Immortals

by Nancy Freedman

PAPERBACK

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Nancy Lois Mars Freedman, born in Chicago in 1920, was a professional dancer by the age of seven. She later became an actress, but her career was cut short by a heart condition. She married Benedict Freedman in 1941, just shy of her twenty-first birthday. They collaborated on Mrs. Mike while still in their twenties. Each would write a section and critique the other’s work. (In a previous discussion, June 2007, we learned that this is the method used by the mother and daughter team that makes up P. J. Tracy.) Nancy and Benedict did not write the sequels to Mrs. Mike (The Search for Joyful and Kathy Little Bird) until 2002 and 2004! Nancy authored several other books in the intervening years.

Reviews

[BLRBrazil · Rating 2 out of 5]

(spoiler alert)
I confess I had higher expectations of this novel after I'd read through to the main character's marriage. But it then proceeded to lose me, as he turned out to be a self-obsessed bull in a china shop willing to trample over any and everybody in order to get what he wanted - pretty much like the international stereotype of the American entrepreneur, in fact.
There were a couple of interesting characters: Brill, whose inspiration, derived from the earth god Kumju, offered fascinating possibilities, but in the hands of this author, she spins off into insanity. And Erin, who finds in music a fascinating world of her own that she wants to take to a spiritual level, although Erin is allowed to demonstrate an endearing practical side also. Meanwhile, Lev could've been more fully developed - he seems to be constantly reacting to events around him and we're never quite sure what he truly believes in.
So, if you're the sort of person who believes in establishing an immortal dynasty and raping the planet of its resources in order to feed the machinery, you will probably enjoy this book. It certainly gives a few insights into the energy business. But it also suggests that, no matter what they tell you, big business is only interested in profit and the power and influence it can give them.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy Freedman’s epic novel, The Immortals, is a historical fiction set in the 1930’s to the 1970’s in Pennsylvania. A young entrepreneur in the depression era decides to invest in drilling for oil in Saudia Arabia. Along the way he has an affair with a Jewish hippie, half his age. This novel briefly describes the concepts of the holocaust, and mental illness while tracing a family’s patriarch for 3 generations.