The Two Vanrevels Booth Tarkington 9781492319740 Books
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The Two Vanrevels Booth Tarkington 9781492319740 Books
Such a clever tale. Amusing and poignant all together as only Tarkington can - I couldn't decide which Vanrevel I was cheering for. A must read.Product details
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The Two Vanrevels Booth Tarkington 9781492319740 Books Reviews
Booth Tarkington's "The Two Vanrevels" is a tale back in the hypothetical literary day where gentlemen were pure goodness or downright pure evil. Tom Vanrevel is our leading man, a handsome lawyer who is smitten by the lovely Betty Carewe. One of the defining characteristics of Tom is loyalty to his best friend Crailey Gray. The two men are foils, alike in that they are both lawyers, about the same age and share an office. While Tom is the picture of ultimate responsibility, his friend Crailey leads a loose band of guys into pranks and drinks galore. As the novel opens, Betty is returning from a convent where she's apparently been mostly sequestered since her father seems a stranger to her. Fanchon Bareaud is a girlhood friend who Betty bumps into while chasing her kitten. The novel's mistaken identity is set up as Betty assumes the escorting Fanchon is Fanchon's fiancée, when in reality it is her fiancée Crailey Gray's best friend Tom Vanrevel. The plot is complicated as we learn of a feud between Mr. Carewe and Tom. Mr. Carewe is somewhat of an enigma in the novel. He seems to be angry and tightly wound. Like Betty, we feel like we never get to know him. At the end of the novel, Tarkington deletes him from the story without much ceremony or concern. One of the best chapters is about a huge warehouse fire where Tom risks his life to save the property of his arch-enemy Mr. Carewe. Betty rushes in and saves the day. Carewe rather than thanking Vanrevel for the risk he took, condemns him for being on his property. It's a weird scenario where the father cares more about his vendetta than his property. The mistaken identity leads to a tragic ending, just as Tom is set to head off to fight in the Mexican-American War. I found the political discussion interesting, sounding much like political discussions of the current day. President James Polk had taken some action against the English, which failed. So his detractors think he's jumping into war with Mexico to distract from this failure and enhance his chances for reelection. One-hundred eleven years after this book was published, I liked the story without being fully engaged. I appreciated the illustrations of Henry Hutt in this first edition book. Enjoy!
"The Two Vanrevels", originally published in 1902, is either Booth Tarkington's third or fourth novel, depending on if you count "Cherry" which had been published as a serial in Harper's Magazine in 1901, but was not published as a novel until 1903. In many ways it is a merging of the all three of these earlier works, taking the setting of rural Indiana from "The Gentleman from Indiana" and the much of the light romantic comedic feel of "Monsieur Beaucaire", and the romantic triangle from "Cherry", though it does a much better job of it than was done in that earlier effort. Another device taken from "Monsieur Beaucaire" is to thrust the reader into the story immediately, with almost no setting of the scene. He effectively fills in what the reader needs to know in the conversation of the characters, or with smaller sections of exposition. It is true, that it is not as dramatic here as it was in his second book, but there is no time wasted up front in setting the scene.
The romantic triangle is created fairly quickly. The beautiful Betty Carewe returns from the convent where she was studying, guarded over by her father, a rich and powerful citizen of Rouen. The two young men who ultimately vie for her attentions are Tom Vanrevel and Crailey Gray who are also the two young men that her father wants her to stay away from. There is a quarrel between Tom Vanrevel and the powerful Mr. Carewe, and Crailey's youthful antics are well known to the entire town. Crailey is currently engaged to Fanchon Bareaud, a young woman who also knew Betty from the convent which she had graduated two years before.
This story also borrows the idea of false identities from "Monsieur Beaucaire", though in this case the mistaken identity is accidental at first. Betty Carewe gets the initial impression that Tom and Crailey are each other, and when Crailey finds this out, he decides to keep it that way. He and Tom share an office, and an apartment, so as Betty's father works at keeping her away from Tom, it is relatively easy for him to pretend that he is the famous Vanrevel. Slowly clues are given to Betty about which man is which, but she has become so convinced that she ignores the words of her father and Mrs. Tanberry, a friend of the family who comes to stay with Betty, and keep an eye on her while her father is out-of-town. Tom is unaware of the deception until Betty sends a letter to the address that he and Crailey share.
Unlike his first novel, this novel is set in the past. Tarkington uses 1846 as the year, as the politics leading into the Mexican American war play a role in some of the events in the novel. During the initial part of the novel, there are hints given about this, but it isn't important to the story until the news of the Mexicans crossing of the Rio Grande hits town. This event also serves as a change in the mood of the story. Prior to the event, it is mostly about Crailey's antics in which he plays on Betty thinking that he is Tom Vanrevel. The feud between Mr. Carewe and Tom Vanrevel (or one way feud as it is only Mr. Carewe that is upset) is spoken of, but no actions are taken by Mr. Carewe. This all changes with the coming of the war, and the events are more serious, with much more tragic consequences.
This book is superior in many ways all of Tarkington's prior efforts. While perhaps not up to the level he would later achieve, one can see definite improvement in all aspects of telling the story, from the character development, to his ability to set the scene quickly, and his ability to keep the story moving at a fairly quick pace.
The book arrived quickly and was delivered to me exactly as it had been described at the time I purchased it!
Such a clever tale. Amusing and poignant all together as only Tarkington can - I couldn't decide which Vanrevel I was cheering for. A must read.
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