Yesterday I finished listening to Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the same man who wrote John Carter of Mars. Considered one of the first adventure novels it was published in 1912 Tarzan is a character known by many across the world and was even one of the inspirations for Jane Goodall. My mother (and I want to say older sister as well) read it a few years ago and mentioned how much they enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect going into it but found myself enjoy it immensely. The only version of the Tarzan story that I was familiar with prior to reading the book was the Disney movie which came in in 1999 and enjoyed finding the small things Disney paid tribute to in their version. Although, I thought it was funny that the name of Tarzan's father in the book is the name of the villain in the film. Here is the link to Audible's page for the book. The book was narrated by David Ian Davies and while there were some technical oddities, it was enjoyable to listen to.
Plot: John Clayton (Lord Greystoke) and his pregnant wife, Lady Alice, are marooned on the west coast of Africa after a horrible mutiny. They live there for the space of a year and a half before are killed by the wild apes - Alice from mental trauma after an attack early on, and John at the hands of Kerchak the morning after Alice's death. Kala, an ape in Kerchak's tribe who had lost her own child to Kerchak's rage the same morning he kills John, see's the "young Lord Greystoke" and leaving her own dead infant in the cradle takes Tarzan for her own. Tarzan grows and as he gets older returns to the cabin build by his father, discovering his hunting knife and the books they had brought to teach him. Over the course of many years he teaches himself to read and write English, rope, maintain his knife, shoot a bow and arrow, and starts his path to becoming Lord of the Jungle, and his own tribe of apes. Eventually another party of people are marooned on the same beach as his parents. The party includes a young American, Jane Porter, her father, his secretary, her maid servant, and William Cecil Clayton, Tarzan's own cousin and the current heir to the Greystoke estate and wealth. Tarzan, seeing them as fellow "men" strives to help them survive all the while falling in love with Jane. When the party is rescued by a french navy ship things go wrong as they are attacked by cannibals and Tarzan leaves to rescue one of their officers, D'Arnot. As Tarzan cares for the man's wounds in the midst of the jungle the ship sets sail without them. After reading a note left by Jane, who by now feels something for him, Tarzan decides to search her out in America. But first he and D'Arnot has to get out of Africa. And to complicate things that blasted D'Arnot had to teach Tarzan to speak French instead of English.
My personal favorites: Growing up on stories of Mowgli of India, I loved watching another character become a superhuman, supernatural force. Able to communicate and overcome the wild. Tarzan is not a perfect person, is very human. He likes to play pranks on the local cannibal tribe. Throwing the bodies of those he ambushes into the midst of the village from the trees, or leaving the body to peer around the side of the gate when they flee the at his antics. The action was fun and the other characters entertaining. Particularly the interactions between Jane's father and his secretary. There's something inherently funny about an academic being so wrapped up in his thoughts that when his companion tells him that there is a lion approaching them he objects to the interruption and then complains about the use of use "slang" as the term "lion." The ending was satisfying, if unexpected, and the extent of the adventure was gratifying. One other thing I like was the language used to describe everything. It was full of terms that are uncommon today (anthropoid, rapidity, etc.) that reminded me of Kipling, and other writers of the time and added a flavor that was a lot of fun.
Considerations: Some might take some offense at the constant references to Tarzan's superior heredity, race, reasoning, etc. While the vast majority of this language is used to compare him to the apes it almost sounds like racial and royal supremacy. While I found it mildly over the top, because it was excessive in its expression (not necessarily it's frequency) it was also humorous. I mention it only because some have strong feelings about such language. Also, I mentioned the technical oddities in the recording - sometimes the volume would change slightly, or a voice would be different, or there was a hint of static. In many ways it reminded me of an old radio story. It added a fun air to it and was a decent recording, albeit not the best.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am now torn about going right the the second book, or listening to the one I planned on prior to finishing. I could go either way and be completely satisfied. The total length was 7 and a half hours.
My personal favorites: Growing up on stories of Mowgli of India, I loved watching another character become a superhuman, supernatural force. Able to communicate and overcome the wild. Tarzan is not a perfect person, is very human. He likes to play pranks on the local cannibal tribe. Throwing the bodies of those he ambushes into the midst of the village from the trees, or leaving the body to peer around the side of the gate when they flee the at his antics. The action was fun and the other characters entertaining. Particularly the interactions between Jane's father and his secretary. There's something inherently funny about an academic being so wrapped up in his thoughts that when his companion tells him that there is a lion approaching them he objects to the interruption and then complains about the use of use "slang" as the term "lion." The ending was satisfying, if unexpected, and the extent of the adventure was gratifying. One other thing I like was the language used to describe everything. It was full of terms that are uncommon today (anthropoid, rapidity, etc.) that reminded me of Kipling, and other writers of the time and added a flavor that was a lot of fun.
Considerations: Some might take some offense at the constant references to Tarzan's superior heredity, race, reasoning, etc. While the vast majority of this language is used to compare him to the apes it almost sounds like racial and royal supremacy. While I found it mildly over the top, because it was excessive in its expression (not necessarily it's frequency) it was also humorous. I mention it only because some have strong feelings about such language. Also, I mentioned the technical oddities in the recording - sometimes the volume would change slightly, or a voice would be different, or there was a hint of static. In many ways it reminded me of an old radio story. It added a fun air to it and was a decent recording, albeit not the best.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am now torn about going right the the second book, or listening to the one I planned on prior to finishing. I could go either way and be completely satisfied. The total length was 7 and a half hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment