Americans

Rating:
Summary: A Grand Finale !!!
Review: Book 8 in The Kent Family Chronicles neatly wraps up the family history in a most satisfying way.Carter Kent, son of Julia and Louis, shows some of the weakness of character of his father and becomes embroiled with shady, criminal types, forcing him to head for San Francisco where he becomes an off-sider to a powerful political boss. Will Kent follows his dream of becoming a doctor and after an initial inclination to concentrate on becoming rich and famous by marrying the promiscuous daughter of a society family, realises his true potential and joins a practice in the N.Y. slums. Eleanor Kent, married to Leo, a Jewish actor, experiences for herself the prejudice against Jews directed against her for daring to marry a Jew. They are caught in the terrible Johnstown flood and the pattern of their lives is altered forever.
I'm sorry that this wonderful series has ended but am grateful for the very real insight into American history.

Rating:
Summary: John Jakes is the best!
Review: I first started the Kent Family Chronicles when I began teaching U.S. History. I learned so much, and there are stories that I will never forget. My family literally lost me for a few months, because I spent every available moment reading those books. It's been a few years since I've read them, but I'm thinking it's time to pick them up again. Be prepared to block out some time, because you won't put them down until you're done with all eight!

Rating:
Summary: John Jakes is the best!
Review: I first started the Kent Family Chronicles when I began teaching U.S. History. I learned so much, and there are stories that I will never forget. My family literally lost me for a few months, because I spent every available moment reading those books. It's been a few years since I've read them, but I'm thinking it's time to pick them up again. Be prepared to block out some time, because you won't put them down until you're done with all eight!

Rating:
Summary: You can't review this in just one line
Review: I have finally summed up enough time and courage to put myself to read through all the volumes in the "Kent Family Chronicles". I frankly don't know what took me so long to try and read them. Instead of resuming each book individually, I thought I'd gather all books into one single review and say that it has been perhaps the most entertaining time of my life. There's everything and anything any reader could possibly want. It's a massive compilation of historical detail gathered along with wonderfully crafted fiction. Its an overly dramatic saga, rich in tragedy, suspense, action, poignant love scenes. The person who reads these books and says they're nothing short of excellent truly does not know what great fiction storytelling is about. No wonder these books have received the critical acclaim they have. They are definitely books that stand in a class of their own. The bad thing about them is that there is an end to them...I am going to miss not reading about the Kents. Oh well, everything must end one day, I suppose. My admiration for John Jakes and his work is the only exception to this rule

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing end to an engaging series
Review: In many ways, this is the least effective Kent book. Gideon Kent dominates the other characters, and his determination to see that his family and the Kent name continue into the future is his dominant motivation. He dies in the book's final pages on the cusp of the twentieth century, his dreams fulfilled. Unfortunately, his unpleasantness as a character--building from the previous Kent book The Lawless--is a serious drawback. Why is it when the Kent men grow up (Philip, Louis), they become such unpleasantly conservative louts? The Americans reads to me like the work of a middle-aged man; only someone of middle-age could create without any sense of irony a character who does his best to dominate his family and stifle their plans and ideas to his own end, forgetting his own youth and energy in the process.

The fact that the book ends in 1900 also contributes to its comparative failure. Quite plainly, there is more story to tell, and Jakes' failure in his original plan to bring the Kent family up to 1976 is obvious. The three main surviving Kents--Eleanor, Will, and Carter--are each at crucial points in their lives when the story ends, and leaving them where they are with no sequel is not quite fair. Plainly, Jakes has things set up nicely for his characters to participate in the disaster of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 as well as the independence of India. Of the historical events and characters reproduced here, I found myself absolutely bored by Will's adventures in the Dakotas with Theodore Roosevelt. In contrast, the depiction of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 is probably the best of all the historical events recreated in the entire Kent series.

Rating:
Summary: Let's be realistic here ...
Review: My father gave me all 8 books for Christmas in 1980. In 2002 I finally got around to reading them! All in all I loved them, but I think some of the praise in these reviews is way over the top. One big complaint I have is that each chapter title gives away what is coming, like the snippets of coming scenes in a mini-series before the commercial. I found it rather insulting. But my biggest complaint is that John Jakes is so blatantly homophobic that it would be laughable if there weren't still people in the world who will take what he says at face value. Countless times in the series there are male characters that exhibit some form of creativity (Matt comes to mind with his painting), and instantly the parents are fearful that their child will grow up to be gay. I found these passages to be extremely offensive. But other than that, they are fun to read. Certainly not great literature, more like a soap opera.

Rating:
Summary: awesome, read all 8, the story gets better and better....
Review: sorry it had to end. I would read another 8 volumns if he were to continue...i try to figure out which kent had the best life and which one had the most difficult....i welcome any feedback.

Rating:
Summary: awesome, read all 8, the story gets better and better....
Review: sorry it had to end. I would read another 8 volumns if he were to continue...i try to figure out which kent had the best life and which one had the most difficult....i welcome any feedback.