Books That I Have Read Over The Summer|2023

Books discussed: The Whipping Boy, Old Yeller, Savage Sam, The Count Of Monte Cristo, Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ, and Treasure Island.
WARNING: There will be spoilers in this post. 

The Whipping Boy 

Author: Sid Fleischman 

Form: real book from the library 

This is a chapter book for children. I have good memories of hearing this book when I was a child. We read several Sid Fleischman books while I was growing up. He writes rather lighthearted novels for children. 

The Whipping Boy is about two boys, Jemmy from the streets and The Prince Humphrey, and how they go from being enemies to becoming friends because they face hardships together and make sacrifices for one another. 

Jemmy is The Prince's whipping boy, meaning; he gets a whipping when the Prince deserves a whipping. This is a terribly unjust arrangement. While the rest of this story is a fabrication, whipping boys were really a thing in the past.

Jemmy and The Prince end up in the forest and get captured by notorious highway men, Cutwater and Hold Your Nose Billy. Billy has such a long name because he eats garlic bulbs as if they are apples, therefore, he stinks. :-)

The outlaws hold the boys hostage. There is a mix up, an escape, a few close calls, some allies, and a chase scene.

Through it all the boys learn some lessons about what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes, what friendship is about, and forgiving those who have done you wrong.

Old Yeller

Author: Fred Gibson

Form: real book form the library 

This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. The movie was even good, which can't be said for most of the movie versions of my favorite books. 

Growing up, I related a lot with the main character, Travis Coats. He is the oldest in his family (so am I) and he takes on a lot of responsibility when his father is gone on a cattle drive over the summer. He thinks he knows how his mother should be parenting his little brother, and boy, did I ever think I knew how to parent my siblings better than my mom. My perspective has changed a little. This time when I read Old Yeller I was able to see traces of Travis' immaturity. When I read it as a child I really looked up to Travis and thought he had very rational opinions about everything.

Old Yeller is a tear jerker. I couldn't make it through the last chapter without crying. That is not a spoiler, though, Travis spoils the book on the first page. He says, (I am going to paraphrase from memory) "The first day that yeller hound showed up I wanted to shoot him, but when the day came that I had to it was about the hardest thing I'd ever done." When I came to that line while reading with my boys I was surprised. How could he just come out and say that at the beginning of the book!?

This story is set in Texas just as cattle drives were becoming a thing. Indians, wild hogs, fighting bulls, bears, and hydrophobia were threats at this time to settlers like the Coats. 

Old Yeller is told from the perspective of 14 year old Travis. The story reels you in and gets you attached to all the characters; Travis, little Arliss, Old Yeller, Mama, Lisabeth, Burn Sanders, Papa, and Bud Sercey.

Gibson does a good job at giving the reader just enough of the right information to make you feel like you are there with them and you can smell the corn bread and feel the sun on your back. You understand their lives and feel the hope, despair, fear, grief, and joy that they feel. The Texas accent throughout is very consistent and doesn't feel contrived at all.

The story looks into what it is like to grow up. What it is like to take on an adult's share of responsibility. What it is like to make hard, grown up decisions. And what it is like to face real emotional and physical pain. The kind of pain that you are protected from as a child. The weight of this story hits right at the end. The last chapter contains the whole point. Travis has to go through a very hard experience. This experience leaves him numb and empty. He can't care about anything anymore. 

His father has a talk with him that helps Travis get to the other side of his grief. And in this conversation he states the take away. He says life is hard and, while you don't exactly want to forget the trauma, you, also don't want to forget that there is still good in life. The bad is not all there is and there is still good in living. You have to remember that. 

When I was reading this part out loud I had to keep apologizing for all the blubbering I was doing. That part gets me right in the feels!

I don't think my children got the point. I know I didn't when I was a child. To children this is a fun story about a boy and his dog with some funny parts, and some-edge-of-your-seat parts, a little sad part at the end but it doesn't last long, then Travis can enjoy his new horse and live happily ever after.

Savage Sam

Author: Fred Gibson

Form: real book from the library

Savage Sam is the sequel to Old Yeller. Many people don't know that there is a sequel, but there is. It is not the same kind of story as Old Yeller. Old Yeller is a coming of age novel. Savage Sam is an adventure novel. I think that Old Yeller is the better story, but after that ending I was just glad us readers didn't have to leave Travis and the whole gang there. 

In this story Travis, little Arliss, and Lisabeth get captured by raiding Indians. The whole book is about that experience and about how they get rescued. There is more violence in this book; torture, killing, and blood. It was right at the border of what I am comfortable reading out loud. I get it, it's the wild west. In real life Indians killed indiscriminately and settlers had no qualms about taking revenge. This story does touch on the question of the morality of the situation. Are the Indians justified for hating white settlers? Are the settlers justified for wanting every Indian dead? The solution for the group of men that set out to save the children is that saving the children is a worthy cause and killing Indians will be necessary, but not the goal. In the end Travis lets one of the Indians live that he has dead to rights. Travis doesn't even understand his own reasoning. Why did he let the Indian go? I think the author is trying to create a moment where you see that people don't always make sense and once you see the humanity in your enemy it is hard to hate them anymore.

This story has lots of descriptions of the scenery; the plants, the wildlife, the topography. If you took out the descriptions of their surroundings I think half of the book would be gone. There is not much else to talk about while they are captured. They are on the run, on the run, on the run. So Gibson takes the opportunity to educate the reader on what the Texas hill and plain country was like in the old days, by describing the scenery. I felt like I learned somethings about a place that I have never visited. They have to face threats from the harshness of their environment like javelina hogs, rattlesnakes, hailstorms, and flash floods.

The last half of the book has more dialogue and you get to read about the characters a lot more. Once you get to that part it feels a little more like the writing in Old Yeller. There is more humour and that great Texas accent comes out.

I think my next read a loud needs to be something on the sweet side. These two books have given us  enough adventure for a while.

The Count Of Monte Cristo

Author: Alexander Dumas

Form: audiobook on Librivox.com

It took me over two years to finish this audiobook. It is a really long book (117 chapters/54hours) and some parts really drag on. That is why it has taken me so long to finish it. I listened to a few chapters here and there, off and on. This summer I finally got to the last third of the book. The last third of the book gets really exciting and chapters just fly by.

The main character, Edmond Dantes, is a youth on the cusp of success and happiness in the beginning of the book. He is about to be promoted to a leadership role on the ship on which he has been employed and he is about to get married to the love of his life, Mercedes. All of this changes on the day of his wedding. He never gets to marry Mercedes. Unbeknownst to Edmond, he has enemies. 

Listening to this story I learned about the French revolution. It was very interesting and played a major role into the reasons that Edmond gets sent to a prison and forgotten there.

Long story short, Edmond escapes and comes to possess an unfathomable wealth of treasure. He hatches a plan to carry out the most epic and exacting revenge on those who did him wrong. He leaves his old identity and now calls himself The Count Of Monte Cristo. The Count is sure that he is the hand of God's judgement on Earth. He is totally justified and sees himself as being used to carry out justice. 

As the reader, you are left in the dark about what his plans of revenge are exactly. Each new development is intriguing and sometimes confusing. But the plot comes together almost perfectly. I say almost perfectly.

My favorite part of the book happens during the phase of the story where The Count is realizing that he is doing harm to some innocent individuals. In Chapter 89, Mercedes, now Madame de Morcerf, goes to The Count to plea for her son's life and calls The Count, Edmond. I didn't know that she knew that The Count was Edmond. The Count didn't know that she knew he was Edmond. It was a shock. I was so happy that she had figured it out. I was also glad that The Count, who had been proud of himself for his disguise, had been bested by the woman who was his first love. It's like her soul knew his no matter how he tried to hide it from her.

The Count's revenge touches more people's lives than only the one's who are guilty. He sees that he is not as wise as God and he can't carry out perfect justice. He patches the cracks as best as he can.

He revisits his past. He reflects. He makes peace. What is done is done. What is passed is passed. He is no longer referred to in the text as The Count but, instead, Dantes. His identity shifts again.

The last words of Edmond Dantes in the book are:

"Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, ‘Wait and Hope.” 

I still think about that, wait and hope. Wait for what? Wait for justice? Wait for love? Wait for healing? Wait for a happy ending? Is the point, don't take things into your own hands; wait? And hope. Is that important so that you won't become bitter while you wait?

Another line at the end that sums up the the goal of the story is:

"There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness."

Is that so? Must you go through hard things to realize the height of happiness?

Ben Hur: A Tale Of The Christ

Author: Lew Wallace

Form: audiobook on Librivox.com

This is the second time that I have listened to Ben Hur. Ben Hur is divided into 8 books. The main theme is describing who Jesus is and what it must have been like for those who were waiting for a conquering Messiah. Thankfully, he makes the main character, Judah Ben Hur, realize that Jesus is the Messiah even though he was baffled at first by what seemed like Jesus' demise.

The first book is a little hard to get through. You have to get through lots, and lots, of descriptions. The way that Lew Wallace describes things doesn't really help me to feel like I have been transported to a different time and place, though, and it is certainly not for lack of details. His descriptions are very detailed. They give the feeling of a textbook, though. You can tell he did a lot of research and wanted to fit everything he had learned into the book, but it doesn't come off in a natural way.

One thing that drives me nuts is that he makes Jesus out to have feminine European features: the blue eyes, the delicate hands....... He even uses a phrase in the Bible to prop up this Europeanisation of Jesus when he describes Mary, saying something to the effect, "like the boy David who had, "ruddy cheeks," so was Mary fair skinned." I have heard this David's-ruddy-cheeks argument before by those who want to "prove" that Jews were white.

I, also, find Lew Wallace's characters a little unbelievable, in that the good guys are so good. They have no shortcomings. They are so morally consistent and loyal to their convictions that they are a little unrealistic.

Anyway, I could look past those short comings and enjoy the story. This is another story about someone, Judah Ben Hur, who has been unjustly accused and punished, then assumed dead, who manages to escape and plan a revenge plot.

I would say Judah's story line is very interesting. It keeps you engaged and rooting for his wellbeing and success. 

My favorite part of the book is when Jesus heals Judah's Mother and Sister of leprosy. That is a really bad spoiler. Sorry, if you haven't read Ben Hur. That scene makes me so happy and it gives me goosebumps. It is written in a way that did make me feel like I was there and got to see Jesus perform a miracle for someone that I really cared about who had no hope left in the word beside Jesus.

The whole crucifixion sequence is true to the Bible. Everything that Jesus says is from the Bible. Lew Wallace kept Jesus' words in King James English. I think that is a nice touch and serves to set what Jesus says apart from all the others. It keeps his words sounding sacred and not of this world.

There are a few characters that show the different perspectives that religious people may have had about Jesus at the time. Balthasar, a non-jew, sees all along that Jesus is King of a spiritual, transcendent kingdom. Balthasar is not looking for Jesus to conquer Rome. Judah Ben Hur and Simonides are looking for the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom and rule the whole world. They have lived under Rome's domineering power for too long, and they can't wait to see Rome destroyed. They believe that The Nazarene is the Messiah. They gather weapons and train a militia to be ready for the time when Jesus of Nazareth will make his move and lay Rome waste. They will be ready to lend him their service. When Jesus is arrested they still hold out hope. Maybe He will call legions of angels. But as the crucifixion goes on they lose hope. Judah realizes before Simonides does, that Balthasar is right. Jesus is God and the son of God. He realizes that the political and religious leaders are not taking Jesus' life, but rather that Jesus is laying it down for him and for the world. And true to Lew Wallace's perfect characters, Simonides also comes to this faith in the true mission of the Messiah. 

The book ends shortly after the crucifixion with an epilogue of sorts showing a scene 5 years in the future. You see that Judah is involved in the early church and used his fortune to help the brethren survive persecution.

Treasure Island 

Author: Robert Lewis Stevenson

Form: audiobook on Librivox.com

I listened to this book because I was bored and didn't have a good idea of what I really wanted to listen to. It was a trash book. Not that the contents were trash but that I listened to it to burn time. I didn't pay very much attention to this book.

It is the original pirate tale. There is a peg leg, a parrot, riotous living (rum and more rum), a treasure map, a marooned sailor....... 

I felt like the point of this story was that many times in this life individuals don't get what they deserve. You can betray your mates, be a thief and a back stabber, and you may end up retired on a tropical island happily ever after in the case of Long John Silver. You may make foolhardy decisions that should lead to catastrophe but some how lead to saving all your friends' lives, in the case of young Jim Hawkins. 

It's like, justice is never served here on Earth. And that has been a frustration of mine ever since I was a little child. Psalm 73 was one I was very familiar with as a young person because it addressed the questions I had about why even bother trying to live right? Good people suffer often and bad people enjoy success often.

Psalms 73:16+17 "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end."

You have to live for the hereafter. And you'll choose to do what is right not because you hope to live an easy life, but because God loves you and you love God.