Reviews for Captivating Mary Carstairs

The average rating for Captivating Mary Carstairs based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-19 00:00:00 Tanice Hinson Anyone who knows how much I adore Jack London may be surprised to see a DNF from me for this book. I blame it on the foreword. I guess I never should have read it. After reading The Abysmal Brute, i made a super-short list of other London titles that were not set in his usual locations and/or were not about his usual topics. This was the first one I chose to read, and when I saw this first paragraph of that infamous foreword, at first I was intrigued: "I hope the reader will forgive me for beginning this foreword with a brag. In truth, this yarn is a celebration. By its completion I celebrate my fortieth birthday, my fiftieth book, my sixteenth year in the writing game, and a new departure. "Hearts of Three" is a new departure. I have certainly never done anything like it before; I am pretty certain never to do anything like it again. And I haven't the least bit of reticence in proclaiming my pride in having done it. And now, for the reader who likes action, I advise him to skip the rest of this brag and foreword, and plunge into the narrative, and tell me if it just doesn't read along." That sounded pretty cool, but even though I like action, I read the rest of the foreword and learned that this book is a novelization by London of a movie script by Charles Goddard, the man responsible for The Perils Of Pauline and other such films. Comes now Mr. Charles Goddard to one, Jack London, saying: "The time, the place, and the men are met; the moving pictures producers, the newspapers, and the capital, are ready: let us get together." And we got. Result: "Hearts of Three." Well, I still thought it would be pretty cool. But then I got to thinking, and I decided that I really did not want to read such a thing, even if it was written by one of my favorite authors. It was not an original idea by London, it was merely a reworking of someone else's idea. Even if London would have been expected to put his own stamp on the story, he still had to follow the other man's plot lines and characterizations, not create any of his own. I just couldn't face it. Even less when I skimmed the beginning of the first chapter. I have four other 'unusual' London titles waiting for me, so I will go on ahead to the next one and leave this one where it lies. I will also not be giving a rating, since it really is not fair to rate any book just on its foreword and my own prejudices against the creative process by which it was made. DNF after the foreword.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-29 00:00:00 John Holloman В детстве эта книга мне очень нравилась (ну, еще бы - там столько приключений, поиски сокровищ и все в таком роде)!!!!!!! Но прочитав сейчас, увидел, что на приключениях и сериальных страстях далеко не уедешь. Книги любых жанров (в том числе и развлекательных) могут и должны нести в себе что-то настоящее, реальное, то, что каждый читатель может найти в своей собственной жизни. А когда этого нет, то книга выглядит как некое надувательство, как проявление неуважения к читателю!!!