Cherry

by Booth Tarkington

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: MR. SUDGEBERRY'S RECKLESS HUMOR ETHOUGHT I was unable to stir from the point of contact between two great regiments of horse, charging down on each other, while they thundered this chorus: " For her dear sake, The laws to break We'll sing to him, and yet we sayt Lord save the King and the King's highway " but at the crucial moment I saved myself by waking with a jump so sudden that it seemed to stop my heart. Fear was still upon me; I found my back a-creep with cold and all my being alert to unknown horrors closing in on me through the darkness. Everything was silent?silent I sat up in bed and listened. "Bold Boy he's out till the break o' day." There came faintly to my hearkening ear the murmur, like a failing echo, of that satanic chorus, as if it came from far down the road: " Good-luck to him with the grand Hoorool" The suspicions I had entertained of O'Don- nefl sprang up full-armed in my mind, bearing with them thoughts so wild that a fit of sinking, deep in my inwards, was their accompaniment. When I had mastered my emotions somewhat, I had a vivid, painful apprehension that there was a strange presence in the room, the which conception finally growing so intolerable that I crept out of the covers strategically, went to the door, and felt to see if it could be still bolted. All was secure. Returning cautiously toward the bed, I overturned a chair. It fell like a church. The noise of it in the hush ran through the house in a ghastly resonance, seeming to rattle the doors of a hundred empty rooms for admission. I stood stock-still, and the renewed silence was as startling as the noise had been. Then again, as I stood there, I heard the murmur of the highwayman's chorus, farther away, fainter: " Me song celebrates him; The judge el...

Genres: Fiction

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1903

About the author

Newton Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction/Novel more than once, along with William Faulkner, John Updike and Colson Whitehead. Although he is little read now, in the 1910s and 1920s he was considered America's greatest living author.

Reviews

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarkington book #3 and another somewhat interesting tale

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Cherry”, was originally published in January and February of 1901 in “Harper’s Magazine”. This made it Booth Tarkington’s third novel in print, though it did not get published in book form until 1903. While I have enjoyed the other Tarkington novels and stories that I have read, I found “Cherry” to be very poor in many ways. It was far too predictable, which leaves the reader waiting and waiting for the story to catch up with them. It could be argued that this adds to the humor, given the nature of the narrator, but it certainly is possible to maintain that humor and perception without boring the reader to such an extent. There is barely enough material here for a short story, let alone a novel.

“Cherry” is the story of a love triangle, as told from the perspective of one of the two suitors. The gentleman in question is Mr. Sudgeberry, a young man who is attending to his studies. The object of his affection is Miss Sylvia Gray, and the competitor for her heart is William Fentriss who is also a young man attending the same school. The story initially deals with the time between terms when both Mr. Sudgeberry and William Fentriss have plenty of time to devote to courtship. The two men are quite unalike, the narrator being very serious and verbose, and Mr. Fentriss delighting in music, poetry, and the company of friends.

The story is readable in its way, but at the same time frustrates the reader with taking so long to reach a conclusion. There is a decent idea behind the story, but it is not executed well. I would recommend that this one be skipped and instead one might read “The Two Vanrevels” for a love triangle story from Tarkington which works far better than this one.

[Meleya]

Not as great as the other Booth Tarkington I've read. Not much more to say.

[Abby Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Behold a perfidious monster!”

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Such a great book.