Judge — August 29, 1931 — page 33: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ation sw you ay a judge e from SUDGIWG™ BOOKS (Continued from page 24) into small, shapeless, soulless wads, devoid of life and the ene to fight off the tragedy which his beastliness fosters. He is not without pathos, however, for you sense the tragedy of He is a man "ve often seen, a big man who can’t harness his powers to anything worthy. i lack- his own shortcomings: There is some mine ing in him, some quirk in his t ‘The story moves along at fully working every point of character, emotion and drama for all it’s worth. ‘There is nothing left out. Tho terribly trite in the nd manner, no cliche situation, no point of analy- sis, description of pace, ea background — is sluffed over or omitted. Every per- son in the book is mulled and worked over until he stands out as full as life. Grand, nV Every. situation (and you've met them all before) is the For in- stance, the Mad Hatter’s daughter goes to the usual fair against her father’s command, meets the usual forbidden handsome young, personal- ity plus lad, an attractive villain with 1 likeable streak, and is seduced while something soft and wet and lovely loiters across the face of the moon. And, sure as your shirt tail, the baby comes, and out she storm. And what a snowstorm! In all literature there is no such snow- storm. In fact, had it snowed in the “Nigger of the Narcissus,” Conrad's storm would have been a mere sneeze compared to this blast of Cronin’s. Which seems to be Cronin’s strong point. H pod as you ever got in your’ classies — only he gives it to you a hundred times more so. And so it gocs, relentlessly, to a finish, never faltering over even a comma in its faithfulness to theme, purpose and story structure. In the end happiness and moral emerge vie- torious over Fate, Tr: and the Scot's bad blood. And even tho you may find it all a step ahead of bur- lesque on itself, as we did, we're sure the book will grip you tremendously. An enormous platitude, it still has a human quality and power. es into the snow- es you as Gg it’s not too hot when you read this, you might try pretty fair novel called look into a our Hand- written by the Strangest name you ever read (a pseudo), R. Hernekin Baptist (and how are vou today, Mrs. P. Titwillow Episcopalian?). “It is an artistically executed account of a summer excur- sion taken by a Portuguese man-o'- war, which set out from Portugal one day back in the fifteenth century to TWENTIETH CENTURY ENCYCLOPEDIA Containing more then 40,000 subjects remote antiquity through present-day modernity. In- cluding @ Loos enabling touch with tho tive and hi , including the latest tic maps ond charts, Su i binding delightfully emt information furnished on request without obligation. THE WORLD LIBRARY GUILD 120 Boyliton St. 1440 Broedway, Boston, Mass, New York, N.Y! take the Cross and the Chamber of Commerce to Darkest Africa, On this holy financial mission they picked up the four ladies mentioned in the title and proceeded to teach them the meaning of the Cross and the rudi- ments of the double-entry by ns of a course in physical culture. ‘The poor girls wound up in various stages of civilized decay with one exception and the boat returned home, covered with glory, ironies and pitch, white-man varicty, self-administered. The story, as you can see, is no gentle arraign- ment of white man’s civilizing meth- ods and no groundless indictment of the slave trade, which undoubtedly set the world bac al centuries, ac- tually and spiritually (according to author's subtle intimations). Per- sonally we hold the author absolutely right about it, but what, besides weep- 31 DETROIT’S FINEST UPTOWN HOTE ++ is near the General - Motors, Fisher and New Center Buildings, also automobile plants. A courteous thoughtful staff. Excellent Cuisine. Luxurious rooms at $3.00 per day. THE Abinaton at 700 SEWARD ing, are you going to do about it now? It also has a philosophic purpose, ery- ing out that civilization places a cold, damp, wet hand across the fair white (in this ease dark) body of what they used to call undefiled, pristine virgin nature. It’s not half bad, however, tho we don’t think it’s exactly hot- weather reading—it's bound to work you up to a fever over some old-time phantoms of old-time evils. Ou arLesPertit had a keen and witty run to his “Son of the Grand Eunuch” and wrote a clever Arabian Night's story But his newest, “The Impotent General,” seems to. be a washout. There is substance enough for a Balzackian droll story to it but not cnough for 300 pages’ worth. Once you get the n idea, it reads like so much padding. 9 —Trp Suave comicbooks.com