From Library Journal Jacobs's entertaining new novel (following Beautiful Soup: A Novel for the 21st Century, Celadon, 1993) is inspired by real events. The Cardiff Giant was one of the greatest hoaxes of the previous century. Discovered in October 1869 on a farm in New York, the 10' tall, 3000-lb. statue was thought by "experts" to be the petrified remains of a prehistoric man but was shortly revealed to be the brainchild of George Hull, of Binghamton, New York, who had the Giant carved by stonemasons in Chicago. Thousands paid to look at the giant, which excited the envy even of P.T. Barnum. Jacobs juggles a large cast of both real (e.g., Tom Thumb, Cornelius Vanderbilt) and fictional characters, all of whom find their lives changed by their involvement with the Cardiff Giant. This is a very funny, rambunctiously raunchy novel that, at the same time, makes pointed comments about American attitudes during the last half of the 19th century. The relative dearth of recent humorous fiction should make this novel welcomed by most public library patrons.?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, SeattleCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews A fascinating picaresque novel, set in postCivil War America, by the underrated comic surrealist whose previous fiction includes The Egg of the Glak (1969). First things first: This is a masterpiece. It's the story, based on fact, of a hoax perpetrated in 1869 by one George Hull, black-sheep son of a Binghamton, New York, cigar-making family, who, upon hearing an overzealous preacher's assertion that the biblical ``Giants in those days'' may have existed in America, hires sculptors to construct a huge simulated human figure, buries it on his cousin's Cardiff, New York, farm, and arranges for the ``discovery'' of what will thereafter be known (and widely advertised as) ``the Cardiff Giant.'' Among those who scramble for a piece of the giant, and the action, are plutocrat Cornelius Vanderbilt, showman extraordinaire P.T. Barnum (who harbors presidential ambitions), actor Edwin Booth, scheming boxing promoters who exhibit ``Battling Mammoths,'' journalist Barnaby Race (who seeks both the truth and a good story), and a less-than- heavenly host of clergy, grifters, and dupes who display several highly amusing varieties of mass hysteria. The novel is a poker- faced paean to American enterprise, hucksterism, and criminality, energized by Jacobs's easy mastery of period detail and rhetoric (he even contrives a marvelously florid verse attributed to an impressionable poet who visits ``the giant's'' remains). And, in a spectacular magic-realist twist, Jacobs presents (in italicized interpolated fragments of dialogue) what seem to be the thoughts of the nonexistent giant--``created,'' perhaps, by George Hull's greed and by his country's hunger to believe in such marvels. P.T. Barnum sums up George Hull's nefarious accomplishment beautifully: ``What you did was a wonder and a legend for the ages. A beautiful scam and splendidly wrought.'' The same may be said of Harvey Jacobs's stunningly inventive and charming fiction--arguably this year's best novel. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. See all Editorial Reviews
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真正让我对这部作品产生强烈共鸣的,是它对“梦想”与“代价”之间复杂关系的探讨。书中所呈现的那些宏伟的构想和惊人的成就,其背后所需要的牺牲和付出的代价,被刻画得入木三分,令人心惊。作者没有回避那些不那么光彩的角落,那些被胜利的叙事所掩盖的妥协、挣扎乃至失败。这种坦诚,让这部作品摆脱了简单的颂扬,上升到了对人类雄心壮志的深刻反思。它提出了一个尖锐的问题:当个体或群体被巨大的目标驱动时,边界在哪里?为了实现那个“大我”,可以牺牲多少“小我”?书中的人物,无论其最终的境遇如何,都带着一种强烈的、近乎偏执的追求,他们的成功和挫折,都成为了这个宏大主题下的生动注脚。读完之后,脑海中留下的不是简单的故事复述,而是一种对“伟大”二字背后沉重含义的久久咀嚼。
评分我必须强调这本书在语言风格上的那种独特的“质感”。它不是那种华丽辞藻堆砌的矫饰文风,也不是过于平铺直叙的干巴巴的记录。相反,它选择了一种沉稳、内敛却又力量十足的语调,仿佛一位饱经风霜的长者在讲述一段既痛苦又荣耀的往事。句子大多简洁有力,但恰到好处的比喻和象征却能瞬间点亮整个画面,将抽象的概念具象化。在描绘冲突和压力时,作者的文字充满了克制,这种克制反而比直接的呐喊更具穿透力,让人感受到那种深埋于人物内心的巨大能量。这种语言的张力,使得即便是描述日常的琐碎片段,也蕴含着对时代脉搏的敏锐捕捉。阅读时,我仿佛能听到那个时代特有的噪音——机器的轰鸣、人群的喧哗、秘密会议的低语——因为作者的文字具有极强的感官代入感。它成功地做到了,既尊重历史的严肃性,又不失文学作品应有的审美愉悦。
评分这部作品的细节考据工作达到了令人难以置信的程度,它让我对信息搜集和交叉验证的严谨性有了全新的认识。仿佛作者不仅查阅了所有公开的档案,甚至深入到一些极少被触及的私人信件和口述记录之中,才得以拼凑出如此完整且多维度的图景。这种对“真实”的执着追求,使得作品的每一根骨架都无比坚固,不容置喙。然而,最难能可贵的是,作者没有让这些考据的成果变成冰冷的史料堆砌。相反,所有的事实都经过了艺术的提炼和重构,为叙事服务,为人物命运服务。它不是一本教科书,而是一个由无数真实碎片精心打磨而成的、具有强烈艺术感染力的故事。当我合上书页时,我确信我已经不仅仅是“了解”了某个事件,而是“体验”了那个时代所特有的空气,感受到了那些在历史的聚光灯下或阴影中挣扎的人们的呼吸。这份对细节的尊重,是对历史本身最大的敬意。
评分这本书的结构设计简直是精妙绝伦,它不拘泥于线性的时间叙事,而是像一个多棱镜,从不同的侧面、不同的时间点切入,不断折射出事件的核心光芒。这种非线性的叙事技巧,非但没有造成阅读上的混乱,反而极大地增强了悬念和信息密度。每当我觉得自己似乎把握住了故事的主脉络时,作者又会突然抛出一个全新的视角或是一段被忽略已久的回忆片段,瞬间又将整个图景重塑,迫使读者重新审视之前的所有判断。这种高超的驾驭能力,体现了作者对素材的深度理解和娴熟的文学功底。特别是那些看似游离、实则暗藏关键线索的支线情节,最终汇集成一股强大的力量,推动着主题的升华。它挑战了传统传记或历史叙事的窠臼,更像是一部精心编排的交响乐,各个声部时而独立奏鸣,时而交织融合,最终达到和谐而有力的顶点。这种阅读体验,是那种你既想一口气读完,又忍不住放慢速度细细品味的矛盾快感。
评分这部作品,那种扑面而来的历史的厚重感和个体命运的微观视角交织在一起的叙事方式,实在让人印象深刻。它仿佛带领我们走进了一个特定的时代背景,去触摸那些真实发生过的、却又带着传奇色彩的事件。作者在构建宏大叙事的同时,对细节的把握达到了近乎苛刻的地步,使得每一个场景、每一个人物的抉择都显得那么有血有肉,充满了那个时代特有的张力和挣扎。我特别欣赏它那种不动声色地揭示人性复杂面的手法,没有廉价的道德审判,只有对人在极端环境下的真实反应的冷静描摹。那种历史的洪流裹挟着个体在其中奋力挣扎,却又似乎无力抗拒的宿命感,读来令人唏嘘。阅读过程中,我时常会停下来,去想象书中所描绘的那些场景在现实中会是何等震撼的景象,作者的笔触既有新闻报道的精准,又融合了史诗般的浪漫主义色彩,成功地让那些尘封的往事重新焕发出光彩和温度。整本书读下来,感觉就像经历了一场漫长而深刻的旅行,不仅是对历史的回望,更是对我们自身存在意义的一次无声叩问。
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