Ben Ames WilliamsRecensioni

El amor llevado al límite, la obsesión enfermiza, los celos maniáticos, la necesidad de poseer al amado... La historia de una mujer, Ellen Berent, que, loca de pasión, arrastra a todos los que la rodean a la perdición y al desastre... A un abismo del que ella tampoco logra escapar.

As another reviewer commented, Harland is a character who thinks with his penis. Ellen Harland is a master manipulator. This author certainly knows how to make you hate his character. Ellen is a well-fleshed-out character that is beautiful on the outside, and a hideous, reeking monster on the inside. The feeling I got from Richard Harland was of a wife-whipped man, but not much more. The last part, the court scenes, did drag on a bit. Overall, however, worth the read.

Bangor, 1824. Jenny Hager, gracias a su arrolladora belleza, es capaz de manipular a los hombres a su antojo y conseguir de ellos todo lo que se propone. Tras casarse con un acaudalado comerciante, Jenny no tardará en seducir al hijo de éste con el fin de inducirle al asesinato de su padre, mientras por otro lado se encapricha del prometido de su mejor amiga.

All the Brothers Were Valiant originally appeared in Everybody's Magazine (April and May 1919) with evocative illustrations by N. C. Wyeth and released as a book the same year. The setting is a whaling ship during the 1850s in the South Pacific, and is a pulpy melodrama concerning a conflict between two brothers over money, a woman and power. One brother is a rouge, the other upstanding. It wraps up neatly and quickly, though not believable, is a soothing balm from reality.

The story was subsequently made into three movies (1923, 1928, 1953). The 1923 silent starred Lon Chaney and is now lost, destroyed in an MGM fire in 1965. It was faithful to the book. It was remade in 1928 as Across to Singapore with changes to the plot but with the same character names and themes, starring Joan Crawford. It was remade again in 1953 in Technicolor starring Elizabeth Taylor's brother Robert (but not Elizabeth who declined a part). It's remarkable this was filmed three times. It's not that strong as a novel, but the 1953 film version is an improvement, smoothing over some rough spots.

A war between brothers is in both title and author. The title is derived from an epitaph by William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1593-1676) to his wife Margaret, the later had three valiant brothers who fought in the English Civil War: "It was a noble family, for all the Brothers were Valiant, and all the Sisters virtuous". Williams was born in Mississippi a relative of Confederate General Longstreet, though Maine became his adopted home. His most serious work is a two volume multi-generational epic on the (American) Civil War, House Divided which he worked on up to his death. He was most popular during the 1920s with magazine short stories in the Saturday Evening Post, where he pushed boundaries on what was possible with the form.½

Too long!

My parents were both avid readers and often discussed their reading choices with me. This is probably why I have an appreciation for classic literature between the 1930s to the 1970s.
Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames William is one such classic, published in 1944. I had previously read two of his historical fiction novels and was excited to listen to an audiobook of one of his other works. I was rewarded with another excellent story.

Leave Her to Heaven does not actually have any dates in terms of specific years. I have tried to date it by the omission of any mention of war, the existence of airplanes, Warm Springs operating as a polio institution, and have come up with anywhere between the 1920s to the late 1930’s. I tried researching it to pin it down but was unable to.

The main character is Harland. He is a successful author, raised in privilege. Since the death of his parents, he now supports his younger brother Danny who is recovering from infantile paralysis, polio. Harland is in his thirties and Danny is thirteen. They have a very close relationship before Danny is sick and afterwards they become even closer. They keep each other strong as they struggle with Danny’s recovery.

Harland’s relationship with Danny lives at the heart of the book. He is not a person seeking fulfillment in a relationship. He tries to keep Danny as active as he can be and tries to find activities they can do together. When he and Danny are invited to a friend’s ranch in the west, Danny encourages Harland to go although he cannot accompany him. As Harland travels by train, he notices a beautiful woman reading his latest book. This beautiful woman, Ellen, is headed to the same ranch he is.

When they meet on the way out to the ranch, Harland is enchanted by her beauty. Ellen immediately sets her cap for him even though she is engaged to a lawyer in Maine. At the ranch, Ellen’s sister, Ruth and mother, watch as Ellen manipulates her way into marrying Harland before they leave the ranch. He is not truly in love with her but allows himself to be swept of his feet.

Ellen will stop at nothing to possess all of Harland. She is jealous of his brother, his writing, or anything that she is not wholly the focus of. It is a fascinating study of a woman whose possessiveness becomes deadly. While some characters realize there is something wrong with Ellen, others are easily manipulated to fulfill her plans. No one is safe while Ellen breathes. Or even after.

Mike Dennis does a wonderful job narrating the book. He does a great job with the male vs. female voices. The language in the book reflects the time period in which it was written. Mr. Dennis handles the dated language well. It flows and seems very natural. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by Mr. Dennis. The production quality was excellent.

Audiobook provided in exchange for fair review.

Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams was such an excellent read. Originally published in 1944 and made into a 1945 movie which won the lead actress an Academy Award, this is a story of obsession and jealousy. If this book was published today, I believe it would be overdone instead, this book is subtle and builds slowly until you realize when Ellen says “I will never let you go” to Richard, she really means it.

Richard Harland meets the beautiful Ellen on a train and they turn up as guests at the same ranch in New Mexico. Although his inner voices are telling him to walk away, they fall in love and marry within two weeks of meeting. At first delirious with happiness, Richard eventually sees how pathologically jealous of him Ellen is. She doesn’t want anyone else to come into their inner circle and this includes his younger, crippled brother, her sister, or even their unborn child.

The story is told in flashback sequence and slowly the reader learns about Ellen and how she manipulates people and events to her advantage. The author is a true storyteller and although slightly melodramatic, I was totally drawn into the story and found this a hard book to put down for any length of time. I love the movie based on this book and so I was eager to see how the book compares to it. I am happy to say both are great fun and Ben Ames Williams has created a deeply flawed but brilliant character with the self-absorbed cruel Ellen. Although some may find Leave Her To Heaven a little dated but for me it was reading perfection.

My original Leave Her To Heaven audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

My parents were both avid readers and often discussed their reading choices with me. This is probably why I have an appreciation for classic literature between the 1930s to the 1970s.
Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames William is one such classic, published in 1944. I had previously read two of his historical fiction novels and was excited to listen to an audiobook of one of his other works. I was rewarded with another excellent story.

Leave Her to Heaven does not actually have any dates in terms of specific years. I have tried to date it by the omission of any mention of war, the existence of airplanes, Warm Springs operating as a polio institution, and have come up with anywhere between the 1920s to the late 1930’s. I tried researching it to pin it down but was unable to.

The main character is Harland. He is a successful author, raised in privilege. Since the death of his parents, he now supports his younger brother Danny who is recovering from infantile paralysis, polio. Harland is in his thirties and Danny is thirteen. They have a very close relationship before Danny is sick and afterwards they become even closer. They keep each other strong as they struggle with Danny’s recovery.

Harland’s relationship with Danny lives at the heart of the book. He is not a person seeking fulfillment in a relationship. He tries to keep Danny as active as he can be and tries to find activities they can do together. When he and Danny are invited to a friend’s ranch in the west, Danny encourages Harland to go although he cannot accompany him. As Harland travels by train, he notices a beautiful woman reading his latest book. This beautiful woman, Ellen, is headed to the same ranch he is.

When they meet on the way out to the ranch, Harland is enchanted by her beauty. Ellen immediately sets her cap for him even though she is engaged to a lawyer in Maine. At the ranch, Ellen’s sister, Ruth and mother, watch as Ellen manipulates her way into marrying Harland before they leave the ranch. He is not truly in love with her but allows himself to be swept of his feet.

Ellen will stop at nothing to possess all of Harland. She is jealous of his brother, his writing, or anything that she is not wholly the focus of. It is a fascinating study of a woman whose possessiveness becomes deadly. While some characters realize there is something wrong with Ellen, others are easily manipulated to fulfill her plans. No one is safe while Ellen breathes. Or even after.

Mike Dennis does a wonderful job narrating the book. He does a great job with the male vs. female voices. The language in the book reflects the time period in which it was written. Mr. Dennis handles the dated language well. It flows and seems very natural. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by Mr. Dennis. The production quality was excellent.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

This is the story of the founding of the town of Union in the midcoast area of Maine. In 1786 when the town was established there were 17 families and 75 inhabitants. Although written as an historical novel, the people and events were all real, and many of the places, and names are familiar to those of us who live here in this area. Union today has a population of 2300. It is only 16 miles from where I live.

Starting in the 1770's and going until 1784, the story tells us how the central characters, Mima Robbins and Joel Adams, meet, court, eventually marry and ultimately produce 10 children; how they cleared the acres and acres of land of the thick forests of trees, planted crops, built houses, raised barns, hunted, trapped, lugged buckets of water, battled mosquitoes and black flies, and always, always, always had to be worrying about surviving the long cold winters. Always the thought was "Come Spring everything will be OK". As I sat here reading in my comfortable home with indoor plumbing, central heating, power, inter-connectivity with the world, instant access to news, enough healthy food to feed my family, and the knowledge that good medical care is only a 911 call away, I was in awe of the strength, fortitude and independent spirit of those early settlers. I don't know if I could have done it!

It's a lovely long winter's nap read and highly recommended to anyone who wants to get a real feel for what life was all about in the days of the Revolutionary War and the founding of our country.

keeps your attention

Inside was a magazine ad for doll-house miniature kits.