<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, old fashioned storytelling
Review: After the success of his "Moosepath League" trilogy, Reid turns his unjaundiced eye on a little-known aspect of an earlier period in Maine history - the struggle in the early 1800s between homesteading, hardscrabble farmers and the rich absentee owners, who had been granted huge tracts of wilderness by the English.
Peter Loon is 17 when his father, Silas, is felled by a tree while helping Peter clear land for a farm of his own. The night before Silas' funeral, Peter's otherworldly mother, the beautiful and "touched" Rosemund, wakes him to demands he go on a search for an uncle he has never heard of, Obed Winslow. As the reader knows and Peter does not, Obed was Silas' best friend, who left after he lost the contest (literally) for Rosemund's hand.
Peter has never been further than a few miles from the little settlement carved out of the forest and at his lyrical, easygoing pace, Reid explores young man's welter of feelings, embodied in his familiar forest surroundings.
"Peter heard the breent of a nightjar nearby and thought he caught the glimpse of something wing past a fleeting pool of open sky. He had no idea what he was about, walking the woods in the middle of the night, but he did not find them unpleasant, at first, these immediate sensations.
"It was not long, however, before another reality of life, as he understood it, imposed itself - and that was the fact of uncanny things in the forest, the knowledge of curious and perhaps malicious disembodied minds lurking in the darkness between the trees."
Fretting about the family left behind, curious about the unknown world ahead, Peter's agitation is reflected in his surroundings until he lays down to sleep at the foot of a tree. Awakened by a dead deer, he appears, to the hunters, to spring from the belly of the beast, and thus begins an odyssey which opens his eyes to a greater section of humanity than he ever expected to encounter.
Taken up by an itinerant and well-read preacher, a wise man, Peter crosses paths with zealots using religion to further evil intentions, fair maidens in need of rescuing, angry farmers fomenting rebellion, rich landowners oozing contempt, liquored-up rabble rousers, coquettish girls with not enough to do and one fiery girl who does exactly as she pleases. He discovers class and the huge gulf between rich and poor - his perplexity at the notion of a picnic is particularly funny - and learns that good or evil resides with the individual and not his place in society. He discovers romance, and discovers it again. He has his eyes opened and retains his innocence.
Although more archetype than individual, Peter is an endearing character, who learns to rely on the core of integrity within him - along with his handsome looks and quick, if naïve, mind. As seen through his fresh eyes, the world is a chaotic, beautiful, violent, new place.
Beautifully written, this is a humorous, graceful, old-fashioned novel with a touch of Tom Jones and a whisper of Huck Finn. A fine beginning to a new series for Van Reid.
Rating:
Summary: Every bit as good as the previous three.
Review: Another Van Reid masterpiece. Although this book is more linear in storyline than the Marvelous Moosepath adventures it still has every bit of charm and whimsically drawn characters as they do.
I found it very interesting in my own reading experience that upon completion of the book I found that only several days had passed in the life of Peter Loon. So many experiences in such a short time!
Once again Mr. Reid delivers a fine story with absolutely no objectionable (mature themes and language) material and goodness knows that is rare these days.
Buy it and let's all put Van Reid on the New York Times bestseller list in place of the dreck that usually winds up there... Maybe that's not a good idea as that appears to be the bottom of the cesspool of the literary world. Ah well...
Rating:
Summary: Every bit as good as the previous three.
Review: Another Van Reid masterpiece. Although this book is more linear in storyline than the Marvelous Moosepath adventures it still has every bit of charm and whimsically drawn characters as they do.
I found it very interesting in my own reading experience that upon completion of the book I found that only several days had passed in the life of Peter Loon. So many experiences in such a short time!
Once again Mr. Reid delivers a fine story with absolutely no objectionable (mature themes and language) material and goodness knows that is rare these days.
Buy it and let's all put Van Reid on the New York Times bestseller list in place of the dreck that usually winds up there... Maybe that's not a good idea as that appears to be the bottom of the cesspool of the literary world. Ah well...
Rating: 
Summary: vivid early nineteenth century Americana tale
Review: In 1801 in the District of Maine of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, recently widowed Rosemund Loon sends her teenage son Peter to find an uncle he has never met. Peter has never left his home in Sheepscott Great Pond so with trepidation and anticipation, the teenage begins a trek to locate Obed Winslow, not realizing that the target of his quest is not blood, but the suitor his mother did not marry.The journey proves dangerous and distracting as seventeen year old Peter meets various people. He encounters females that divert his attention from his goal and learns that though the American Revolution ended two decades ago, many of the farmers wonder why they revolted as the wealth remains with the privileged few in Boston and New York. Peter is discovering a vast world made up of different people in his quest through New England. No one does the late eighteenth country early nineteenth century like Van Reid does. His latest tale, PETER LOON, brings to life a side of America rarely found in the textbooks as the author vividly describes people not harmoniously monolithic in support of the Founding Fathers. The story line is loaded with vivid descriptions and plenty of action with Peter obviously the focus, but also contains too many subplots as if Mr. Reid wanted to get as many of his thoughts into the novel as he could. Still, Mr. Reid's coming of age Americana historical tale remains top notch and worth reading just as the author's Moosepath Adventures prove he is the fictional chronicler of the early years of the United States. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Van Reid does it again, Maine style
Review: Sometime in the past four years I read three delightful books by Van Reid. The books form a trilogy of a tale about life in Maine around the turn of the century (Victorian era) meaning the end of the 1800s. The first is Cordelia Underwood followed by Mollie Peer and then Daniel Plainway. The books are filled with delicious characters, and indeed one of Van Reid's strengths is his ability to create characters who, however eccentric they may be, are as believable as can be. I enjoyed these tales so much that it was with eager anticipation that I awaited his next book, Peter Loon.
Off to what seemed a slow start--perhaps because it wasn't populated by as many characters--I thought Van Reid might have lost his touch. But happily I was wrong, and Van Reid was just warming up. This tale in the Maine backcountry takes place some sixteen years or so after the Revolutionary War. Maine was still part of Massachusetts (ha, I never knew that!) The backcountry was fairly sparse and developed by those who bothered to clear the land. The problem was that the more landed gentry wanted the backcountry folk to pay for the land they cleared, and the backcountry folk felt that their labor was sufficient payment. The more I read the story, the more I realized that Van Reid's style fit the tale...Maine's backcountry was not very populated so while the tale had some downright fathomable characters, there weren't a lot of them, just like the backcountry. Van Reid is a descriptive story teller who paints characters and settings that draw you in. I'd like to travel to Maine and meet him!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful surprise - A great novel
Review: What a shame that the Publisher's Weekly review quoted on this page was so wrongheaded. And what a shame that I allowed it to keep me from reading this book for more than a year! It is almost as if the reviewer expected a romance novel and when it turned out to be something different the reviewer couldn't shift gears. What a shame!
"Peter Loon" is romantic, but in the old fashioned sense, that of an adventure. What hints of romance there are in the book are realistic and touching.
But it is the adventure that carries this book! It reminded me of something by Robert Louis Stevenson and that is no exageration. In particular "Peter Loon" reminded me of "Kidnapped." There is the beginning of the book, where the young man is looking for an uncle. There is the similarity in that both young protaganists come under the mentorship of an older wiser man. In Peter's case it is the extraordinary Parson Leach, who is one of the most fascinating charcters I have encountered in fiction lately. Also linking this book with "Kidnapped" in my mind is that both find their young wanderers stumbling into a civil rebellion. I loved "Kidnapped" and must go back and reread it after all these years. I loved "Peter Loon" too.
Made to choose, I would pick Mr. Reid's Moosepath series as my favorites, but this slice of eighteenth century adventure is exciting, evocative, and uplifting. The mistical scene when Peter is traveling the northern by forest and finds himself in the middle of a herd of dear is worth the price of the book. More people should read it and learn from Parson Leach about how to confront a dangerous situation with true Christian principle. Not to worry, the book is not preachy, only powerful.
It will be a long time before I let a bad review keep me away from one of my favorite authors. Sorry Mr. Reid. And thank you. My faith in your skills is unshaken. Beautiful cover, too.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful surprise - A great novel
Review: What a shame that the Publisher's Weekly review quoted on this page was so wrongheaded. And what a shame that I allowed it to keep me from reading this book for more than a year! It is almost as if the reviewer expected a romance novel and when it turned out to be something different the reviewer couldn't shift gears. What a shame!
"Peter Loon" is romantic, but in the old fashioned sense, that of an adventure. What hints of romance there are in the book are realistic and touching.
But it is the adventure that carries this book! It reminded me of something by Robert Louis Stevenson and that is no exageration. In particular "Peter Loon" reminded me of "Kidnapped." There is the beginning of the book, where the young man is looking for an uncle. There is the similarity in that both young protaganists come under the mentorship of an older wiser man. In Peter's case it is the extraordinary Parson Leach, who is one of the most fascinating charcters I have encountered in fiction lately. Also linking this book with "Kidnapped" in my mind is that both find their young wanderers stumbling into a civil rebellion. I loved "Kidnapped" and must go back and reread it after all these years. I loved "Peter Loon" too.
Made to choose, I would pick Mr. Reid's Moosepath series as my favorites, but this slice of eighteenth century adventure is exciting, evocative, and uplifting. The mistical scene when Peter is traveling the northern by forest and finds himself in the middle of a herd of dear is worth the price of the book. More people should read it and learn from Parson Leach about how to confront a dangerous situation with true Christian principle. Not to worry, the book is not preachy, only powerful.
It will be a long time before I let a bad review keep me away from one of my favorite authors. Sorry Mr. Reid. And thank you. My faith in your skills is unshaken. Beautiful cover, too.
<< 1 >>
|
