Edward H. Carpenter
Auteur van Happily Ever After
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The short tale of how Wickham prevented bloodshed between Willoughby and Colonel Brandon in hopes of ingratiating himself with Willoughby. I hate Wickham with a burning passion, but his villainy comes across as almost charming here. It's so unapologetic and irrepressible. And, unlike many spin-offs of Austen, Carpenter gets the dialog and social rules of the period right on the money.
Deze bespreking was geschreven voorLibraryThing lid Weggevers.
This is such a bittersweet story, and I thought that it was very well done. I liked the romantic aspects of the story just as much as I did behind the science and medical parts of it. It tugged at my heartstrings quite a bit, especially at the end. I am familiar with some of the author's other works, and I definitely was not disappointed with this one at all.
Deze bespreking was geschreven voorLibraryThing lid Weggevers.
Interesting novel with two anonymous characters divided by an ocean during the 1st World War. The man , an American soldier on the Western Front has left his home and bride and volunteered to fight for the Allies. His wife , slowly falls into a lethargy and develops Encephalitis lethargica , which claims her life. Her husband in despair at the slaughter of soldiers in trench warfare , wounds himself to get invalided home but he is too late to save his wife. A sad story but well crafted.
Statistieken
- Werken
- 6
- Leden
- 78
- Populariteit
- #229,022
- Waardering
- 3.9
- Besprekingen
- 35
- ISBNs
- 1
Pressfield’s book discusses the idea of the Warrior ethos with context stemming mainly from the history of ancient Greeks, and that ancient society’s idea of how their warriors should train and perform in combat. This makes sense since Pressfield’s expertise is in the study of those ancient civilizations. I respected those views in the context it was delivered. That our modern views of honor and being a warrior are rooted in history, even as far back as the ancients. But Carpenter was, in his own words, “shocked” at what he read. Because Pressfield uses examples from Spartan history, Carpenter seems to think that people are going to read Pressfield’s book and start acting like young Spartan trainees, running around stealing from neighbors, murdering Helots and drinking blood stew. Really?
Carpenter then spends 75 pages of his 100 page book being deliberately condescending by mocking and ridiculing Pressfield for his beliefs. He accuses him of picking and choosing his examples to support his thesis. Carpenter declares that, because all of the examples are from the ancient world, they are no longer relevant; that we, as a modern society should dismiss all that history as nonsense; that there is nothing to be learned from studying ancient societies. Again, I don’t think people reading Pressfield’s book are going to start acting like ancient Spartan families, throwing deformed babies off cliffs or abandoning them in the wilderness. Nor do I believe Pressfield intended that for modern families as Carpenter sarcastically implies on page 7.
Carpenter also discounts Pressfield’s military service (page 27) because, although Pressfield is a fellow Marine, Carpenter doesn't think he has experienced the “eve of battle” enough to talk about what warriors feel. Well, Mr. Carpenter, I read your military biography (easily accessed via the internet), and although you may have completed lots of warrior training (like all Marines), sitting behind a desk ordering aircraft parts does not provide you with salty combat experience. I actually laughed out loud reading about how you felt on the “eve of battle” because of the “threat of enemy rockets” near your position in Afghanistan. Very warrior like indeed. Though, I should probably be impressed with your bio, in that you finished near the top of your class in the wide variety of schools you attended over the years. Bravo.
One of the main themes Carpenter uses to ridicule Pressfield, is how he doesn’t include women enough in his book. Considering that ancient society was male dominant, it would make sense. But more googling of Carpenter reveals that promoting women in the military is one of his pet projects; all well and good. Then why does he bash Pressfield for promoting the strength of Spartan women in ancient times? Oh, yeah, because Pressfield made that up. Whatever.
On page 31, Carpenter starts his mockery of Pressfield’s assertion that leaders should lead from the front, stating all kinds of statistics on officer casualties from previous wars. I’m not sure that most readers will understand the differences in combat over the last 3000 years, and the differences in the necessary leadership styles in those eras, but suffice it to say we have learned through those experiences and improved. One thing that hasn't changed though is that Marine officers are still taught to lead by example, take care of their Marines, avoid recklessness, and make smart decisions in battle. They can still “lead from the front” without charging willy-nilly into incoming gunfire. But, I suppose Carpenter would like to abolish the 2nd Marine Division’s motto, “Follow me”, as it adheres too much to Pressfield’s idea of warrior ethos.
I pressed on with the book and on page 39, Carpenter discusses Honor again, and is appalled that, because Pressfield refers to it as a “man’s” thing, he is excluding women. Are we so politically correct these days that we have to specifically call that out every time? He also calls “Death before Dishonor” a “silly slogan” and surmises that the 6,700 soldiers who received dishonorable, or other than honorable discharges, should just kill themselves (page 40). I rolled my eyes in exasperation.
When I eventually got to the last part, where Carpenter finally explains his idea of a warrior ethos, I actually could agree on many of the ideas he presents, as they are (and have been since I served) a part of how we want our military to conduct themselves. That is, until I reached the part on page 92 where he quotes General Mattis, “no better friend, no worse enemy” but attributes the original quote to the Roman dictator Sulla. Not true. Sulla’s quote translated from Latin is somewhat different, but I digress. Carpenter feels it necessary to “update” Mattis’ quote by changing “worse enemy” to “better enemy”, meaning that people trying to kill us would feel much better about killing us if they understood how fair and just we are. In my experience, people who want to kill us don't care how nice we are, they just want us dead.
In summation, I acknowledge that I don't have near the writing prowess to express my views as Carpenter does, and he will certainly be furious with my review, but honestly, I feel Carpenter would have had more credibility in my eyes if he would have just wrote his own book about his modern view of warrior ethos, rather than the Pressfield bash-fest this book turned out to be. But then, I suppose bashing another writer’s book makes Carpenter feel more warrior-like.
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