Kane and Abel
by Jeffrey Archer
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Book Reviews of Kane and Abel
Book Review: One of the best books I have ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
In my review of Archer's book "As the Crow Flies" I mentioned that I had avoided this author for years because some snobbish critic had written off Archer as "kitsch for the masses." In hindsight, this critic is probably the type of person who would consider apple pie, sex, and puppies to also be highly over-rated and not for those of refined taste.
My only regret is that I paid any attention to this critic and consequently didn't discover Archer earlier. He is a wonderful storyteller, and Kane & Abel ranks among the very best books I have ever read.
The story is a multi-generational saga of two men, born on exactly the same day, in entirely different circumstances. One, a priviledged Bostonian whose future as a banking magnate has already been charted for him. The other, a Polish orphan who is literally left to die in the woods when his mother dies in childbirth.
The saga traces the circumstances of Kane (the Bostonian) and Abel (the Pole) as their vastly differing lives progress from boyhood, to young adult, and eventually intersect when Abel approaches Kane for a desparately needed loan to save a floundering hotel chain. So begins a rivalry that will last the rest of their lives. Threaded amidst the story are also numerous smaller dramas, such as between Kane and his step-father, Abel's harrowing childhood and escape from a Siberian concentration camp, and both men's estrangement from their children.
Archer tells the story brilliantly, and manages to conceal a surprising detail central to the conflict between the two main characters until the very end of the story, causing us to see the story in an entirely different light and reflect over the character's lives with a poignancy that I have rarely encountered in fiction. In typical Archer fashion, the characters are developed quite fully and he rarely glosses over years or decades in their lives, instead walking alongside each character's ups and downs without ever letting the story bog down. By the end, we feel like life-long companions of the two men.
Abel, in particular, was a beautifully crafted and developed character - though somewhat unscrupulous - and as a result of this book, it sparked a renewed interest in learning more about my own immigrant grandfather who arrived, like Abel, at Ellis Island in the early part of the 1900s. I have oftened imagined what the immigrant experience must have been like, and this book heightened my imagination. I am quite certain there are more than a few "Abels" out there who came to this country with nothing more than the clothes on their back and through hard work and almost unbelievable tenacity, achieved the American dream. My grandfather was one of them, although on a much smaller scale than the fictional though believable account of Abel.
The book spawned two sequels (The Prodigal Daughter and Shall We Tell the President) that follow the life of Abel's daughter, Florentina. I read them, but did not find them to be as enjoyable as this book. The book was also made into a 3-part mini-series back in the 1980s with Sam Niell as Kane and Peter Strauss as Abel. I had moderate difficulty finding the DVD set of this mini-series, eventually locating some on eBay. I ordered it and enjoyed it, but it simply could not compare to the book. I also read somewhere that the book was so popular in Europe that it was made into a weekly TV series on BBC for awhile.
In short, all of the popular acclaim for this book is well-founded. It is an outstanding story told by an outstanding storyteller. Don't let the 1979 publication date dissuade you either. The book is quite timeless, as with any good story. I highly recommend it. If you only read a single book by Jeffrey Archer, this is the one.
Book Review: A potent investigation of illogical male pride.
Summary: 5 Stars
Kane and Abel is arguably the most memorable and well written of all of prominent story teller Jeffrey Archer's novels. It tells of the incredible lives of Wladek (Abel) Rosnovski, an illegitimate child who his born into extreme poverty in rural Poland and that of William Kane, son of a rich Boston Brahmin family that owns a reputable, prosperous Bank. The story spans from 1906 amidst the immense social and national unrest of World War II to the bustling industrial America of the 1960s.
Abel's life starts off in a trapper's cottage where he shows tremendous promise with his unusually high intelligence in comparison to the hunters that comprise his family, Archer establishes early on the amazing will of Abel to survive and succeed enduring events that would have left the faint hearted dead a long time before him. He undergoes severe and brutal family tragedies by the callous invading Russian Soldiers from being locked up in a dungeon for several months to slaving in a Russian concentration camp in freezing weather. He manages to escape the camp to Odessa and is on a conquest to Constantinople (now Istanbul) where. When he arrives, he is about to have his hand cut off for stealing an orange in intense hunger, but is rescued by British diplomats who send him off to America as a Polish war refugee and he begins a new life as a hotel waiter and works up the ranks with pure grit and imperturbable fortitude and determination to become a multimillionaire hotel baron.
On the other hand, Archer introduces us to the other zealous, precocious protagonist William Kane, born with everything in a well to do Boston Banking business where his chairmanship of the bank Kane and Cabot is all but expected of him. His childhood consists of trading on the stock market, making shrewd, innovative business decisions and investments at the age of 12 and expanding his knowledge in the best schools around. He later joins Harvard and his life appears to be handed to him on a silver platter.
But from the title of the book, one can see that Kane and Abel are destined to meet and through a bitter dispute with the bank, Abel declares war on William Kane. Archer entertains the reader through the book with unpredictable twists and turns and at the end of the day seems to want to educate the reader on the sad pitfalls of pragmatism, a trait that both Kane and Abel possessed in profusion and in doing so, illustrates wonderfully the disastrous ramifications of illogical male hubris on the family unit. Kane and Abel, for its characterisation and unique capture of human emotion and experience is definitely one of Archer's most prevailing and poignant works.
Book Review: A Novel of Business, High-Finance, and Politics
Summary: 3 Stars
I struggled to finish this book. It bored me. There is little character development, and the writing style is dry. It reminded me of the way traditional fairy tales are told - a simple recital of: this happened, then that happened, then the next thing, etc. In spite of the dramatic events, the characters seemed to be lacking in passion. There is little said about their emotions, thought processes, personalities, etc., and as a result I didn't care about them.
Most of the book consists of complicated business wheelings and dealings, high-finance, and politics. Someone who has a special interest in these things would probably enjoy Kane and Abel very much. It just wasn't my thing.
I also guessed the surprise ending, even though it caused one of the plot threads to not make sense. (Sorry to be so vague, but it would be a spoiler to say more.)
I did enjoy learning about the history of Poland, though, and that's what the 3 stars are for. I didn't know that Poland lost more people in WW II than any other country including Germany. Or that, when the Americans liberated the German concentration camps, due to a pact with Russia, we turned all the Polish POW's over to Russia. Russia promptly sent them to labor camps in Siberia from which many of them never returned. The exact number of prisoners will never be known, but it was at least in the hundreds of thousands and may even reach millions.
The parts of the book I liked best were the beginning and the end, both of which take place in Poland, Russia, and other European countries. These parts of the story are interesting and very atmospheric.
(582 pages)
Book Review: One of the best of Jeffrey Archer
Summary: 5 Stars
William Kane and Abel Rosnovski are both born at the same time on opposites sides of the world and under different circumstances.
In 1906, William is born to a wealthy, socially prominent Boston family and loses his father on the Titanic in 1912. He then is raised by his mother.
Abel is born in the woods in Poland to an unwed impoverished woman who dies during childbirth. The two men have a difficult time trying to succeed in life but for totally different reasons.
Abel is found in the woods between the legs of his dead mother by a young hunter who takes pity on him and carries him home to be nursed by his own mother.
The war with Germany and Russian occupation of Poland presents a problem for Abel. He escapes the concentration camps but stows away on a ship which is rat infested and comes to America to make his dream come true.
He finds out before he leaves Poland that he is the son of royalty but the occupation of Poland makes it impossible for him to claim any inheritance. He goes into the business of hotel chains.
Meanwhile, young William Kane is living a luxurious life as the surviving son of a rich banker, attending the most elite schools, and making substantial scholastic achievements.
The two men cross paths and bitter wars start out for Abel especially, as he has worked hard for everything he has accomplished and feels as though William Kane has had the easy American life. The paradox to this is very touching. I cried when I realized what was really happening in the end.
I recommend this book as a must read!
Book Review: One of the best story tellers of our time
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a book my mother recommended to me. She read it several years ago and remembered how good it was. And oh how good it was. This is a great story that is told over about 60 years from Europe to America. Archer tells 2 parallel stories. One about Abel Rosnovki and one about William Kane. The story is so well told and so interesting that I felt torn between the two main characters and their stories. You feel pulled away from one story line when Archer takes you to the next. I enjoyed Archer's historical weave throughout each chapter. Especially the history of Poland and the part it played in both World Wars. Fascinating! Each character is developed from birth by the author and he does an outstanding job of taking you thru their childhood, teenage-school years and then adulthood. So, as a reader, you really get a feel for what they are made of and why they made the decisions they made throughout their life. The stories cross paths through-out the book and the ending is a masterful surprise. I have already mooched the sequel The Prodigal Daughter which I can't wait to read.