Silvis, Randall

North of Unknown: Mina Hubbard's Extraordinary Expedition into the Labrador Wilderness

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Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard
Others do it better
A labor for love in Labrador

North of Unknown: Mina Hubbard's Extraordinary Expedition into the Labrador Wilderness
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Lure of the Labrador Wild (Arctic Adventure)
Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure (Kodansha Globe)
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The Woman Who Mapped Labrador: The Life And Expedition Diary Of Mina Hubbard

ASIN: 1592287557

Customer Reviews:

Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard.......2007-01-07

Any who enjoy history blended with adventure will relish the turn-of-the-century adventurer Mina Hubbard, who journeyed into the Labrador wilderness and changed from a rural nurse into a celebrated female explorer. Mina's husband died of starvation while trying to map Labrador's interior in 1903: wife Mina was devastated not only by his death, but by his partner's accusation that the expedition failed due to her husband's incompetence. Mina launched her own expedition simultaneous to partner Dillon Wallace's second attempt: she followed her late husband's original route and with a native crew won the race to chart Labrador - and became the first white women to contact the elusive Naskapis Indians. Original source material and memoirs blend with Randall Silvis' masterful history in NORTH OF UNKNOWN: MINA HUBBARD'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPEDITION INTO THE LABRADOR WILDERNESS.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Others do it better.......2006-07-03

THere were a few other books about Mina Hubbard before the centenary last year, by far the best of which is 'Lost Lands, Forgotten Stories' by British writer Alexandra Pratt, who combines Mina's story with her own as she re-traces Mina's route across Labrador. Rugge and Davis also wrote a fictionalised version of Mina's trip back in '85, which is worth a read.

A labor for love in Labrador.......2006-06-17

Mina Hubbard was devastated when her husband died exploring the interior of Labrador. Upon return members of his expeditionary team members told reporters that they were not well equipped. She felt these statements made Leonidas Hubbard look like a foolish amateur, and wondered if this team did all it could to help him survive.

Silvis poses that to clear the family name the grieving widow left her upstate NY life and struck out on the same trail. I think she went to be closer to Leonidas (Laddy)... be where he was... see what he saw. Mina chose a crew of 4 Indians, including George, who spoke a native tongue and had been on her husband's expedition. What ever the reason she did it, once on the trail, the trip took on new motivations: survival, competition, discovery.

Dillon Wallace, who leveled the criticism of that expedition to the press, also hired a crew and hit the trail simultaneously.

As Mina travels, she marvels at the land, learns to eat fresh meat and work as a team. Mina's journals and maps survive longer and stronger than Wallace's who made the bigger media splash upon return. Both spend 3 days in Ungava Bay and avoided each other (cannot imagine, since this is only a settlement).

This is a nicely written piece of forgotten history and it has everyday heroes. It's written for adults, but I'd like to see it find its way to high school reading lists.

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A must-read for mystery buffs and Poe fans alike
An interesting read...
Poe mystery evokes New York
New York Times review
Exciting historical mystery

On Night's Shore: A Novel
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Disquiet Heart: A Thriller

ASIN: 0312982100

Amazon.com

Fans of Caleb Carr's historical mysteries will lap up this well-told tale of murder, mayhem, poetry, prose, and political corruption in mid-19th- century New York. The poetry and prose comes from Edgar Allan Poe, the mayhem from young Augie Dubbins, a street urchin befriended by Poe when he leads the writer to the body of a murdered girl trapped under a pier in the Hudson River. The unlikely duo join forces, visiting the darkest, dirtiest slums and opium dens of the city as well as its glittering mansions to track down the story behind the death of Mary Rogers, a shop girl whose connection with the power brokers of the city is at the heart of this literary mystery.

Augie's love for Poe, who seems like the father he never had, drives the narrative as strongly as the inner demons that beset the struggling poet, encountered here a decade before his final descent into the darkness he so brilliantly depicted. Although Poe's death is foreshadowed here (the story is told from the perspective of an Augie grown old after his own career as a writer), it doesn't detract from the immediacy of the story or the emotional resonance of the relationship between an unlikely pair of heroes this reader strongly hopes to meet again. --Jane Adams

Book Description

Seldom does a historical thriller so authentically re-create a time and place as does ON NIGHT'S SHORE. In the tradition of Ragtime and The Alienist, critically acclaimed author Randall Silvis breathes life into this intriguing crime story featuring Edgar Allan Poe, the father of all detective stories, whose brooding imagination was the coal that fueled his genius. Here, Silvis gives us a window to peer into Poe's troubled psyche as he finds himself caught up in a mire of greed, lust, and murder....The year is 1840 and New York City is captivated by the mysterious murder of a beautiful shopgirl. The discovery of the body of Mary Rogers in the Hudson River prompts a young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe to search for the truth behind an apparently motiveless crime. Joining him in his investigation is Augie Dubbins, an orphaned street urchin who becomes Poe's most trusted ally. Using intuition and rational thinking, Poe and Augie recreate the last days of the victim's secret life.Narrated by the precocious Augie, the story swings wildly from the hidden depths of the Five Points slums to the glittering mansions of Fifth Avenue society. As Poe and his sidekick gather information, a sadistic killer threatens to destroy everything they've worked for. The clock is ticking, and Poe must solve the mystery or become a victim himself.AUTHORBIO: RANDALL SILVIS is the author of the acclaimed novels Mysticus and An Occasional Hell and is an accomplished playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He is the winner of the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize as well as the recipient of two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

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Even in the 1840s, New Yorkers possessed a fine appreciation of the macabre, and when the body of a beautiful young woman is found in the Hudson River, all of Manhattan is fascinated by the case. At least for a day or so. The victim's youth and beauty, while the very things that make her death so poignant, are at the same time undoubtedly the virtues that enticed her murderers. The stirring account of the tragedy in the Mirror has conspired with the public's morbid curiosity to sell a great many papers, and yet the author of the article, a Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, is unsatisfied. Poe's discovery of the body of Mary Rogers in the Hudson River leads to more than a newspaper article. While investigating the manner of her undoing for a follow-up piece, Poe becomes convinced that her death was not the result of a botched abortion, as was first thought. Accompanied by his young assistant, Augie Dubbins, who in turn acts as the narrator of the novel, Poe strives to uncover the true method and purpose of her murder. Drawn inexorably onward by both his keenly rational mind and his dark obsession with the abyss, Poe finds himself blocked at every turn by mysterious forces, and pursued by a tall, ominous assassin intent on his death. Trapped in a mire of murder, greed, and lust that reaches from the depths of the Five Points slums to the gleaming heights of Fifth Avenue society, Poe must solve the mystery or risk becoming, as in his own fiction, the victim of a dark and malevolent netherworld. In a fresh variation on the historical thriller genre first made famous by The Alienist, critically acclaimed author Randall Silvis offers an Edgar Allan Poe who not only pioneered the modern detective story, but was himself the first modern detective. In the course of these detective adventures, he finds himself in perilous and unearthly situations that prefigure his later works of fiction.

Customer Reviews:

A must-read for mystery buffs and Poe fans alike.......2004-08-15

The father of the modern detective story takes center stage in a riveting tale of murder, corruption and redemption. A street urchin discovers a dead girl, and chance leads his path across that of struggling journalist Edgar Allan Poe. Ever the alert profiteer, Augie Dubbins reveals his grisly find to Poe in exchange for a coin. The two then find themselves navigating a labyrinth of contradictory evidence and repelling attempts both on their lives and on their integrity in order to expose the murder's identity and motive. In so doing, man and boy find in each other a commonality that transcends their divergent backgrounds. Poe is the nearest thing to a father Augie has ever known; his home and family life are paradise to a child who has known only squalor and violence. Augie serves a purpose for Poe as well, becoming a no-nonsense, street-smart caretaker when Poe's dark instabilities cast their enervating shadow on him.

Silvis recreates 1840s New York with an unstinting and often brutal clarity. His elegant, evocative prose is suggestive of Poe's own style and his narrative integrates elements from Poe's more popular works. The characters, real and fictional alike, are masterpieces of insight into the human experience. Nowhere is this insight more evident than in the author's rendering of Edgar Allan Poe, a brilliant, compassionate and fatally complex man whose devotion to his work was exceeded only by his love for his family.

An interesting read..........2001-03-22

This mystery opens with a young boy viewing the murder and suicide of a baby and its young mother. Another body is discovered and the story begins. Resolution of the mystery surrounding the death of shopgirl Mary Rogers is augmented by the telling of the relationship between street urchin Augie and Edgar Alan Poe. It's rare to find a mystery where the reader is so taken in by the characters...a very worthwhile read.

Poe mystery evokes New York.......2001-03-13

In the summer of 1840 a New York street urchin witnesses a young woman throw her baby, then herself, into the murky Hudson River. Making a few pennies recounting the tragedy, ten-year-old Augie Dubbins meets an impoverished young journalist, Edgar Allan Poe.

Together they discover the body of another young woman caught under the docks and embark on an investigation which takes them from the squalor of the Five Points slums to the glitter of Fifth Avenue, where Augie learns that ruthless depravity thrives at all levels of society.

Narrated by Augie many years later "On Night's Shore" seamlessly incorporates elements of Poe's later tales into the narrative - "The Mystery of Marie Roget," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Black Cat" - without overreaching. Poe is a gloomy, driven man whose genius is beset by poverty, nagging self-doubt and bouts of drunkenness. Augie, brutalized, clever, and resourceful ("in calamity, opportunity"), attaches himself to Poe as a father figure, enchanted by his family circle of consumptive, gentle wife and strong, generous mother-in-law.

Despite occasional backsliding into, respectively, despair and opportunism, Poe and Augie bring out the best in one another and together they delve into Mary Rogers' working class life, shattering several official versions of the murder on their winding path into the bastions of city power. Atmospheric and suspenseful, Silvis' ("An Occasional Hell," "Excelsior") character-driven story brings the city to life in all its cruelty and grandeur and the writing - mannered, gritty and eloquent - evokes the voice and sensibility of the time.

New York Times review.......2001-01-31

By MARILYN STASIO

The vibrant panorama of New York City in 1840 that Randall Silvis spreads before our eyes in ON NIGHT'S SHORE (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Minotaur...) bears little resemblance to the flat, static scenes that unroll like so much wallpaper in most historical mysteries. Even more arresting is his sleuth, a wild-eyed newspaper journalist who signs himself E. A. Poe and makes his meager living peddling sensational crime stories like the one that captures his imagination here -- the murder of a shopgirl, Mary Rogers, whose bloated body is discovered in the Hudson River by Augie Dubbins, a 10-year-old ragamuffin who narrates the tale from the vantage of an old man.

The lively investigation conducted by this oddly matched pair of sleuths is interesting in its own right, providing rich background on the seminal short story (''The Mystery of Marie Rogt'') that helped establish Poe as the father of ratiocinative detective fiction. But let's give Silvis his own creative due. Despite his mannered tendency to ape what Augie calls Poe's ''funny way with words,'' Silvis delivers pungent impressions of the living city, exploring its mansions, slums, morgue, prisons, poorhouses and opium dens for all the ambient sounds and smells that define the character of a busy, brawling, unwashed metropolis.

Exciting historical mystery.......2000-12-29

In 1840 New York, writer Edgar Allen Poe, needing something that pays the bills, accepts a job as a reporter for The Mirror. Obtaining the job is easy for Mr. Poe, but finding a story proves a bit more difficult until he meets ten-year-old waif Augie Dubbins, who seems to make a better than him by conning immigrants and stealing food. The ragamuffin child escorts Poe to the Hudson River docks where they find the corpse of Mary Rogers, a young shopgirl.

Poe reports the case in the Mirror. Due to the story grabbing the attention of the entire city, his editor sends him to conduct a follow-up article. The official investigation seems totally inadequate to Poe. Along with Master Dubbins, Poe begins his own inquiries not yet realizing the danger he places himself and his young sidekick in.

ON NIGHT'S SHORE is an exciting historical mystery that is very entertaining as it brings alive a bygone era in New York City. The historical references provide a feel for the period even as the author states he took poetic license with specific dates for improved plotting purposes. The sleuthing by Poe and partner is made to fit what is known of the writer so that the audience can picture him wandering the city in pursuit of a story. An elderly Augie looking back in time tells the story. This technique works because the narrator transposes his matured thought process and feelings onto himself as a child, which in turn gives the tale its heart. That feeling is more genuine because long-term memories are often obfuscated by time. Randall Silvis provides sub-genre fans with a delightful look at Edgar Allen Poe, amateur sleuth.

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More August Dubbins than Poe.......2006-12-14

WARNING-THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL NOVEL-RATHER IT IS A RE-ISSUE OF RANDALL SILVIS NOVEL THE DISQUIET HEART.

Now that I have got that out of the way aside from the packaging and marketing of this novel, it is a rather enjoyable piece of historical fiction. Once I got past the disappointment of there not being that much Edgar Alan Poe or supernatural occurrences going on I found myself enjoying the authors' ability to bring the pre-civil war era to life.

The book takes place immediately after the death of Poe's wife which has left Poe in a desperate maniac-depressive spiral. Fortunately Poe's friend August Dubbins has received a letter from an Alfred Brunrichter of Pittsburgh who asks if Poe would like to be his house guest while providing lectures and readings to Pittsburgh society. Poe and Dubbins quickly accept and find themselves in Pittsburgh. However as the reader is to find out Mr. Brunrichter has reasons of his own for wanting to bring Poe to Pittsburgh-which coincidentally is experiencing a rash of serial killings.

The next 1/3 of the novel deals with Auggie's attempts to emulate Poe and win his admiration by becoming a writer himself. At the same time Auggie falls in love with the beautiful Susan Kemmer, the daughter of a dockworker and when she is brutally murdered finds himself accused of her slaying and the other serial killings. With the assistance of Buck Kemmer, Susan's father,Auggie is able to rescue Poe from the clutches of Brunrichter, who has been keeping Poe in a drug induced stupor and they are able to solve the killings and clear Auggie's name.

Although advertised and marketed as a supernatural thriller, this is much more of a historical fiction piece. Randall Silvis does an admirable job of bringing the mid 1800's to life and that is the strength of this novel. The suspense would have been a touch more intense if Mr. Silvis had not abused the method of foreshadowing. It seemed that almost every other chapter ended with a portent of upcoming doom. Although the pacing is a bit slow the details and realism of the period tended to overcome this and the authors narrative style kept the pages turning easily. After reading this novel I am quite anxious to read the first one as it has received much better reviews.

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In a Town Called Mundomuerto
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Omnidawn Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1890650196

Book Description

A lyrical story of bittersweet memories and the enduring power of love, this is the tale of an old man reciting the same story of Lucia Luna he has told hundreds of times to a young boy. The boy can now correct the old man's errors, omissions, and embellishments in the story of how this once beautiful girl became a bitter old woman, destroyed by the jealousy and superstition of her village.

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Very highly recommended

Dead Man Falling
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 078670313X

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False identities, the persistence of memory, and the refusal to admit that love can not save you, combine in a razor-edged crime novel that establishes Randall Silvis as one of the preeminent practitioners of the literary art. The hero of this novel, Mac Parris, isn't who he appears to be. A wildlife photographer living under an assumed name, he knows firsthand that the most dangerous animal of all is the one behind the camera. He has spent his adult life hiding from the FBI and his own past, while locked in a feverish pursuit of revenge. Although a master of self-denial, Parris has not learned to subdue the one quality that might prove his undoing: his compassion for the other wounded creatures with whom he shares this planet. So when a young woman with secrets of her own asks for help in finding her brother's killer, Parris puts his own safety at stake.along with his freedom, and maybe even his soul.

Customer Reviews:

Very highly recommended.......2001-02-03

A leg bone and the upper portion of an arm have been found in separate locations in north central Pennsylvania. As Diana reads the newspaper account, her blood freezes. She intuits that the victim is her younger brother. Tony was only fourteen, but had been on his own since she left her abusive home the day after her eighteenth birthday. Diana couldn't blame him for leaving too, and she refused to damn him for the harsh choices he made to stay alive on the streets. The police can't help since Diana can't even prove her brother missing. So she approaches filmmaker Mac Parris to help her. He's said to have an eye for detail, doesn't mind late hours, has the right equipment, and is within her price range.

Mac has his own demons to fight. Thirty years ago his life dramatically changed with the tragic loss of his wife and child. Now his nights are haunted by fire and only the deep woods, far from civilization, brings relief. Now he films the lives of wolverines and other scavengers, living his life on the path of most resistance. Perhaps he prefers having the odds stacked against him. And perhaps he feels more of a kinship for the wolverine than most of the members of his own species. Surprising himself, when Diana shows up at his doorstep requesting his help, he finds it "physically impossible at a time like that to say no to a girl with snowlights in her hair."

The more time Mac spends with the strong, yet strangely vulnerable Diana, the more he comes to realize that the vacuum he's defined as his life is sterile and useless. Her presence gives him a purpose beyond the vision of revenge he's held for thirty years. They come to know one another not by what each reveals but by that which they work to keep hidden. As their joint quest for answers leads them deep into a world of perversion, violence and decadence, the answers also lead these sharply compelling characters to a transformation of vision and self.

DEAD MAN FALLING is one of those strangely compelling novels that fits into the genre of murder, of mystery, of crime thriller, and yet it is so much more. DEAD MAN FALLING echoes the grace and profundity of much classic literature such as Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES. Further, Randall Silvis' voice moves with a subtle depth and compassion that entrances the reader, drawing one deep within this absorbing narrative. Very highly recommended.

Under the Rainbow: A Novel
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Under the Rainbow: A Novel
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Permanent Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1877946281

Heart So Hungry: A Woman's Extraordinary Journey into the Labrador Wilderness
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Heart So Hungry: A Woman's Extraordinary Journey into the Labrador Wilderness
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Vintage Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0676975879
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Book Description

A gripping cold weather, true-life adventure, Heart So Hungry tells the story of a race across Labrador and one woman’s determination — inspired by grief and fed by outrage — to set the record straight.

A remarkable adventure, a love story and a thrilling race are all front and centre in this account of how one woman’s devotion to her late husband’s memory transformed Mina Hubbard from a rural Ontario nurse into the most celebrated female explorer of her time.

In 1903, following an ambitious expedition to map the interior of Labrador, Mina’s husband, Leonidas, dies of starvation in a cold, boggy, wind-scoured landscape. Allegations surface that the expedition failed because of Hubbard’s incompetence, so Dillon Wallace, Leonidas’ partner on the failed expedition, decides to honour a promise that he made to Hubbard to complete the route that they had been supposed to take. When Mina Hubbard discovers what Wallace has planned, she doubts his motives and decides to mount her own Labrador expedition and to beat Wallace to the finish line. Driven by her devotion, Mina wins the race, beating Wallace by a month and a half, and becomes in the process the first white woman to make contact with the elusive Naskapis Indians.

Using original, unpublished source material, as well as books written by the main actors in the drama, novelist Randall Silvis pieces together a narrative of the race between Wallace and Mina Hubbard, as well as the fateful first expedition of Wallace and Leonidas Hubbard.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Luckiest Man in the World
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Avon Books (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Mystical "Mysticus"
Vibrant and unusual
Just In Time: In Praise Of Mysticus
A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind.
A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind.

Mysticus
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Wolfhawk Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0967211700

Book Description

Novel, hardcover with embossed jacket, 420 pp.

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In 1949 Ronald Shepard, the son of servants to a millionaire playboy living on a private island off the coast of South Carolina, meets Marilyn Monroe. This begins the child's movement from innocence to the eventual experience that results in an obsession with sex, power, greed and ambition that shapes the rest of his life. In 2001 seventeen-year-old Cassandra DeRoy has been employed in the world's oldest profession for three years. A dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe, Cassie stands at a street corner one night when Ronald spots her. Remembering his encounter with Marilyn so many years ago, Ronald picks her up and takes her home. He proves to be the gentlest man she'd ever met. In 2018 sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd faces the ugliest elements of her society. Disgusted with her past, Ginger sees no hope of improvement for her future. Adopted to people who don't understand her, Ginger finds herself pregnant and seeking answers to her identity in the journals of her alcoholic mother. For a brief moment, she realizes she had actually been valued, that her existence had not always been an inconvenience and an annoyance.

Customer Reviews:

Mystical "Mysticus".......2003-07-24

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered

Mysticus is a new novel with the potential to be a classic--if it only were getting the attention it deseves.

Like most classics, Mysticus cannot be wrapped up and tied in a pretty bow. It is a bit mystery, a bit futurist, a bit literary, a bit fantasy, a bit mainstream, a bit historical, a bit contemporary and a lot compelling. The story lines are woven like threads in a tapestry; they intersect one another in imaginative ways.

Each story is told from the character's own point of view, carefully labeled and dated. Some of these "chapters" are only a few paragraphs long, some much longer, but all leave the reader wanting-needing--to learn more, to turn those pages as fast as she can.

This book is for the mystical, the political, the literary, and even the fantasy-lovers among us. There is no way that a reader will turn that last page and think "Mysticus" is like anything else she's read. It is daring and original. Randall Silvis takes chances with his writing and the result is exquisite-palpable and yes, mystical.

(Carolyn Howard-Johnson's first novel, This is the Place, has won eight awards. Her newly released Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remember has won three. Sona Ovasapyan, Student at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, says,"This author's words set me free.")

Vibrant and unusual.......2001-07-19

In 2001 seventeen-year-old Cassandra DeRoy has been employed in the world's oldest profession for three years. A dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe, Cassie stands at a street corner one night when Ronald spots her. Remembering his encounter with Marilyn so many years ago, Ronald picks her up and takes her home. He proves to be the gentlest man she'd ever met.

In 2018 sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd faces the ugliest elements of her society. Disgusted with her past, Ginger sees no hope of improvement for her future. Adopted to people who don't understand her, Ginger finds herself pregnant and seeking answers to her identity in the journals of her alcoholic mother. For a brief moment, she realizes she had actually been valued, that her existence had not always been an inconvenience and an annoyance.

Three narrative flows gracefully intertwine in a powerful novel about love, sex and power. Randall Silvis' fine storytelling mesmerizes the reader, combining wonder, comedy and crassness in an incredibly moving epic that confronts our deepest natures. Light and dark likewise intertwine resulting in a profound revelation of pain and redemption. These vibrant characters enact our greatest desires and our greatest fears, yet touch our hearts and imaginations in ways that are moving and profound. Very highly recommended.

Just In Time: In Praise Of Mysticus.......2000-08-23

Mysticus, the latest novel from Randall Silvis, invites us to look at ourselves through what we value. The plot is revealed in three separate narrative lines, all different time segments in the life of Ronald Shepard and each focusing on significant characters who make their ways into or out of Shepard's life. In braiding three different times as he does, Silvis lets us see how past, present and future are in a way contemporaneous. Because of what we have in common culturally, we are not so different from members of other generations. Perhaps the feeling that the twenty-first century isn't so stunningly different as we thought it would be is partly explained by the treatment of time and events in the book. Other reviewers of Mysticus agree that what Silvis does with language is reason enough to read the book. Most impressive is the way language melds with theme. On any page, the reader can see an understanding of language which seems both professional and instinctive. Silvis's strength is his embrace of the nature of words and his faith in narrative. This explains the achievement of Mysticus, whose descriptions will leave readers wistfully longing for more, even while they feel well fed on a sensual feast of feeling and thought. Buy this book and savor the way language and theme are almost one in Mysticus. As the dawning of the third millennium prompts us to remember where we've been, it may be that you read Mysticus just in time.

A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind........2000-05-04

Mysticus follows the life and times of Ronald Shepard beginning as the nine-year-old child of servants to a millionaire playboy who lives on a private island off the coast of South Carolina and continuing through his adulthood. Ronald lives in a world of power, greed, ambition, and sex that spans from Marilyn Monroe (a goddess of seduction whose presence sweeps through the novel like an avalanche); to Cassandra DeRoy, a Sunset Boulevard teeny-bopper hooker (who bears a disconcerting resemblance to Marilyn); to sixteen-year-old Ginger Todd hitchhiking illegally across American in search of parents she has never known. Mysticus is a literary symphony of cosmic loneliness with a consummate mastery of prose revealing its profane and profound song of darkness and redemption. Author Randall Silvis offers the reader a giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind. Highly recommended.

A giddy, bawdy ride through the mysteries of the human mind........2000-04-04

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For anyone who's felt trapped by life...

Excelsior
Randall Silvis
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

For anyone who's felt trapped by life..........2005-07-18

That's what immediately caught my attention about this book. Somehow, the author makes the initially hum-drum life of a cubicle-bound accountant into a highly entertaining page turner. I got this finished in one night because I couldn't put it down. It's hard to believe that more people haven't read it. Bloomhardt is a man with good intentions, who somehow usually messes things up. Despite loving his wife and son, there's a barrier between them that he can't manage to break through. At the start of the book, his life is dull and routine. His biggest complaint is that nothing ever changes. He sees his options in life as going to work at a job he hates or staying at home with a family he can't communicate with. His co-workers are a bunch of low lives for the most part, and Bloomhardt's view on life is alternately bleak and humorous. As one of his friends says when he's just about hit rock bottom after the split with his wife, "We know what the world is made of. It's made of food and drink, noise and stink, sex and death." Bloomhardt's reminisces about his youth, how he wound up bound to a job he hates and a mortgage to a house he doesn't like, makes for some good reading. So for anyone who's ever felt trapped by life while managing to see the humor in it, this book is for you.

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