Rating: 
Summary: I Waited 35 Years for This?
Review: "Little Big Man" is easily one of my top ten all time favorite books. I also enjoyed the movie with Dustin Hoffman. Without a moments hesitation, I scooped up this book and settled down for what I hoped was another wild adventure with Jack Crabb. Sadly, I think I would have been better off having left the book in the remainder bin where I found it and watched the original on DVD instead.Without rehashing the plot that other reviewers have already gone over, I would describe RoLBM as "more of less". More of the Old West stories without the compelling drama. Famous names wander into view from stage left and exit stage right without giving the reader any sense of awe. "Oh look, here comes Sitting Bull. There he goes. How nice." It is my personal opinion that the main reason an author waits 35 years to publish a sequel to his most famous work is due less to need for creative outlet and more the desire for financial gain. That the author broadly hints at yet a third book tends to back my theory up. Not that authors aren't entitled to make money but art should fall in there somewhere.
Rating:
Summary: I Waited 35 Years for This?
Review: "Little Big Man" is easily one of my top ten all time favorite books. I also enjoyed the movie with Dustin Hoffman. Without a moments hesitation, I scooped up this book and settled down for what I hoped was another wild adventure with Jack Crabb. Sadly, I think I would have been better off having left the book in the remainder bin where I found it and watched the original on DVD instead. Without rehashing the plot that other reviewers have already gone over, I would describe RoLBM as "more of less". More of the Old West stories without the compelling drama. Famous names wander into view from stage left and exit stage right without giving the reader any sense of awe. "Oh look, here comes Sitting Bull. There he goes. How nice." It is my personal opinion that the main reason an author waits 35 years to publish a sequel to his most famous work is due less to need for creative outlet and more the desire for financial gain. That the author broadly hints at yet a third book tends to back my theory up. Not that authors aren't entitled to make money but art should fall in there somewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: 36 years is an astonishingly long time for a sequel, and there are siginificant differences between Berger's 1964 original (which inspired a movie of the same name, starring a young Dustin Hoffman) and the Return. The Return of Little Big Man, as entertainment, is as entertaining as the original: what I am concerned about here is situating the two books in MODERN American history, and a flaw in character development. Although historical romance can be a good guide to real history (and George MacDonald Fraser, whose Flashman series bears more than a passing resemblance to Lttle Big Man, has pointed this out in Fraser's Hollywood History of the World), it is in a sense impossible to extricate the historical romance from its own time. The original book and the movie appeared at a time, the 1960s, in which the American story of the frontier was undergoing a rapid change as a consequence of the Vietnam war. In a sense, our adventure in Vietnam was a continuation of our Western adventures which attempted to transfer Manifest Destiny across a rather large ocean...and which failed. There are echoes of these concerns in the book and the movie Little Big Man (which came out about 1969) made a conscious comparision of our Western policies with our Vietnam policies. Thirty years on and partly as a consequence of the many social changes that occured in the 1960s, a sort of Victorianism has returned to the USA: for one thing, sheer hypocrisy is no longer laughed out of court...as evidenced by the Starr investigation of Clinton. As a result, Berger's latter-day Jack Crabbe, the "sole white survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn", is a different persona than the picaresque individual of the first book [parenthetically, and judging from Berger's first novel, George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman and the Redskins" and many other works, Greasy Grass was quite crowded with white survivors. Apparently there were dozens of unaccounted scouts, 'breeds, British officers, mad bishops and perhaps a German band present at the battle :-).] A "picaresque" novel, which the original novel was and the sequel isn't, is at least supposed to be the comic adventures of a character of lower morals than ours. Fraser carries this off quite nicely in Flashman, and has an attractive breeziness with regards to his character (the bully of the 19th century book by Thomas Arnold who in Fraser goes on to be present at most military disasters of the 19th century British empire.) Fraser does not judge Flash Harry and Flash Harry, speaking through Fraser, does not try to be better than he is. Flashy honestly loves, lusts, and sees the dawn "come up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay." But the latter-day Jack Crabbe seems to strain away from the Wild West towards something finer and to at one and the same time want a more gilded and virtuous existence...yet betray himself at the critical point. The original Jack Crabbe "knowed Custer for what he wuz" and knew hisself for what he wuz. The latter day Jack Crabbe is much more ambivalent about his existence on the frontier and somewhat contemptuous of men like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. He judges them harshly, when he himself gets drunk in New York when he thinks his inamarota (Amanda Teasdale, a defender of the Indians and a precursor of the Politically Correct) has gotten married. I cannot tell Mr Berger, who has written an excellent and entertaining book, how to build a character. But I do notice that whereas the first Jack Crabbe reserved his judgement for societies that exterminated the native peoples of this continent, the latter day Crabbe tends more to judge people. This is less an artistic flaw than an indication of how America has changed from 1964 to 1999. It does deprive us of the pleasure and scandal of the picaresque, and, in Victorian terms, The Return of Little Big Man is less titillating and more of an Improving Moral Tale. I am old enough to have lived in certain dying embers of the Victorian age: my grandparent's parlor was in that style. This is probably why I am titillated by the picaresque in the first place. To relate to Flash Harry, one has to have, like Clinton and I, scuttled for cover during the Vietnam war. Berger's first novel constructed, in the figure of the Hehmaneh, an alternative to the modal midcentury American male. Nowadays, absent the military draft, this is probably not as attractive to younger readers...and it seems that Berger is at pains to tell us in this book that the Hehmaneh were uncommon, and to have Jack Crabbe be positively contemptuous of "queeries" (Crabbe's hilarious mispronunciation of the Prince of Wales' "equerries") who Jack thinks are tutti-fruity. Here there is a shift back to intolerance. It is my view that a novelist, if the novelist is constructing a non-picaresque role model character, should not in any way have that character, at the end of the day, have unattractive personal traits...but Crabbe's limitations are just these. Shakespeare's Hamlet says, use every man according to his deserts, and none of us should 'scape whipping...not Flash Harry, nor Wyatt Earp. In the great desert of American fiction, in which unattractive-but-cool characters are more or less force fed to the reader (as in the unspeakable Tom Wolfe) one does look in vain for Flashman, or Hamlet, or even Captain Ahab.
Rating: 
Summary: Myths and realities
Review: Even in this technological age, North America frontier mythology remains strong. Star Trek, that manifestly American idea, proclaimed space as the 'final frontier'. As Berger states, the North American frontier experience was unique and permeated popular thinking. No other culture has so staunchly believed in the ideal of expansion into 'empty lands' and 'development' of physical resources. However, as Berger's two part story of Jack Crabb reminds us, the land wasn't empty. An indigenous population vainly resisted European encroachment for over two centuries. Failure to hold their territory left them scornfully dismissed as 'backward'. Film, radio, books and finally, television combined in reinforcing the image of 'savages' being replaced by triumphant civilization. Berger's Little Big Man probably did more to disabuse the North American public of its misconceptions of Native Americans than any other single work. Assigning this book to students in the 1960's resulted in shock and not infrequently, resentment, at the distruction of closely held myths. Berger's depiction of the Cheyenne made them truly 'human beings', not hostile savages. The Washita and Sand Creek massacres were big news to students of the '60s who ardently believed Indians 'got what they deserved' after the Little Big Horn. The Return of Little Big Man takes us beyond the slaughter at the Greasy Grass [Little Big Horn] into that era when North America was realizing the frontier was closing. With the Indians driven to reservations or into Canada, Jack finds himself moving through such notorious sites as Dodge City, Deadwood and Tombstone. Berger uses Crabb's wanderings to move the focus from Native Americans to the 'gunslingers' and opportunists who provided the foundation of the frontier myth. Crabb encounters Hickock, Cody, the Earps and others any North American will readily identify. Skillfully keeping Crabb merely an observer of the Western scene, Berger's careful research begins to peel the patina of sanctity held by these figures for several generations. He condemns none, but paints them in more realistic hues, even modifying his earlier opinion of Custer. Berger employs Cody's Wild West show as a vehicle for broadening Crabb's views of people and places. In an era when noveau riche Americans were taking Grand Tours of Europe, the show paralleled those journeys while introducing an image of frontier life. The validity of the image is irrelevant, the show was a huge success. Crabb acts to typify American attitudes about Europeans. Berger adds the Sioux for still another viewpoint, and the visit with the Pope is a high point of the book. This aspect alone should give this book greater appeal with readers in Europe. More to the point, these same readers may finally glean a clearer knowledge of the North American frontier. The judas kiss given the Native Americans by Hollywood and television will not be an easy stigma to erase without extensive research. Clearly, Berger has done the research, presenting the results in his usual lively manner. There is no doubt that The Return of Little Big Man fails to equal the novelty value of the first volume of Crabb's biography. While the Sioux somewhat replace the Cheyenne of the earlier work, clearly their life has been changed by the closing of the frontier. The episode of Sitting Bull points up many facets of these changes. The focus on legendary white figures of the post-Civil War era is extensive. While a good background in frontier history enhances the reading of the story, it isn't a requirement. The story of Jack Crabb stands quite alone in itself.
Rating: 
Summary: A thundering bore....
Review: I first encountered Jack Crabbe about 35 years ago, and later enjoyed the loose and anachronistic film adaptation of the novel, starring Dustin Hoffmann, so I looked forward to finding out what happened to Jack after the death of Old Lodge Skins. Alas, Jack has changed a lot. The latest installment of his adventures (to use the word loosely) runs nearly 450 pages, and to call it plodding and largely eventless is to err on the side of complementary. Bookended by the deaths of Wild Bill Hickock and Sitting Bull, Crabbe's tale this time is largely about his travels with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The author succeeds best on the very small scale of specific incident--- Crabbe's interactions with Prince Bertie and Queen Victoria, for example, are priceless. But by and large, the novel is just an "info-dump," with dozens of pages of fairly undigested research narrated fairly humorlessly by Crabbe, interspersed with episodes of self-pity and a general and well-deserved feeling of worthlessness on Crabb's part--- he never finds work as anything more than a bartender. As in many recent novels, such as THE YEAR THE CLOUD FELL, the plains Indians are given preposterous New Age supernatural powers, which fit incongruously with the totally hum-drum and tedious events being narrated. The novel lacks a villain, other than the odious Wyatt Earp, and he never really gets onstage, nor does he get a satisfactory comeuppance. At the novel's end, Jack threatens either to die in his sleep, or to give vent to yet another 450 pages on events between 1893 and 1950. I am afraid it is pretty much a tossup as to which I would prefer to see happen!
Rating:
Summary: Welcome back, Jack Crabb!
Review: I remember quite fondly the movie "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman, so when I discovered that there were further adventures of Jack Crabb I purchased this sequel. It reveals more tales of Jack's adventures with some of the Old West's most colorful characters such as Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody, Chief Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley, etc.. It's a book that is never dull, and the characters, both real and invented, mesh seamlessly in the narrative. It's not the West that you might remember from the old cowboy shows on television, but it's certainly a more vibrant place, and definitely more true to life. The book only takes us up to about 1893, so I sincerely hope that ol' Jack has more tales to tell, and that we'll see them in book form shortly.
Rating:
Summary: It's no Little Big Man, but still a great read
Review: In order to fully enjoy "Return" you'd have to read the original, "Little Big Man." However, having read Jack Crabb's earlier adventures (living among the Cheyenne, consorting with Wild Bill Hickock and surving Custer's Last Stand) readers will find that there's nothing like the first time. After all, which is more interesting, living in the Wild West or performing with a Wild West show? Living among the Plains Indians on the plains or in late 19th century New York? All that said it's nice to hang out with Crabb again. Author Thomas Berger has created one of American literatures greatest characters. In this chapter of his life (1876 through 1892) our narrator tells of more encounters with famous Americans ranging from Bat Masterson to Jane Addams and including Wyatt Earp and Sitting Bull. Mostly we hang out with Buffalo Bill Cody (a bit too much for taste). Cody's Wild West show is a splendid vehicle for Crabb's further adventures but a few detours along the way would have been welcome. Crabb/Berger hint broadly at a third installment. Reading that I get the same twin feelings of anticipation and dread as I do with the coming of movie sequels. All that said, if you've read and enjoyed "Little Big Man" then this sequel is must reading.
Rating:
Summary: It's no Little Big Man, but still a great read
Review: In order to fully enjoy "Return" you'd have to read the original, "Little Big Man." However, having read Jack Crabb's earlier adventures (living among the Cheyenne, consorting with Wild Bill Hickock and surving Custer's Last Stand) readers will find that there's nothing like the first time. After all, which is more interesting, living in the Wild West or performing with a Wild West show? Living among the Plains Indians on the plains or in late 19th century New York? All that said it's nice to hang out with Crabb again. Author Thomas Berger has created one of American literatures greatest characters. In this chapter of his life (1876 through 1892) our narrator tells of more encounters with famous Americans ranging from Bat Masterson to Jane Addams and including Wyatt Earp and Sitting Bull. Mostly we hang out with Buffalo Bill Cody (a bit too much for taste). Cody's Wild West show is a splendid vehicle for Crabb's further adventures but a few detours along the way would have been welcome. Crabb/Berger hint broadly at a third installment. Reading that I get the same twin feelings of anticipation and dread as I do with the coming of movie sequels. All that said, if you've read and enjoyed "Little Big Man" then this sequel is must reading.
Rating:
Summary: Berger sets to mending the tattered reputatio of sequels
Review: In Twain's footsteps Critics tend to gush over Thomas Berger. He's been called the new Mark Twain. One of the most important writers of this century. Read "The Return of Little Big Man." You'll understand why. In his latest work, the author of 20 novels returns to the story of Little Big Man (a.k.a. Jack Crabb). We first met Crabb in 1964 in the original "Little Big Man." Thirty-five years later, Berger reprises the character in an effort that brings honor to the tattered reputation of sequels. Again, Crabb, who's well past his 100th year, is reminiscing about his life in the Old West. And an adventurous life it is. In many respects, he is the Forrest Gump of his time. Despite being a lowly bartender, his path continually crosses the biggest names in the West: Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickock, Annie Oakley, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Sitting Bull and, for good measure, the Pope and the Queen of England. The result is a personalized, everyman's perspective of the era's legends. The plot is delivered in a series of encounters with such notables. But where Berger truly shines is in Crabb's observations on life. He speaks in the rich, unlettered voice of another time - hence the Twain comparisons. Yet he manages to be insightful, educational and disarmingly funny all at once. Crabb bounds about the West, busting myths, telling tall tales and offering eccentric commentary on the period. This is fiction at its best. Don't let the Western theme put you off. Berger ably meshes biography with comedy, love stories with history, without any one element pushing another away. Best of all, you'll get to see Berger, one of the great craftsmen of our time, at work.
Rating:
Summary: Berger Rides Again
Review: Jack Crabb returns from the dead a more boring person than when he left us last, lo these many years ago. Instead of an intriguing, humorous historical novel of the post-Little-Big-Horn West wehave a formulaic series of anecdotes about the big names such as Wild Bill, Wyatt Erp and Buffalo Bill. Predictably, all of the success of these characters is due to Jack Crabb's intervention and after several hundred pages, enough is enough. Very little new information can be found and the settings requires a suspension of disbelief that becomes unwilling after a few days. In a world full of books, this oneisn't particularly bad but there are so many good ones you won't otherwise get to if you start this one that I advise you not to do so.
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