Again, Lesser Burroughs Visions are "disappointed."
I went for The Lad and the Lion next (Burroughs #55) because I'd read some desultory things about it. And, you know--center of the donut. After all, how could a book with such a terrible title...so obviously derivative of Tarzan...be worth much of anything? And etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Well.
I'll say this.
The Lad and the Lion did have its fair share of flaws. The obvious, of course. And the Hit Upside The Head And Lose Your Memory Bit (again). And some improbable plot turns. But...to tell the truth, I didn't really think about any of those things while I was reading the book. Did I say reading? I meant while I was being pulled through this book at breakneck speed. Cause I really bolted this one down.
These were a few of my favorite things:
"...the mighty jaws of the lion closed full upon his face. When they came away, the face came with them leaving only a bloody smear of brains and broken bones to mark where once the features of a human being had been."
I mean...that is some exTREME fuckin' violence, ennit? Which I'm not really into, but it just kind of startled me here, y'know? I just didn't see that shit coming. And sometimes that's a good thing in a novel.
And tell me if this one sounds familiar: "...he [the lion] and the lad were alone upon the deserted ship with no bars between them." Life of π indeed!
And I thought that this might be a cool title...or head of chapter...quote: "for the eyes of the lion there is no night."
A little existential dreadnaught: "Why do we strive? Everything we attain always turns out to be something we do not want, and then we try to change it for something else that will be equally bad."
And a littke wry socio-political commentary: "They seemed to prefer hoes in their hands to bayonets in their bellies. Some people are like that, and it is always a matter of embarrassment to their rulers. "
A little light misogynistic humor: "She didn't look quite so badly by moonlight, but he couldn't help thinking that she would have looked less badly had there been no moon."
More sarcasm about speaking and words: "In his unsophistication he had not yet come to realize that most men consider the gift of speech solely as a means of defeating the purposes of truth. "
And just a well-turned phrase: "How his heart leaped as hope grew almost to certainty."
"...the mighty jaws of the lion closed full upon his face. When they came away, the face came with them leaving only a bloody smear of brains and broken bones to mark where once the features of a human being had been."
I mean...that is some exTREME fuckin' violence, ennit? Which I'm not really into, but it just kind of startled me here, y'know? I just didn't see that shit coming. And sometimes that's a good thing in a novel.
And tell me if this one sounds familiar: "...he [the lion] and the lad were alone upon the deserted ship with no bars between them." Life of π indeed!
And I thought that this might be a cool title...or head of chapter...quote: "for the eyes of the lion there is no night."
A little existential dreadnaught: "Why do we strive? Everything we attain always turns out to be something we do not want, and then we try to change it for something else that will be equally bad."
And a littke wry socio-political commentary: "They seemed to prefer hoes in their hands to bayonets in their bellies. Some people are like that, and it is always a matter of embarrassment to their rulers. "
A little light misogynistic humor: "She didn't look quite so badly by moonlight, but he couldn't help thinking that she would have looked less badly had there been no moon."
More sarcasm about speaking and words: "In his unsophistication he had not yet come to realize that most men consider the gift of speech solely as a means of defeating the purposes of truth. "
And just a well-turned phrase: "How his heart leaped as hope grew almost to certainty."
I actually ended up wishing that there had been a sequel to this one. Which actually seems to have been the intention, but I guess ERB had too many things on his plate to get around to it. He really was pretty much the king of sequels, wasn't he? I mean...there are at least 8 series in his oeuvre. That's a lot of balls to keep in the air.
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