The Last of the Mohicans

Rating:
Summary: A True American Classic
Review: My initial reaction to the novel The Last of the Mohicans was, "wow! I am reading one of the greatest classic novels ever written." When I began to read, my expectations were high, but were quickly extinguished by what I read. From what I understood, the book was quite exciting, but very wordy. It seemed to make me think very hard; perhaps harder than what I care to when I am reading. I do, however, think the book lived up to its reputation as a classic.
In the book, Major Duncan Heyward is ordered to lead the Monro sisters, Cora and Alice, from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry where their father is stationed during the French and Indian War. An Indian named Magua who is supposed to know shortcut to Fort William Henry leads the group.
During their travels, they come across a woodsman named Hawkeye who is accompanied by a Mohican named Chingachgook. Hawkeye explains to Duncan that Chingachgook is the last of the Mohicans.
Duncan quickly explains that their guide, Magua, has become lost and cannot show them the way to Fort William Henry. Hawkeye asks Duncan of his guide's Indian background and is outraged when he learns that Magua is of the Huron tribe. Magua over hears the conversation and slips away into the forest unnoticed. He now knows that his plan to lead the group into a trap is foiled.
Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas agree to lead the small group to Fort William Henry since they sense the group is in danger of being attacked by the Huron Indian tribe. The group spends the night in a cave behind a waterfall but is found by the Huron Indians. The group is attacked and Cora convinces Hawkeye and the two Mohicans to escape by swimming underwater downriver.
The group is captured, and Magua leads Cora and Alice deep in the forest. He tells them of his plan to marry Cora as part of his revenge on Colonel Monro. Colonel Monro ordered Magua publicly beaten after getting drunk and not handling himself properly.
Cora refused to marry Magua. This angered him greatly and was about to kill the whole group, when Hawkeye and the Mohicans rushed in to the camp, killing all the Hurons except Magua.
At dawn the next day, the group drew near Fort William Henry. As they closed in, they realized that the fort was under attack by French troops and Iroquois Indians. The group moved slowly to the fort and entered uninjured, reuniting the girls with their father.
I thought James Fenimore Cooper's book is an exciting, borderline thriller. What you just read is a small sample of what the book has in store for you. The best parts are yet to come. You just have to read the book to understand what I am talking about. The setting, plot, and the characters make it seem like it was a real true story that keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way through.
I loved the story, but sometimes, it seemed so hard to get to the point Mr. Cooper was trying to make. His use of multiple adjectives to describe absolutely everything was quite repetitive and bothersome. I think the book would have been fifty pages shorter if he would have just got right down to the point instead of over describing the simplest of things.
All of the characters in the book are quite realistic. They all seem as though they lived the time period instead of just being part of the author's imagination. The whole story is believable and realistic. I loved the book.
I would recommend the book to anyone who likes this type of novel. I would even recommend this book to people who are not overly impressed by the time period, setting or plot. It is a great classic novel and it did not get to be that way by being terrible. It is complicated reading but very worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: Another Cooper classic..........
Review: Cooper's second book of the Leatherstocking Tales, in which the young chief Uncas joins his father Chingachgook and Nathaniel Bumppo in battling the French and their Huron allies, is quite possibly one of the best pieces of fiction ever written. The reader can almost feel the leafy canopy closing upon them and hear the rustle of the forest floor as the intrepid woodsmen range throughout the northeastern lakes region of upstate New York. Armed conflict, the pathos of human drama, exquisitely wrought characters, and Cooper's singular ability to bring the environment to bear on the reader's sensibilities equals a reading experience rarely paralleled regardless of the 150+ years that have passed since it's creation.

I can always measure my level of involvement with a historically-based novel when I am compelled to employ the atlas to find the exact locations in which the story takes place. James Fenimore Cooper had me tracing the path of Bumppo and company by index finger as I was easily transported to an age when England, France, and their Native American allies confronted each other in the backwoods of a new world to determine the ultimate mastery of a continent. It is a mark of historical irony that none of the chief competitors were ultimately successful as a fledgling United States of America emerged. Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales provide latter-day Americans a fine opportunity to relive America's early past and see it for the uncertain and exciting period it was. Five stars.

Rating:
Summary: pretty good!
Review: "The Last of Mohicans" bu James Cooper was an interesting novel, about French-Indian war. It kind of reminded me of Pocahontas, but yet this is much more interesting. One of the parts that kept me on reading were when Duncan, a major in the English army who had to guard the daughters of his enemies, goes on to save Alice, who was kidnapped. He finally manages to escape and still has to fight. Eventually there is more conflict going with a suprising ending. Kind of made me sad, 'cause I didn't want it to end like that.
I would definitely recommend it for those who like legend stories, fightings and battles in the war.

Rating:
Summary: Exodia the Forbbidan One
Review: I thought that book was good. From a scale of one to ten I give it an eight. It's about Indians killing other people because they wanted to. If youdo not like murdering you should not read this book. I like the novel because it has a lot of killing.The Indians killed a lot of people in this book with knives and many other weapons. I refur this book to "The Patriot" an extrodinary film with a great message to stand up for what you beleive in. If you like that then you will Love this.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: This novel by James Cooper turned out surprisingly well. There are only two downfalls to this novel. The first is that I watched the movie. I kept expecting what happened in the movie to happen in the novel. I have to tell you, the book is much different from the movie, and the book is better. The only other negative is that I was raised and taught English in the 1990's and had some difficulty reading Cooper's style of writing. However, the imagery and detail Cooper uses far out weigh the difficulties in understanding his style. Being written in English, I could understand everything he wrote, it just took me longer to read.

As I alluded to, Cooper did a tremendous job of painting a picture in mind. I want to visit the Northeastern United States after reading about its beauty. I immediately noticed the attention he paid to detail compared to more modern authors I have read. Additionally, I feel Cooper portrayed Native Americans in positive light uncommon to his era. Rather than berating Native Americans in ignorance, he explained there ways of thinking and ceremonies. More importantly, he showed that every race has common values. Foremost of these is love. The love shared by the chief for his son, the white scout with his Indian friend, the Indian for Cora, all demonstrate that love can touch everyone. The last pages of this novel had more emotion than any I can recall.

I enjoyed reading this novel, and encourage all those who liked the movie or are looking for a good novel to read The Last of the Mohicans.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant
Review: Cooper's language in this novel is elegant, a product of the era in which it was written. His description of the Native American characters is also a sign of his time. He describes them at times as beautiful creatures amazingly in touch with nature, while at other times making them appear as savages. However, overall I felt the contrast was well done for he also does not always paint a perfect picture of the white settlers. The story has action but it's purpose is not necessarily to exite the reader in that way. It is more character driven and well defines the interaction between characters who come from completely different cultural backgrounds. It does have it's moments of good excitment though. A good book for those who can handle the diction and writing style of the 18th century.

Rating:
Summary: Fast-moving and exciting
Review: This book reads quickly, and really draws you in; Cooper paints each scene vividly. It's certainly romanticized, and by modern standards it's racist and sexist (which is understandable considering when Cooper wrote this book). Despite that, it's a great book. Uncas, the young Mohican warrior, is awesome and honorable. Cora, the main female character, has great attitude and stands up for herself. As a small warning, this book is actually more graphic than the movie version--I had to literally put the book down and focus my mind on something else to calm down after a certain part. I don't know, maybe other people aren't as bothered by that kind of thing. I definitely recommend this book, though. It is exciting to read!

Rating:
Summary: A ripping good yarn!
Review: Here is one of those books that is considered an American "classic" that few people have ever actually read. That is to say, fewer people than even the usual canon of classics. That's too bad, as this truly is an exceptional novel.

Cooper's overly-formal language that he invokes for the dialogue of his characters is likely to appear stilted to the modern reader. Also, the occasions of "conversation" that he shares with his readers is bound to seem a bit awkward. However, the epoch in which the author lived was far different than that of today. The style of this novel is somewhat foreign, but it is a style that Cooper inherited from Europeon novels of the period.

The narrative passages in the book are colorful and impressively descriptive. One cannot read this tale for long without getting the feeling that he / she is out in the forest (which is, of course, precisely the point). As a matter of fact, the novel has inspired me to someday visit the Hudson River, Lake George & some other key locales described in its pages.

One of the aspects of the story that surprised me was just how complicated the politics were between the Indian tribes. In truth, I knew very little about the Huron and Delaware tribes before I began reading. Since I finished the novel, I've found that Cooper's portrayal of the various races to be historically accurate. That's always a plus in any novel.

For those who would like to learn more about Indian history, this book is a must-read. As the definitive novel of the French & Indian war, the book would also be of interest to those who are intrigued by military history. In fact, one of the central scenes in the book details the horrifying massacre of the poor denizens of Fort William Henry, which is an actual historical event. Aside from these considerations, tho, it's just a good story - period.

Rating:
Summary: Almost There
Review: "The Last of the Mohicans" is the second and most popular installment of James Fenimore Cooper's "The Leatherstocking Tales". "The Last of the Mohicans" is the story of Natty Bumppo, his Mohican friend Chingachgook, and Chingachgook's son Uncas. Natty Bumppo, or Hawkeye, is an upstate New York woodsman who has become a member of Chingachgook's people, the branch of the Delaware Indians known as the Mohicans. They are the ones who have given him the name Hawkeye.

When the story opens, Hawkeye and his friends are helping to escort the daughters of British General Munro to his fort in colonial New York. The setting is during the French and Indian War so they are mainly wary of French allied Indians who might raid the party. Accompanying the convoy are several British troops, including Major Duncan, along with Magua, a member of an Indian nation belonging to the Iroquois Confederacy who are allies of the French and the sworn enemies of the British allied Delaware nations.

Magua holds a grudge against General Munro for having been physically punished by him and hence humiliated. Magua intends to exact his revenge on General Munro's daughters. He betrays the tarvel party and causes them to be captured by the French.

What follows is a tale of bravery and courage as Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas attempt to rescue the general's daughters from the unscrupulous Magua. Hawkeye and friends travel through the forests of New York tracking Magua until they meet in a final confrontation.

Cooper had begun writing stories like "The Last of the Mohicans" to prove that America could produce a quality literature of its own. He was upset with the quality of writing he read; so, after his wife suggested he try to do better himself, he picked up his pen and started one of the most enthralling literary sagas in history, that of the frontiersman Natty Bumppo.

Cooper's stories are more notable for their adventure and emphasis on character traits like courage and honesty than for their wordsmithing. Cooper was a good teller of stories but he didn't really accomplish the task he set out to in the beginning. America would have to wait 25 years after the publication of "The Last of the Mohicans" until it had a great literary achievement, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", that it could call its own. In the meantime, Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" entertains with a solid adventure and morality tale.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books Ever Written
Review: To be honest a story about the early frontier days is not the type of story that generally draws my attention, but since this book was on several lists as one of the top 100 books ever written I gave it a chance. Unlike others on these types of lists which did not live up to the hype, this one succeeded.

You are brought into another world and given a perspective of another culture. I couldn't believe a book written at that time would contain so much graphic images. I had read books before who had characters in them which they called savages, but it was not until this book that I actually saw what savagery really was. The aftermath of the attack on Fort William Henry contains some very shocking descriptions. Indians have different morals and superstitions, and Cooper does a good job of explaining the differences while at the same time differentiating between good and evil. Bravery as always is still highly respected by all.

The story was wonderful, and the characters were memorable. There is a lot of character development. Even the villain's character of Magua grows and grows, from a mer scout to a formidable opposing chief. Cora, is a very strong female character, which to me is unique for a story written during that time period. The character of David Gamut adds some humor and an image of a free spirit who stays true to his religion, but Hawkeye the scout, Uncas the warrior and his father Chingachgook are the powerful characters that anyone would want to emulate. Heyward the young British officer comes off a little stiff, but he is very honorable.

I liked the fact that Cooper incorporated some actual real life characters into his story and gave us all a little history lesson. For instance Washington is mentioned briefly and Cooper insinuates that Washington probably learned his guerilla tactics for fighting the British during his days in the French and Indian Wars. He also mentions two other real life generals in a way which adds to the story without being accused of character defamation.

I'm not sure if I would call this a love story since it was mostly filled with battle scenes and war tactics, but there was a lot of love to go around. Even with the differences in culture there is still a similarity between the love shown between the father Munro and his daughters, (as a father of two daughters myself I felt his anguish Munro felt in worrying about the safety of his girls), and the love shown between and the Indian father Chingachgook and his son Uncas. You have a special bond of brothers between Hawkeye and Uncas, and you also have the love story between Heyward and one of Munro's daughters as well.

While I found the book to be excellent, there are three minor criticisms I will make. Every character seems to have at least three names which is confusing at times. One which is their real name, another their friends call them, and yet a third which their enemies may bestow upon them. Also I do not speak French, and there are a few discussions throughout the book in French which are not interpreted. It didn't ruin the story since I could guess what was probably said, but it was slightly annoying. Finally the book title itself gives away more of the story than I would have liked with it's foreboding.

The character Alan Alda played on the old T.V. show M.A.S.H. had always said that his favorite book was "The Last of the Mohicans" and his favorite character was Hawkeye. Now I know why.