Cover Image: The Brave Historian

The Brave Historian

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Member Reviews

This book tells us the story of a man who has lived through 3 centuries. John Hammond - a 100 year old man- has had a difficult life and seen plenty disasters. Throughout the narrative, we get to discover more of his life, which was really compelling and interesting to read. John was an interesting character and I feel he taught us some important things - don't give up on your dreams, don't be afraid to fail.
However, both the fact that we got to see so many of his sexual fantasies with another character and the fact that there really was not much a plot didn't allow me to enjoy the story as much.
Still, I don't regret reading the book and it was indeed memorable.

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A story that touches on relationships that change during the latter years especially when the elderly drift between the present and reliving past memories. John feels he has never achieved his full potential after living in a shadow competing with a famous patriarchal father and his two gifted siblings. With low esteem, self-doubt and a drive for perfection gradually the story evolves so we understand John and the hidden genius that had been there all his life.
An independent review Hidden Shelf Publishing House / Netgalley

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John Hammond was born in one century, has lived through another, and now approaching 100 looks set to enter a third. Member of a talented and well-known family, John has always hid his lights under a bushel, and shunned the limelight. Yet such a long life surely deserves recognition and a young filmmaker is hired to make a documentary about him. As she interviews him, we share his reminiscences, and of course, just like all lives, his is a fascinating one in spite of his obscurity. I was entertained and engaged by this well-written and well-paced novel, but I would have enjoyed it much more if we hadn’t had to share in John’s sexual fantasies about Shelly, the young filmmaker. These became increasingly unpalatable, and were in any case unnecessary. I assume they were there to show that even if the body ages, desire remains, but the emphasis on it was very uncomfortable. We also share in John’s many vivid dreams, and these are as tedious as other people’s dreams always are. Without these two elements this would have been a much better book, as for most of the time I found the narrative compelling, and John’s life was interesting enough without them to keep me reading. But ultimately they spoiled the book for me, and prevented it being as good a read as it could have been.

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