactness. It is like a string quartet compared to those more orchestral works, producing a sound and feeling that is just as powerful if not as loud or lengthy.

Set during the War of 1812, most of the action takes place aboard ship or inside the walls of the infamous Dartmoor Prison. In such close quarters, the narrator's psyche tends to loom large.

The result is a compact novel that, despite its size, really packs a punch. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to the standards of Rabble in Arms or Arundel
Review: Don't take me wrong: "The Lively Lady" is a darn good read. I've read enough of Roberts now to know his basic formula: take a stock love story (boy sees girl, circumstances come between boy and girl, circumstances clear up by end of book and boy gets girl), interwine it with gripping battle narratives, and inject oodles and oodles of history into the narrative. Roberts is a good enough writer to always get mileage out of these basic ingredients.

They're all here in "The Lively Lady," but never jell as well as they did in the earlier novels I mentioned. I think Roberts was running out of steam by the time he came to write this, the third installment in his "Chronicles of Arundel" series. This time out, Roberts' narrative pace is in hyperdrive. The book has a third as many pages as either of the first two books, and it shows: "The Lively Lady" reads like a Reader's Digest version of "Rabble in Arms." Characters are described rapidly, without really being developed: the character of King Dick appears all at once as the acknowledged "King" of Dartmour Prison. But how white prisoners in 1814 would have come to accept a black - even a physically powerful and intelligent one like King Dick - as a leader is never really explained, as though racism and slavery didn't exist. Even the history Roberts typically teaches is shortchanged: precious little is said of the reasons for the War of 1812, and the lasting effects of that conflict - a new sense of American nationalism - is explored in a mere paragraph or two. That is in sharp contrast to Robert's superior (and far longer) novel, "Oliver Wiswell," which reads at times almost like a history lecture on the Loyalist viewpoint during the American Revolution.

The love story suffers likewise; we are simply told that Emily falls in love with Richard Nason almost at first glance... but never learn why she is attracted to him, save for a bad marriage.
The relationship seems a bit too obviously contrived for the sake of the narrative.

Still, I have read reviews of "Oliver Wiswell" on Amazon complaining the book is too long and boring; if you want "Roberts Lite" in a condensed version: "The Lively Lady" is it. It's probably the Roberts book of choice who want to enjoy a Roberts book without investing the time to read his better, longer work. I do think anyone who likes Roberts should read this book - you'll enjoy it, but don't expect the same sense of satisfaction you had reading "Arundel" or "Rabble in Arms" if you love history.



Rating:
Summary: An action-packed epic virtually reeking of salt-spray .
Review: Few authors today take such careful pains to be as historically accurate as Roberts does. This is just one more fine example of his masterful skill. In Lively Lady he takes us back to America's "Second War of Independence", the War of 1812. After some preliminary plot foundation-laying and character development you soon feel the swell of the open Atlantic as it lifts your sloop-of-war and carries the reader along with Captain Nason in search of merchant ships of the Crown of King George.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting continuation of Arundel saga
Review: Lively Lady's protagonist is the son of two of the main characters in the earlier Arundel books: Arundel and Rabble at Arms. While not as epic as either of its precursors, Lively Lady illuminates a little-known episode of this country's history, when our war against Britain in 1812 (in effect a side-action of the Napoleonic Wars) was conducted at sea largely by private vessels licensed by our fledgling government to attack, capture, and destroy Britain's ocean-going commerce.

Roberts can come across as a bit stodgy and old-fashioned--and certainly not "politically correct"--to modern readers, but if you make allowances for his writing reflecting his times, you'll be richly rewarded with fascinating details and great storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting continuation of Arundel saga
Review: Lively Lady's protagonist is the son of two of the main characters in the earlier Arundel books: Arundel and Rabble at Arms. While not as epic as either of its precursors, Lively Lady illuminates a little-known episode of this country's history, when our war against Britain in 1812 (in effect a side-action of the Napoleonic Wars) was conducted at sea largely by private vessels licensed by our fledgling government to attack, capture, and destroy Britain's ocean-going commerce.

Roberts can come across as a bit stodgy and old-fashioned--and certainly not "politically correct"--to modern readers, but if you make allowances for his writing reflecting his times, you'll be richly rewarded with fascinating details and great storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: Sjakulc's Opinion of "The Lively Lady"
Review: This book starts off in Arundel where Captain Mason falls for a young girl maried to a older cold husband. The young captain Mason enters the Revolutionry war but is captured and put in Dartmoor prison. After a sucessfull escape he is caught with the young girl by her husband. He sends the man back to Captain Nason back to jail and has his own wife arrested. Captain Nasoon survives a massacre in Dartmoor prison but is realeased and is reunited with the youg girl.

I did not like this book. Not that the book was bad but I do not believe it was good. I'm writing a report on the book and I will try to post it on the internet so I can spare anybody the waste of time in reading this book.

Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjakulc Sjaukulc Sjakulc Sjakulc

Rating:
Summary: A tightly woven adventure!
Review: This novel, first published in 1931, has gone through many editions. It is written in the style of the period, e.g., Errol Flynn type stories. It goes into excessive detail at some points which can make the story drag a bit. In some ways, it reflects a Thomas Hardy type writing style. It is a narrative style as told by the main character. Some parts of the action were borrowed by later writers.

The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures.

After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended.

Captain Nason, of course, survives (narrators usually survive), meets the woman again, etc.

Rating:
Summary: Romance/adventure novel
Review: This novel, first published in 1931, has gone through many editions. It is written in the style of the period, e.g., Errol Flynn type stories. It goes into excessive detail at some points which can make the story drag a bit. In some ways, it reflects a Thomas Hardy type writing style. It is a narrative style as told by the main character. Some parts of the action were borrowed by later writers.

The setting is March 1812 to April 1815. Merchant captain Richard Nason is trading with the British, carrying supplies to the British Army in Spain, and is generally opposed to the war, when he is pressed aboard a British Royal Navy sloop. His attitude changes and (after escaping) he takes a privateer to sea in July 1812 after war is formally declared. Details of sail handling and such are held to a minimum, and much of the story takes place on land. He becomes enamored with the young wife of an older English landowner, Sir Arthur Ransome, first meeting her before the war, then again aboard a ship he captures.

After various adventures he is captured and imprisoned at Dartmoor along with his crew. A major part of the novel is concerned with Dartmoor prison commanded by the evil Royal Navy Captain Shortland. The prison was par for the course for that time period. Similar conditions were found in both Union and Confederate prisons during the American Civil War 50 years later. Deaths from disease were common in active Army and Navy forces, usually higher numbers than battle deaths, and deaths in prisons were undoubtedly higher (smallpox, typhus, etc.). The novel describes the deliberate massacre of American POWs three months after the war ended.

Captain Nason, of course, survives (narrators usually survive), meets the woman again, etc.