space
Reader Reviews | |
Review by Paul Lappen (050303) Rating (9/10) Review
by Paul Lappen Winwood then tells the Warden that a supply of dynamite to be used in the jailbreak is hidden somewhere in the prison, and that only Standing knows the location. He finds himself on the receiving end of torture by the guards, including being left in a strait jacket for days at a time. He escapes the pain and torment by astral travel, withdrawing into dreams of his past lives during his "eternal recurrence on earth." At one time, he is a nobleman in medieval France. Another time, he spends years shipwrecked on an outcropping of rock barely one-half mile square in the middle of the ocean. His only possession is an oar on which he wrote his tale.
While in prison, he gets word to a famous museum that just happens
to have that oar in storage. Still another time, he is an Englishman
living in 1600s Korea. For a time, he is a trusted friend of the Back in the real world, during one of his periodic beatings by the guards, Standing, having wasted away to a bag of bones, is able to defend himself just enough to cause one of the guards to have a nosebleed. For this, he is sentenced to death by hanging, not for murdering his college colleague.
Having spent time in jail for vagrancy (today it's called being
homeless), this is London's attempt to expose the horrors of prison.
It's not his most famous novel, but it's still very good and very
thought provoking, and is well worth reading. |
|
Column Ends |
space