Rating: 
Summary: The great-American tale destroyed
Review: 1920s Hollywood and the American West - is there any time in American history filled with such romanticism and myths as these two periods?Guy Vanderhaeghe's novel about the corruption of history by popular culture successfully shows what a sham romanticism of the America West was and is. This is a period where most of America's heroes lived and died, and where real myth making for the masses began. It is great to see it pulled apart in such an entertaining, adventurous and, ultimately, simple way.
Rating:
Summary: Superb story telling and writing all rolled into one.
Review: A real page turner and yet a substantial piece of literature,
I found it difficult to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: SUCKS
Review: By far the dumbest, most confusing novel I have ever read. We read it in our Contemporary fiction class in College and we are now trying to get them to change the curriculm so we are never forced to read such rubbish again.
Rating:
Summary: Sheer Brilliance
Review: From page one until the end, I was completely captivated by the way that Vanderhaeghe combined the two stories so masterfully, that you found yourself spinning through time everytime you turned the page. I especially enjoyed it because it deals with my area of expertise, the Wild West and the myths created around it. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Understanding the Power-Dream...and History.
Review: Had this beautifully wrought novel not received some publicity for winning the Governor General's Award in Canada in l996, I'd never have known of its existence, and what a sad oversight that would have been in this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries." Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. The author has a bigger vision than that. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history. In this astutely crafted story of wolfer/hunters, Indians, Hollywood moguls, young strivers toward success, Socialists, preservers of the status quo, barely surviving traders, immigrants, hard men, and "visionaries" who would impose their dreams on the masses via film, the reader is caught up in the swirl of history and asked to think about the extent to which history is simply a succession of random events, whether the events have been imposed upon us, and how much, if at all, we can control our own dreams and our futures
Rating: 
Summary: Quietly Compelling
Review: I enjoyed the Englishman's Boy a great deal but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been expecting such an overwhelming masterpiece. This is not a fast-paced or thrilling western but a story about human nature, survival and choices in awful circumstances. In 1920's Hollywood reclusive millionaire movie mogul Damon Ira Chance of Best Chance Pictures wants to make the great American Movie in the manner of his idol D.W. Griffith. He has picked an extra out of a western who is rumoured to be a "real" old-time cowboy. Shorty McAdoo is an old man with a rugged past and has supposedly fought Indians and Chance wants his story. Harry Vincent, a quiet loner title writer at Best Chance, is enlisted by Chance to get McAdoo's tale. The story Harry gets of McAdoo's part in the Cyprus Hills Massacre in 1867(?) is not the heroic pioneering tale expected. The settling of the old west was full of these small but significant battles where the choices of a few had an effect on many. Even as you read closer to the horrifying battle of the 1800's and the amazing climax of the 1920's you'll wonder how much of Shorty's life was his choice and how much is fate and circumstance.
Rating:
Summary: Quietly Compelling
Review: I enjoyed the Englishman's Boy a great deal but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been expecting such an overwhelming masterpiece. This is not a fast-paced or thrilling western but a story about human nature, survival and choices in awful circumstances. In 1920's Hollywood reclusive millionaire movie mogul Damon Ira Chance of Best Chance Pictures wants to make the great American Movie in the manner of his idol D.W. Griffith. He has picked an extra out of a western who is rumoured to be a "real" old-time cowboy. Shorty McAdoo is an old man with a rugged past and has supposedly fought Indians and Chance wants his story. Harry Vincent, a quiet loner title writer at Best Chance, is enlisted by Chance to get McAdoo's tale. The story Harry gets of McAdoo's part in the Cyprus Hills Massacre in 1867(?) is not the heroic pioneering tale expected. The settling of the old west was full of these small but significant battles where the choices of a few had an effect on many. Even as you read closer to the horrifying battle of the 1800's and the amazing climax of the 1920's you'll wonder how much of Shorty's life was his choice and how much is fate and circumstance.
Rating:
Summary: intelligent, balanced- great story, brilliant diction
Review: I found it a deeply intelligent book. the two stories are so differnt- on the surface- but they run absolutely parallel. The characterization of the players- makes every one of them a round and distinct element in the story- you can actually hear who's talking. And what a vast subject- the impotence of man to change his lot or to influence what's going to happen around him- the potentially good man making the wrong choices.- and then there's the age-old image of the nonchalant destruction of the Canadian soil by american trade...- including the latter day American delusions about what even really happened. What a great book- the more you look, the more you find- and vanderhaeghe shows so much talent as a writer that you know it's been put there on purpose!
Rating:
Summary: An annual favourite
Review: I have read this novel three times in the past three years and every time that I have completed it, my admiration for Vanderhaeghe's astounding writing talent has grown. It is impossible not to feel as though you are a bystander watching the events, which Vanderhaeghe describes, unfold. You can taste the dust of the Canadian West, you can hear the brimming cacophony of 1920's Hollywood and you can sense the pain of the characters. This brilliant novel is only one title from Vanderhaeghe's fantastic literary history. I have read all of his pieces of fiction and I highly recommend each and every novel or short story. On more than one occasion, one of his novels has forced me to cancel whatever I planned for that day in favour of finishing that work. He is clearly one of best writers that I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Deserving of much more publicity and promotion!
Review: In this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films, it's disappointing that a book this good remains relatively unknown. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries." Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.
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