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Book Description
* Brilliant recreation of the Peninsula war.
Product Description
Spain - 1808 to 1813 - where Revolution collides with Reaction, a British Army with a French; the Spain of Goya, where ignorant armies clash and from under them all comes the voice of Joseph: by birth European, by education enlightened, and living in Salamanca which suffered a new invasion every six months and saw one of Wellington's greatest battles. From the moment in early childhood when Joseph hurls a stone at a playmate and makes an evil enemy for life, to the last page when he climbs a hill in North Spain accompanied by a donkey, a giantess, and a new-born babe, and blunders into a battle, he takes the reader by the elbow and hurries him 'will he or will he not' across the terrible years that saw the birth of our own times. Racy, picaresque, but with an underlying seriousness, JOSEPH is a panoramic novel of the Spanish Penisular War, revealing as Goya did its grotesqueries and ironies as well as its horrifying waste of life. Rathbone's wit, sensitivity and confident grasp of the subject are superbly matched to this brilliant historical scene. JOSEPH has never before been published in paperback.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book has all the ingredients of an epic classic. Incredibly evocative of spain, comic, tragic, serious and humorous all at the same time. The book subtly, yet cleverly and wittily acknowledges - by spinning in references to - other classic literature, as well as modern culture throughout its pages. Rathbone gives a great insight into the times in which it was set through the eyes of the superbly characterised fictional hero with whom you sypathise in part but can't quite like.
I couldn't put Joseph down, and even after 600 pages wanted more! I recommended this to my father, also a hispanofile, and the verdict was the same, a brilliant book that will stay in your memory, both for it's story and it's powerful imagery, for a long time!
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Overlong but an interesting and thought provoking read. Bits of the plot come back into mind days after the book is finished. I gained some impression of how destructive the penisular wars were.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I very much enjoyed reading this novel. I can't say 'thoroughly enjoyed', for as some other reviews have pointed out, it is a rather long book, which naturally can drag a little in places, but overall, for 90% of the time, I found myself totally engrossed. For me, this was largely in part due to the unreliable if amusing voice of the narrator, the eponymous Joseph, and also to the setting and historical background, both of which appealed to my imagination and which I think Rathbone evokes expertly.
It is, dare I say, a good old fashioned read, with many fine characters and adventures, which of course doesn't take itself too seriously, even if quite clearly the author is having a stab at more serious literary comment by playfully parodying the picaresque, or bildungsroman-style novel of the early 19th century.
So it is I think a book that can be enjoyed on more than one level, whether it be, as above, a good old fashioned read, or as a more knowing imitation of a certain type of literature.
However, I can appreciate that its length, subject matter and style will not appeal to everybody, but then few books do, if any.
I found it very enjoyable, very well written and even charming, something which captured my imagination and a book which will remain on my mind for some time to come.
It is, dare I say, a good old fashioned read, with many fine characters and adventures, which of course doesn't take itself too seriously, even if quite clearly the author is having a stab at more serious literary comment by playfully parodying the picaresque, or bildungsroman-style novel of the early 19th century.
So it is I think a book that can be enjoyed on more than one level, whether it be, as above, a good old fashioned read, or as a more knowing imitation of a certain type of literature.
However, I can appreciate that its length, subject matter and style will not appeal to everybody, but then few books do, if any.
I found it very enjoyable, very well written and even charming, something which captured my imagination and a book which will remain on my mind for some time to come.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not his best - overlong, and dull
I like Julian Rathbone's books, but this was boring. I forced myself to the end, but can't say I'm pleased that I did.
Published on 16 Dec 2009 by Jezza
A highly enjoyable book! Very powerful.
Julian Rathbones understanding of this time and the culture of Europe at this time creates a great backdrop for the enfolding scenarios around the charecter Joseph. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2000
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