4.5?
“But Beatrice turned away, went to the front door and stepped outside. Then the door closed and she was gone. And that’s all we’ll ever know about her. She has slipped off our map.”

That is indicative of the strange, meandering nature of this far-reaching, far-fetched novel. You never know which character will turn up again in what far-flung place or disappear forever. Berlin, Suriname, Australia, and all points between. Battlefields, jungle rivers, plantations. Far out, indeed.

Fortune means everything here: riches, luck, success. Who has, or will achieve, what?

I don’t know how many stories there are or how many characters cross paths with each other or dip in and out of each other’s stories over the course of a century and a bit.

Some characters recur from beginning to end (one is 126 years old?) or nearly the end, while some have macabre outcomes. There are petty thieves, whores, smugglers, and slave traders. Animal collectors and dealers. Soldiers and armies.

One of them is also a philosopher.

“‘Life is not unfurling in a line, but rather being spun, constantly, around and around our voluptuous Mother Earth, who is herself simultaneously turning, turning!’”

That seems to me to apply to this book. It begins in 1806, with Napoleon entering Berlin on his big white horse, and ends in France in 1916, in the middle of WWI. But there are flashbacks and memories that spin the stories around each other.

Johannes Meyer is a teenager who is pulled into an empty house by young Beatrice (the girl who disappeared in the opening quotation) for a quick fling (her idea, but he’s happy to comply). The window to the street is open, and the coupling pair are seen by a few people passing by. They coincidentally appear later in the story, sometimes a world away. (Far-fetched?) One of them is another young woman. She’s not so much shocked as jealous.

“Elisabeth was seventeen years old and locked inside the heated tumult of a young body. Her skin was sensitive to even the thought of a touch; her nights were long and sleepless in her transforming. She was overwhelmed by love and longing, could hardly wait to enter the world and be found by this love, a dream of such exquisite possibility that it seemed inevitable. Instead, she found herself in a constant state of anticipation, disappointment and, ultimately, boredom.”

Typical teenager. There are many wry asides, as if the author is giving us a wink and a nod to say this is mostly fiction, but you know, a lot of these things really happened somewhere, and this is your history.

As for the fictional characters, some are terrifying. There is torture and slaughter, not to mention collectors of shrunken heads (including instructions of how to shrink-one-yourself – eww). One man waits at the bottom of a guillotine and attempts to talk to freshly beheaded heads, going so far as to coach the condemned prisoners beforehand to respond to him “after” – (eww again).

Much of this reminded of the darkly funny parts of Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan and Barkskins by Annie Proulx, two books which seemed to cover both the humanity and inhumanity of colonisation, also with dark humour.

There’s nothing funny about transportation. This description of the ‘Guildford’ would put off the strongest seafarer. It is

“bound for New South Wales. LONDON – CANARY ISLANDS – RIO DE JANEIRO – CAPE TOWN – PORT JACKSON
. . .

Down the ladder, into the hold.

They rushed and wrestled for the berths nearer the hatchways. They fought, dominance and subservience re-established. The weakest would trade all sorts of favours down the line.

After some time, the heavy vibration of the anchor chain suddenly rumbled through the hull. Not a man moved, each one stock-still, sentences cut off in the middle, thoughts slashed, dropped dead. They listened.

The timbers boomed and the ship groaned, the bow dipped under the strain; the men stood braced. Above they could hear the sailors running and shouting now, and whistles blew and their bare feet drummed the deck and then, just that, the ‘Guildford’ came free and began to float. Every man’s stomach lurched.”

I’ve given nothing of he sense of the flow of the story, largely because it doesn’t so much flow as hit you in the face with short chapters, and sometimes it’s up to you to figure out how it fits in with the others (and it will). Some descriptions are lovely and evocative - it's not all grim!

I think this is one that will divide readers, depending on tastes and moods. I may have to read it again – it was complicated (for me), but intriguing enough to want to piece more together.

Thanks to NetGalley and Arcade Publishing for the review copy from which I’ve quoted.

My review of Gould's Book of Fish:A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan


My review of Barkskins by Annie Proulxaa arc-netgalley-done australian-author ...more54 s Krystal1,941 423

This is a strange book!

Not gonna lie, I mostly wanted to read it because I fell in love with that cover. So pretty.

The story is random, and at times hard to follow, but I kind of enjoyed being swept up and along? I really enjoyed the unpredictability of it; that there wasn't really a plot other than kind of watching at the window of these lives as they progressed.

There's several stories and I don't think I could name a favourite, as there were fascinating happenings across the globe. Strange occurrences and intertwining fates and luck and un-luck. What a whirlwind.

It's vague and meaty all the same; it dances back and forth between people and places but endlessly moves forward, dragging these souls with it. There were some really fun adventures, and some gruesome details not for the faint of heart; there was love and tenderness and tragedy.

I don't think it's for everyone but I'm surprised at how much I loved the randomness of it. Worth a shot for people looking to taste something a little more unique.action-adventure aussie-authors freebies-and-gifts ...more29 s Andrea891 30

4.5?

Wow, I was not expecting that! I totally missed this book when it was originally published in Australia, but am glad that I've now had the opportunity to catch up because I loved it. Anyone who has followed my for a while will know that I can't resist a story about connections, or the connectedness of people/events, and this one delivers in spades. I was entertained from the first page to the last of this fresh, fast-paced novel.

It all begins in December 1806 when Napoleon Bonaparte triumphantly enters Berlin. Most of the main characters are there on that day - some already known to each other - and are keenly aware of the significance, even if they don't all see the parade. Over the following years, these characters spin away from Berlin, all across the globe, sometimes crossing paths and other times just missing each other. A bit looking into a kaleidoscope. Their journeys take them across Europe, South America and Oceania. From Johannes Meyer, world's worst deserter, to Krüger, the gentle philosopher, I found them all to be interesting in their own way, and the things that happened to them could only have been conceived by a first-class imagination. In the meantime, Bonaparte's life is moving forward too, and we occasionally check back in on him (I don't know how historically accurate these parts of the story were - it's highlighted a gap in my knowledge that I need to fill).

Never having read Bartulin before, I loved his style. Chapters are short and sharp, allowing us to keep track of what is a rather large cast of characters, while still flowing smoothly forward. There are some truly vivid scenes that will stay with me forever, I'm sure. For example, there's Claus von Rolt running through his apartment, naked but for the shrunken head he's wearing around his neck. Or Krüger being given the raw hand of a howler monkey to eat, causing him to retch over the side of the canoe, as he recognises how it resembles the hand of a child.

I'm glad to have been introduced to this exciting author and have already added his Infamy to my TBR list.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.around-the-world-2021 australian-author fiction-foreign-locale ...more21 s Sarah790 156

"That the whole earth was a single entity, that each one of us was a mere hair strand of its memory" (Fortune, Location 1100)While major historical events unfold, "ordinary" people keep going about their lives, experiencing joys, hardships, fateful meetings and making what will become life-changing decisions. That is the basis for Lenny Bartulin's new US release, Fortune. The novel is a sweeping historical epic, comprised of several intertwined narrative threads told from uniquely personal perspectives.
As Napoleon marches into Berlin in October 1806, we see the event through the eyes of several characters.
Johannes Meyer, aged eighteen, abandons the crowd watching the Grande Armée, to enjoy a brief tryst with a coffee house waitress. They're observed in flagrante delicto through a window by two passers-by, Marie-Henri Beyle, years prior to finding his fame as the philosopher / writer Stendhal, and seventeen-year-old Elizabeth von Hoffman. Johannes and Elizabeth briefly lock eyes, the moment passes and they move in separate directions towards their far-flung destinies.
Later that evening, Prussian Heinrich Krüger is heckled as he philosophises on the cyclical nature of time, life, knowledge and love. On the other side of Berlin, specimen collector Claus von Rolt receives an American, Wesley Lewis Jr. and his Surinamese companion, Mr. Hendrik, who are trying to dispose of a barrel of rare but rapidly deteriorating live electric eels on behalf of their employer, plantation owner Captain van der Velde. After an altercation with the three men, Johannes finds himself forcibly conscripted to the Grande Armée as a drummer. Following a chance meeting, Kruger decides to accompany Lewis and Hendrik as they set out on their return journey to Paramaribo, Suriname.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth forms a romantic attachment to Général de Brigade Michel François Fourés of the Grande Armée, who is temporarily billeted at her elderly aunt's residence, and absconds with him, dreaming of a life of adventure.
From Berlin, the characters' paths diverge, occasionally crossing or unwittingly passing by, first through western and northern Europe, then across the Atlantic to South America. One character finds himself in remote Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania, Australia), before a twist of fate leads him once again to meet a familiar set of eyes.
A brief final episode set in Tasmania and the trenches of World War 1 in Europe brings the story full circle.
Given that the above is only a brief overview of the cast of characters and unfolding storyline of Fortune, readers will appreciate that it takes some concentration to keep track of the various personalities and timelines, as the short chapters jump between the different perspectives. That concentration, however, is justly rewarded by a rich and complex reading experience, featuring well-developed characters, engrossing plots and exotic locations.
Lenny Bartulin's writing is lyrical and evocative, without ever becoming cumbersome or convoluted. I found myself genuinely engaged in the titular fortunes of the two central characters, Johannes and Elizabeth, as they unfold, buffeted by turns of luck, circumstance and apparently random events. The focus moves seamlessly from seemingly mundane details of day-to-day life to occasional glimpses of famous figures and notable historical events. Bartulin's considerable research into the period(s) in which his book is set is evident throughout. I was particularly delighted to find a cross-over with Adam Courtenay's modern Tasmanian classic, The Ship that Never Was: The Greatest Escape Story Of Australian Colonial History, of which I am very fond.
It has taken me some time to mull over this book before writing my review, such was the effect it had on me. I recommend it highly to all readers who enjoy historical epic, swashbuckling adventures and quality character-driven sagas.
My thanks to the author, fellow Tasmanian Lenny Bartulin, publisher Skyhorse Publishing (Arcade Publishing) and Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this excellent title.netgalley read-in-2021 tasmaniana24 s Deborah Ideiosepius1,775 139

Uniquely poetic historical fiction: Fortune starts in 1806 as Napoleon Bonaparte leads his triumphant army into Berlin. As Berlin turns out to see the conqueror the scene is set and the context is lavishly laid out for the reader to discover the characters that will be traced across the years and decades as they leave Berlin and spread out over the world. The different individuals, all with lives that have glanced off each other in passing during the parade, are introduced early on. They are all different, interesting, strange and engrossing but they are rather more vehicles for the story than characters for the reader to bond closely with.

It is definitely the writing that sets this novel apart from others that I have read recently, poetic, lyrical and enticing it was was an exceptionally lush reading experience. If there was a textural analogy to reading, this book would be running your hand over rich, expensive velvet. The text is so intensely descriptive, so very wealthy in detail that it is a very rich reading experience.

As well as Berlin, South America, Australia and Europe all feature as the characters spread around the world and the author has a unique way of making the places spring to life. The places, whether South America or the ship that takes us there, have both the good and the bad, the beauty and the barbarism of the experiences described beautifully. The vivid descriptions made me want to read more slowly, to take portions of the text away to mull over in my mind for a while before coming back to read the next bit

Also, I really enjoyed the way this book started with the characters all together, and spread them wider and wider, further and further away from each other. This is the exact opposite of a lot of books I have read recently, where the story lines start separate and slowly come together and I really enjoyed this different reading experience. The end was less of a finish than a slow spinning out of all the lives the story touches on, until there are none left. The ending was another thing that I went away thinking about.

A couple of details; there are not really chapters, there are XI separate 'books' in each of which, especially at the beginning, we skip from one character to another and the timely advances for all of them. I would recommend starting this book when you have a good portion of reading time ahead of you. By the end of the first 'book' I had all the characters firmly in mind but it too that long for me to fix them all.

With thanks to Allen & Unwin for this advance reading copy in return for an honest opinion.2019-reading-challenge arc australian-authors ...more16 s Jeanette475 58

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for this fantastic ARC of Fortune by Lenny Bartulin and to submit my review.

This book is loaded with energy with many, very colourful characters. The author has a wild imagination. The reader, may just be a little out of breath when finally reaching the end after all the globe trotting combined with all the characters and their experiences including historical events. The book opens in Napoleonic times with Napoleon at the peak of his invasionary exploits. He has entered the Brandenburg Gate invading Berlin but contrary to most invaders Napoleon is treated a modern day rock star. The Prussian people cannot get enough of him, they form huge crowds all waiting for a glimpse of this little Frenchman, the conqueror.

Johannes Meyer is at Otto Kessler's Coffee House who becomes very interested in what another man, Krüeger has to say with regards to "déjà vu" experiences, Johannes believes that this phenomenon is possible, that is, experiencing something that has occurred before. Johannes is young and is taken advantage of by the young waitress at the coffee shop seducing him in a nearby house near an open window in view of anybody passing by. However, as many are still holding out for a glimpse of Napoleon this isn't of a concern. One who does pass by is Elisabeth von Hoffman and in this immediate instant Johannes raises his head and they lock eyes. Whilst there is no immediate consequence of this, the "déjà vu" aspect comes into play near the end of the book. This window view encounter does nothing for the well being of Elisabeth, a young woman at the height of her sexual passions, locked into a restricted existence with a spinster aunt.

Johannes seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets dragged into so many situations beyond his control and it is with immense luck that he lives to survive all of them finally dying in Van Diemen's Land, however, the author doesn't give up his body even in 1915.

Elisabeth von Hoffman remarkably survives all her own trials after running away from her Aunt's home to elope and whilst on the docks of Valdivia, Chile where she now lives, she encounters a brief view of Johannes (now John) Meyer who is at this time an escaped convict working there. They both recognise each other from their first brief encounter years ago in Berlin but nothing transpires from this déjà vu moment, both perplexed at the sighting of each other again on the other side of the world.

Also introduced early to the reader is an American Wesley Lewis Jnr and Mr Hendrik (a slave in title but more of a companion) who is from Sth America, the jungles of Suriname (French Guiana) who in the first instance along with Wesley Lewis Jnr are trying to flog off electrificated eels from Suriname. Mr Hendrik is given a description that leaves no doubt in the reader's mind as to the physical presence and spiritualism of this man, reinforced by the obia he wears around his neck which through circumstances Krüeger inherits. Wesley Lewis Jnr is a totally unsavoury man who contributes to his own demise.

The characters of Johannes and Elisabeth are the most prominent characters of this read while Mr Hendrik, Wesley and Krüeger are secondary but equally interesting while the many other characters help to bind the book to it's title but really through their own actions change their fortune or lose out completely.

The read ends with a final twist just to add to this extraordinary book.14 s Sharah McConville609 24

Fortune is a strange, but entertaining story that starts in Berlin during 1806 and spans over a century. This historical fiction is brutal and violent at times and has many characters to keep track of as they disperse around the globe. Lenny Bartulin's book won't be for everyone, but in my opinion it was brilliant. Thanks to Allen & Unwin for my ARC.won-arc-from-authors-publishers8 s Erin3,248 476

Thanks to Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this one didn't work for me. Too many character perspectives plopped in and the constant flipping between them made me unable to get really deep into the narrative.

Publication Date 16/02/21
Goodreads review published 22/05/21kindle-kindle-unlimited netgalley7 s The Sassy Bookworm3,631 2,796

The cover of this one is 5 star worthy, unfortunately, the book wasn't anywhere near a 5 star read for me. This was another book that I kept setting aside to read other things.
Autor del comentario:
=================================