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Yellow Jack: A Novel

Yellow Jack: A Novel

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: silly, poorly researched, obviously hoping for a movie deal
Review: Apparently this author spent all of an hour researching his material. This book is so fraught with historical errors it's like a how-not-to-write historical fiction primer. While some bending of facts is excusable whan a piece is well written, this isn't the case here. The author clearly doesn't understand his period, the 1840s mindset, certainly misunderstands New Orleans, and gets just about nothing right. It read to me like he was trying to come up with a "hip period" revisionist take on the truth simply to set up a big Hollywood deal or something. Hopefully the movie business will know better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Insightful and enticing
Review: As a native of New Orleans and amateur historian of Creole culture, I found Russell's depiction of the city highly plausible for the period. I'm a sucker for details and evidence of meticulous research when it comes to historical fiction, and Russell put a satisfied smile on my face with the first few pages. Therefore, I would have to disagree with the comment by the reader from Nevada. This is an insightful work for those who enjoy in depth character development. It's simlpy helpful to keep in mind that the main characters are not "des Américains." Furthermore, Russell raises some philosophical questions about art, death and desire which left me wishing the story were just a bit longer. So don't be disturbed if the story takes a provocative turn and leaves you a bit disturbed...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It takes all kinds...
Review: As the varied responses to this book show, there are all sorts of readers out there. I liked Russell's novel for several reasons. It is an engrossing look into the strange art of the daguerrotype, that phenomenon which swept America in the early and mid-19th century. It is an entertaining study of New Orleans, historically accurate or not, during the dreaded Yellow Fever years. It is a love story with peculiar twists and turns. But what I really liked were the ironic discrepancies between the daguerrotypes' captions, written by some present-day well-meaning art historian, and the actual truth behind the poses. I found the book to be a pleasure to read.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: Because I had heard so much about the detail and historical atmosphere in this book, I was looking forward to it with more enthusiasm than it deserves. I have to agree with the reader from Nevada who called this novel "revisionist." The author's depiction of Creole society was WAY OFF, especially where it applies to young unmarried females and the amount of freedom (none!) they had. My other criticisms about the lack of real research on the part of the author are picky and most have to do with the society and people of the time - although one concerned the inaccurate portrayal of burial practices, especially in times of epidemic! Mr. Russell got the streets right and knows about the heat, but beyond that, the mistakes were too blatant. They were enough to put me off - especially when coupled with a group of completely ammoral and unlikeable characters. The only redeeming element to this book was the intriguing structure - Mr. Russell is obviously a fine writer, and if not for all the hooplah surrounding this book, I probably would have kept my opinions to myself. I would urge the author to heed the advice of those who came before him and write what he knows.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: From "Publishers Weekly"
Review: Buoyantly detailed, briskly paced and masterfully sad, Russell's debut follows a fugitive apprentice through the shops, bedrooms, newspapers and streets of antebellum New Orleans.... The reader's excitement and interest come from negotiating three versions of the same story.... The three strands telegraph, diverge and ultimately divetail to a full set of wrenching and satisfying conclusions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great read
Review: I don't understand why someone, after reading the dust jacket, would think that this novel is "socially redeeming"! My goodness! Is Anne Rice "socially redeeming"? Norman Vincent Peale this ain't! What it is, is lusty, dark, sensual and well written. I'd highly recommend it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Good Effort
Review: I have very mixed feelings about this book. As a native of New Orleans who snaps up any book she can kind dealing with its history, I have to say this was not one of my personal favorites. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a real page turner either. I like the way it was written, using 3 points of view to convey the story and the story itself was not bad. I just really didn't like the characters with the exception of Millicent and I wish there had been more of her insights in this book. She was the only one I really cared about in the whole book. I also felt there was too much left out of this book for readers who may not be familiar with New Orleans' history pertaining to yellow fever, quadroons, customs etc. It did spark my interest in daugerrotypes and I plan to soon visit some museums to look at some of them, but other than that, I didn't take much away from this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The search for truth
Review: Josh Russell has written a novel about the nature of history and how historians search for it. The hero of this dark, disturbing tale is one Claude Marchand, though the name is a stolen one. Through time shifts and 3 narrators, the reader gathers bits and pieces of Claude's life with his two lovers, Millicent and Vivian, as the three of them live out their lives in New Orleans amid confusion, desire, and the yellow fever. What the reader learns is that history is often messy and not as clear as we might hope. The life of the artist is at question here, too, and it's often just as messy. When I read this novel, I was reminded of two other authors, the late Angela Carter, who retold fairy tales in her search for the elusive past, and A.S. Byatt who did the same thing in her fine novel, Possession. All of these novels are about the artist (some kind) and the artist's search for art and truth. It's never clear if any truth can be found, or that art is what we believe it to be. In fact, reading this novel makes we wonder if we are all unreliable narrators in the telling of our own history. I was deeply moved by Claude Marchand. He is not always kind or wise, and in many ways, his life is a tragic one. But then again, who knows? This is a novel that asks many questions. It's a beauty, though one of sheer horror. I don't think I will ever forget it. And it is certainly worth several good reads.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The search for truth
Review: Josh Russell has written a novel about the nature of history and how historians search for it. The hero of this dark, disturbing tale is one Claude Marchand, though the name is a stolen one. Through time shifts and 3 narrators, the reader gathers bits and pieces of Claude's life with his two lovers, Millicent and Vivian, as the three of them live out their lives in New Orleans amid confusion, desire, and the yellow fever. What the reader learns is that history is often messy and not as clear as we might hope. The life of the artist is at question here, too, and it's often just as messy. When I read this novel, I was reminded of two other authors, the late Angela Carter, who retold fairy tales in her search for the elusive past, and A.S. Byatt who did the same thing in her fine novel, Possession. All of these novels are about the artist (some kind) and the artist's search for art and truth. It's never clear if any truth can be found, or that art is what we believe it to be. In fact, reading this novel makes we wonder if we are all unreliable narrators in the telling of our own history. I was deeply moved by Claude Marchand. He is not always kind or wise, and in many ways, his life is a tragic one. But then again, who knows? This is a novel that asks many questions. It's a beauty, though one of sheer horror. I don't think I will ever forget it. And it is certainly worth several good reads.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Undisciplined Hashish Dream
Review: Mr Russel certainly knows how to write stylishly--I was startled by the power of the opening of the novel and hoped that I wouldn't be let down as it unfolded. In one sense, I wasn't disappointed. The fevered imagination of Claude and his mercury-enduced disintergration were brilliantly portrayed, and his descriptions of New Orleans during the epidemic reminded me of accounts of the Black Death. However, the novel as a whole reminded me of the diorama that Claude and Vivian go to watch near the end of the novel--a diorama that reveals a painted picture of New Orleans that only faintly resembles the real city. A young girl allowed such freedom at such a time? Given keys to other people's houses--to pet sit? Is this Antebellum New Orleans or modern New York? The two main characters were extremely absorbed and unsympathetic, and the novel swung wearisomely from descriptions of Claude photographing cholera vitims to accounts of copulations between Claude and Vivian. Also, I feel that the dispassionate descriptions of the daguerrotypes that are interspersed throughout robbed the novel of its admittedly melodramatic surprises. Despite these serious faults I admired the author's premise and his style, and am willing to read more of his (hopefully more mature) work.


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