Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin 10 out of 10
Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
10 out of 10
Journey in the Dark is a Magnus opus that has been awarded The Pulitzer Prize, but appears to have fallen out of favor with a public that prefers easy, dubious fare from the likes of Dan Brown, to a solid, enchanting book like this one.
Sam Braden is the hero of the narrative and it is his Journey in the Dark that we would follow...at one point, a friend, Mitch, talks to him about his experience and remarks on the fact that he had pursued wealth, but otherwise, his life appears to have been goalless on other levels.
Indeed, the main character seems to be the epitome, paradigm of a psychologist phenomenon called Hedonic Adaptation, in that he does become rich, but as it happens, material wealth does not bring well being...well, not a meaningful, lasting, deep one and we may think of the Dalai Lama, who entered a supermarket and exclaimed:
Wow, so many things I don't need!
Nevertheless, the quest for riches is understandable in the case of the hero, for he was born in a family with financial problems, poor actually, where the father was the marshal of the town, but his son mentions him later as 'a useless man', and it is the hard working mother who keeps the family, with her special talent for sawing and making garments and clothes required by the people of the town.
Throughout his life, Sam seems to be fascinated by the Wyatt family, competing with Neil, who seems to be always a rival...even when he is out of the picture, they still name an airfield nearby after him and his son comes to tell a tragic story about Hath, Sam's own son.
After his mother dies, the main character talks with his elder sister, Madge, about the fact that they cannot continue in the same circumstances, for their only remaining parent would not provide the food, nor pay the bills and thus the prospects are more than grim.
Indeed, Madge has a suitor that would later become an advisor at the White House as an appreciated intellectual, but the poor woman sacrifices her future and does not marry the man, feeling that without her, the family would become destitute and they will be hungry, perhaps worse.
Sam himself, abandons school practically as a child, in order to bring home the money needed for them to survive, in the first place, he would work in the shop of Clem Wyatt, where he will be appreciated as a reliable, determined, astute, amiable teenager, already entertaining big dreams.
However, the boy understands soon that with the salary of five, then more dollars, but limited to about fifteen per month - this a long time ago, more than one hundred years in the past - he would never be rich and Clem explained that the is a limit to how much he can pay and the assistant may have to think of alternatives.
After a discussion with the judge, the next step taken by the protagonist, at the advice of the wise man is to learn telegraphy and get a position at the local railway station, from which he would soon be promoted to a bigger town, where he tries to help his sister, Nelly.
The latter is trying to become a performer, given that her voice is exuberant and people have always admired it, she thinks in the first place that she would become an opera singer, but when her brother takes her to see a play, the young woman is transfigured, elated by the performance and thus asks for some acting lessons from the actor in the leading role.
Alas, this is a charlatan that makes me think of Trump - this orange fool has become a symbol of stupidity, viciousness, crookedness- and after some lessons, bad as they could be given his lack of talent, he runs away from wife and child and eventually he is the one who would destroy the life of Nelly.
Well, that was exaggerated perhaps, but we can still stay that the villain was an important factor, if not the only reason for the consequent perdition.
After the scandal of the elopement, covered in the newspapers, Sam decides to abandon his position in the railway station and travels to Chicago, where his talents, resilience, ambition, drive, tenacity, intelligence, persistence mean that he becomes a success as a salesman and so he can shortly make the next decision.
The hero starts working for himself, in partnership with a Frenchman who has a wallpaper designing and manufacturing company, taking the venture that was in serious trouble and launching it towards tremendous success.
It would not be an easy ride, for the partner is aggressive, stubborn, foolish and potentially calamitous for the enterprise, when they have workers on strike and he deals with it in a most stupid, reckless manner, hiring under aged boys and having one killed in a gruesome manner, caught and smashed into one of the machines.
The private life of the hero is less successful, in fact, we can see it as a failure, up to the point where he marries a Wonder Woman, for even if he is accepted by one of the rich Wyatts, there appears to be no real love in the marriage, which is actually not even consummated...not on the wedding or the following night...seemingly not for a long time.
The mantra that has animated the protagonist was to get as much money as possible, but this has not made him happy.
Hence the title:
Journey in the Dark
Toward the second stage of his life, after he is thirty, he does make the most wonderful, perfect woman his wife and things change, although there is suffering, tragedy and drama even after that.
A wondrous, excellent book, with only 27 reviews on goodreads, as opposed to the millions for Dan Brown...
Journey in the Dark is a Magnus opus that has been awarded The Pulitzer Prize, but appears to have fallen out of favor with a public that prefers easy, dubious fare from the likes of Dan Brown, to a solid, enchanting book like this one.
Sam Braden is the hero of the narrative and it is his Journey in the Dark that we would follow...at one point, a friend, Mitch, talks to him about his experience and remarks on the fact that he had pursued wealth, but otherwise, his life appears to have been goalless on other levels.
Indeed, the main character seems to be the epitome, paradigm of a psychologist phenomenon called Hedonic Adaptation, in that he does become rich, but as it happens, material wealth does not bring well being...well, not a meaningful, lasting, deep one and we may think of the Dalai Lama, who entered a supermarket and exclaimed:
Wow, so many things I don't need!
Nevertheless, the quest for riches is understandable in the case of the hero, for he was born in a family with financial problems, poor actually, where the father was the marshal of the town, but his son mentions him later as 'a useless man', and it is the hard working mother who keeps the family, with her special talent for sawing and making garments and clothes required by the people of the town.
Throughout his life, Sam seems to be fascinated by the Wyatt family, competing with Neil, who seems to be always a rival...even when he is out of the picture, they still name an airfield nearby after him and his son comes to tell a tragic story about Hath, Sam's own son.
After his mother dies, the main character talks with his elder sister, Madge, about the fact that they cannot continue in the same circumstances, for their only remaining parent would not provide the food, nor pay the bills and thus the prospects are more than grim.
Indeed, Madge has a suitor that would later become an advisor at the White House as an appreciated intellectual, but the poor woman sacrifices her future and does not marry the man, feeling that without her, the family would become destitute and they will be hungry, perhaps worse.
Sam himself, abandons school practically as a child, in order to bring home the money needed for them to survive, in the first place, he would work in the shop of Clem Wyatt, where he will be appreciated as a reliable, determined, astute, amiable teenager, already entertaining big dreams.
However, the boy understands soon that with the salary of five, then more dollars, but limited to about fifteen per month - this a long time ago, more than one hundred years in the past - he would never be rich and Clem explained that the is a limit to how much he can pay and the assistant may have to think of alternatives.
After a discussion with the judge, the next step taken by the protagonist, at the advice of the wise man is to learn telegraphy and get a position at the local railway station, from which he would soon be promoted to a bigger town, where he tries to help his sister, Nelly.
The latter is trying to become a performer, given that her voice is exuberant and people have always admired it, she thinks in the first place that she would become an opera singer, but when her brother takes her to see a play, the young woman is transfigured, elated by the performance and thus asks for some acting lessons from the actor in the leading role.
Alas, this is a charlatan that makes me think of Trump - this orange fool has become a symbol of stupidity, viciousness, crookedness- and after some lessons, bad as they could be given his lack of talent, he runs away from wife and child and eventually he is the one who would destroy the life of Nelly.
Well, that was exaggerated perhaps, but we can still stay that the villain was an important factor, if not the only reason for the consequent perdition.
After the scandal of the elopement, covered in the newspapers, Sam decides to abandon his position in the railway station and travels to Chicago, where his talents, resilience, ambition, drive, tenacity, intelligence, persistence mean that he becomes a success as a salesman and so he can shortly make the next decision.
The hero starts working for himself, in partnership with a Frenchman who has a wallpaper designing and manufacturing company, taking the venture that was in serious trouble and launching it towards tremendous success.
It would not be an easy ride, for the partner is aggressive, stubborn, foolish and potentially calamitous for the enterprise, when they have workers on strike and he deals with it in a most stupid, reckless manner, hiring under aged boys and having one killed in a gruesome manner, caught and smashed into one of the machines.
The private life of the hero is less successful, in fact, we can see it as a failure, up to the point where he marries a Wonder Woman, for even if he is accepted by one of the rich Wyatts, there appears to be no real love in the marriage, which is actually not even consummated...not on the wedding or the following night...seemingly not for a long time.
The mantra that has animated the protagonist was to get as much money as possible, but this has not made him happy.
Hence the title:
Journey in the Dark
Toward the second stage of his life, after he is thirty, he does make the most wonderful, perfect woman his wife and things change, although there is suffering, tragedy and drama even after that.
A wondrous, excellent book, with only 27 reviews on goodreads, as opposed to the millions for Dan Brown...
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