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Women's Fiction
The Return of Tarzan

The Return of Tarzan

List Price: $42.00
Your Price: $42.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best Tarzan adventure
Review: "Return of Tarzan" is my favorite Tarzan book I have read. John Greystoke (Tarzan) has renounced his title and begins to return to the wild when he becomes involved in some Russian theives, then takes empolyment with the French Secret Service, and after a while goes back to Africa to become a cheif of a warrior tribe, finaly discovering Opar, an ancient jewel mine for Atlantis. Jane Porter has many adventures herself, getting involved with Russian spies (the same one Tarzan fought earlier) and then is ship wrecked in Africa, and is taken prisoner and offered up as human sacrifice by the pristess of Opar. The action is great, and I loved the description of nature, the jungles, deserts, and the oceans. The temple in Opar is very realistic (as far as this fantasy genere goes), and Tarzan is still pretty green to civilization, prefering the savage wilderness to the cities. There is only one complaint, and that's the huge coincidences that keep happening; both Tarzan and Jane run into the same people (the Russian and the Oparian pristess), it's just too much. But hey, this is nothing compared with what happens later in the series, when Burroughs gets really lazy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best Tarzan adventure
Review: "Return of Tarzan" is my favorite Tarzan book I have read. John Greystoke (Tarzan) has renounced his title and begins to return to the wild when he becomes involved in some Russian theives, then takes empolyment with the French Secret Service, and after a while goes back to Africa to become a cheif of a warrior tribe, finaly discovering Opar, an ancient jewel mine for Atlantis. Jane Porter has many adventures herself, getting involved with Russian spies (the same one Tarzan fought earlier) and then is ship wrecked in Africa, and is taken prisoner and offered up as human sacrifice by the pristess of Opar. The action is great, and I loved the description of nature, the jungles, deserts, and the oceans. The temple in Opar is very realistic (as far as this fantasy genere goes), and Tarzan is still pretty green to civilization, prefering the savage wilderness to the cities. There is only one complaint, and that's the huge coincidences that keep happening; both Tarzan and Jane run into the same people (the Russian and the Oparian pristess), it's just too much. But hey, this is nothing compared with what happens later in the series, when Burroughs gets really lazy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tarzan's adventures lead him to the city of Opar
Review: "The Return of Tarzan" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the second volume in the Tarzan series. First published in 1913, this book is a work of genius. There is something about Burroughs' writing that is captivating, and this book is no exception. "The Return of Tarzan" is a highly entertaining volume.

The book first starts with Tarzan on a ship going from New York to France. On this trip, he makes friends with a Countess and makes an enemy with her brother, a Russian. The Russian will attempt to cause Tarzan problems for the following months. After growing tired of France, Tarzan decides to return to Africa. However, his journey is beset with adventures in desert and wilderness.

The story leads to Tarzan finding Opar, the lost outpost of Atlantis, in the heart of Africa. Although both the men and women of Opar are white, the women retained their beauty, while the men are more ape-like in appearance. From here, there are more adventures and peril.

For great adventures, as you may have come to expect from Edgar Rice Burroughs, "The Return of Tarzan" will meet your needs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tarzan's adventures lead him to the city of Opar
Review: "The Return of Tarzan" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the second volume in the Tarzan series. First published in 1913, this book is a work of genius. There is something about Burroughs' writing that is captivating, and this book is no exception. "The Return of Tarzan" is a highly entertaining volume.

The book first starts with Tarzan on a ship going from New York to France. On this trip, he makes friends with a Countess and makes an enemy with her brother, a Russian. The Russian will attempt to cause Tarzan problems for the following months. After growing tired of France, Tarzan decides to return to Africa. However, his journey is beset with adventures in desert and wilderness.

The story leads to Tarzan finding Opar, the lost outpost of Atlantis, in the heart of Africa. Although both the men and women of Opar are white, the women retained their beauty, while the men are more ape-like in appearance. From here, there are more adventures and peril.

For great adventures, as you may have come to expect from Edgar Rice Burroughs, "The Return of Tarzan" will meet your needs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Return of Tarzan
Review: Great book for older children and general collectors alike!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Book 1 is unfair without 2
Review: I had started out saying "I'll just read one for a laugh," after going to the library with a friend on my way home from seeing Disney's new cartoon. My mom told me start with the first one but I could NOT stop there. I didn't think it was fair! Book #2 doesn't give everyone a happy ending but doesn't leave you complaining for the next month. After #1 leaves you with Jane engaged to Tarzan's cousin who now has his title, woman, and inheritance. This may sound odd but Tarzan also joins the French Secret Service! I may still laugh at the movies but I will never again laugh at the "real" Tarzan of the books! I don't think of Disney's show as Tarzan. It was fun, but it wasn't Tarzan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: burroughs was the best!
Review: I read these novels at least 3 times so far since I was about 13 and I'm 37 now. Tarzan of the books was always the best hero I have ever read TO DATE! I read everything in just about all genre's and Tarzan is still awesome. He influenced a lot of lives. Who would have thunk it?

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as the first in the series
Review: If you read Tarzan of the Apes, you have to read this sequel. The first book ends with too many plot lines unresolved not to find out what happens to them.

However, that is probably the only good reason to read this book.

Burroughs is inconsistent: William Cecil Clayton, known as Cecil in the first book, is suddenly known as William in this one. Characters simply drop out of the narrative. Olga de Coude, Alexis Paulvitch, Kadour ben Saden and his daughter, the faithful Abdul: All of these characters take a central role at one point or another to simply disappear without explanation.

As for Tarzan himself, his dialogue is jarringly incongruous: "'Civilized ways, forsooth,' scoffed Tarzan. 'Jungle standards do not countenance wanton atrocities'" (p. 31). Tarzan seems to spend half the book soliloquizing and the other half getting elected king of something or other, only to go off and abandon his subjects without a word.

The Return of Tarzan is not nearly as successful as its predecessor. If you read the first book, you'll want to read this one as well to find out how things turn out. However, based on the quality of this book, I would not delve any further into the series.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as the first in the series
Review: If you read Tarzan of the Apes, you have to read this sequel. The first book ends with too many plot lines unresolved not to find out what happens to them.

However, that is probably the only good reason to read this book.

Burroughs is inconsistent: William Cecil Clayton, known as Cecil in the first book, is suddenly known as William in this one. Characters simply drop out of the narrative. Olga de Coude, Alexis Paulvitch, Kadour ben Saden and his daughter, the faithful Abdul: All of these characters take a central role at one point or another to simply disappear without explanation.

As for Tarzan himself, his dialogue is jarringly incongruous: "'Civilized ways, forsooth,' scoffed Tarzan. 'Jungle standards do not countenance wanton atrocities'" (p. 31). Tarzan seems to spend half the book soliloquizing and the other half getting elected king of something or other, only to go off and abandon his subjects without a word.

The Return of Tarzan is not nearly as successful as its predecessor. If you read the first book, you'll want to read this one as well to find out how things turn out. However, based on the quality of this book, I would not delve any further into the series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Charming Yarn
Review: In a way, Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Return Of Tarzan is his most exemplary work. That is to say, it contains the best examples of what works and what doesn't in Burroughs' fiction.

First, what doesn't:

1) If you have a problem with ridiculous coincidences, The Return Of Tarzan is probably not for you. I sometimes think "Serendipity" is Burroughs' real middle name. For example: in ROT, Tarzan is thrown overboard and swims ashore to the same spot on the west coast of Africa where he was born. A little later, Jane Porter, the love of Tarzan's life, is shipwrecked at the EXACT SAME SPOT.

(Wait, it gets better.)

Finallly, Paul D'Arnot, Tarzan's best friend, JUST HAPPENS to be patroling that same strech of African coast and JUST HAPPENS to decide to investigate Tarzan's birthplace AT THE SAME TIME that Tarzan and Jane are there.

I mean, come ON.

2) As Gore Vidal has pointed out, Burroughs couldn't write dialogue to save his life. For example, in ROT he has Rokoff, the novel's heavy, exclaim, "Name of a name!". Does anyone talk like this? Has anyone EVER talked like this?

Next, what does:

1) Burroughs is, as much if not more so than any writer of his generation, a natural born yarn-spinner. If I had to pick any writer, living or dead, to sit around the campfire with my friends and I and keep us entertained, Burroughs would probably be the one.

2) Burroughs was absolutely gifted in describing action, fight scenes in particular. I think the great Robert E. Howard may have been his only peer in this regard.

3) Burroughs probably gets more mileage out of the "fish-out-of-water" scenario than any writer I've ever read. My favorite example of this is a scene in which Tarzan, wild man of Africa, is depicted haunting the libraries and museums of Paris by day, and sipping absinthe(!) and smoking cigarettes at Parisian clubs by night. What a picture! Did he ever run into Ernest Hemingway? Now THERE'S an idea for a story!

Upon reading The Return Of Tarzan, many would say it's a fairy tale, pure escapism.

Well, thank goodness for that. Burroughs may not have been a peer of the Vidals and Hemingways of the world; nonetheless, we need him just as much.


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