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The Honey Badger
Robert Chester Ruark was one of the mid-20th centuries "larger-than-life" characters: journalist, author, world traveller and big game hunter and in this, his last work, it is impossible to fathom where Ruark finishes and Alex Barr, the principal character, starts. In "The Honey Badger", first published (posthumously) in 1965, Ruark—thru his hero—searches for a purpose to his existence in a tapestry encompassing the restaurants of New York, through wartime London to the plains of Africa.
And just what is a honey badger? A mean little animal which, when cornered, attacks straight for the balls!!
Immensely readable.
And just what is a honey badger? A mean little animal which, when cornered, attacks straight for the balls!!
Immensely readable.
569 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1965
17 people are currently reading
453 people want to read
About the author
Robert Ruark
75 books80 followersRobert Ruark was an author and syndicated columnist.
Born Robert Chester Ruark, Jr., to Charlotte A. Ruark and Robert C. Ruark, a bookkeeper for a wholesale grocery, young Ruark attended local schools and graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. He graduated from high school at age 12 and entered the University of North Carolina at age 15. The Ruark family was deeply affected by the Depression, but despite his families' financial travails, he earned a journalism degree from the University of North 'Carolina at Chapel Hill.
During World War II Ruark was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. Ruark served ten months as a gunnery officer on Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys.After the war Ruark joined the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. As the New York Times said, Ruark was "sometimes glad, sometimes sad, and often mad--but almost always provocative." Some of his columns were eventually collected into two books, I Didn't Know It Was Loaded (1948) and One for the Road (1949).As he grew in notoriety, Ruark began to write fiction; first for literary magazines, and then his first novel, Grenadine Etching in 1947.
After he began to gain success as a writer, Ruark decided that it was time to fulfill a lifelong dream to go on safari to Africa. Ruark took an entire year off and began a love affair with Africa.As a result of his first safari, Ruark wrote Horn of the Hunter, in which he detailed his hunt.
In 1953, Ruark began writing a column for Field & Stream magazine entitled ''The Old Man and the Boy''. Considered largely autobiographical (although technically fiction), this heartwarming series ran until late 1961.
Ruark's first bestselling novel was published in 1955. It was entitled Something of Value and was about the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.
Sometimes belittled as “the poor man’s Hemingway,” Ruark has nevertheless retained a loyal following among fans of nature writing. Bland Simpson wrote that he produced “some of the best ‘portraiture in words’ of hunting, fishing and life in the field that we have.”
Ruark died in London on July 1, 1965 most likely as a result of alcoholism.
Robert Ruark is buried in Palamos, Spain.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_R...
Born Robert Chester Ruark, Jr., to Charlotte A. Ruark and Robert C. Ruark, a bookkeeper for a wholesale grocery, young Ruark attended local schools and graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. He graduated from high school at age 12 and entered the University of North Carolina at age 15. The Ruark family was deeply affected by the Depression, but despite his families' financial travails, he earned a journalism degree from the University of North 'Carolina at Chapel Hill.
During World War II Ruark was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. Ruark served ten months as a gunnery officer on Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys.After the war Ruark joined the Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. As the New York Times said, Ruark was "sometimes glad, sometimes sad, and often mad--but almost always provocative." Some of his columns were eventually collected into two books, I Didn't Know It Was Loaded (1948) and One for the Road (1949).As he grew in notoriety, Ruark began to write fiction; first for literary magazines, and then his first novel, Grenadine Etching in 1947.
After he began to gain success as a writer, Ruark decided that it was time to fulfill a lifelong dream to go on safari to Africa. Ruark took an entire year off and began a love affair with Africa.As a result of his first safari, Ruark wrote Horn of the Hunter, in which he detailed his hunt.
In 1953, Ruark began writing a column for Field & Stream magazine entitled ''The Old Man and the Boy''. Considered largely autobiographical (although technically fiction), this heartwarming series ran until late 1961.
Ruark's first bestselling novel was published in 1955. It was entitled Something of Value and was about the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.
Sometimes belittled as “the poor man’s Hemingway,” Ruark has nevertheless retained a loyal following among fans of nature writing. Bland Simpson wrote that he produced “some of the best ‘portraiture in words’ of hunting, fishing and life in the field that we have.”
Ruark died in London on July 1, 1965 most likely as a result of alcoholism.
Robert Ruark is buried in Palamos, Spain.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_R...
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November 9, 2023This novel was published in 1965. I didn't purchase it when it was new, but I have owned it for decades, so long ago that I have no remembrance of acquiring it. However, it has been in my possession long enough that it has had a place on my bookshelves in six or seven different residences. I have picked it up on occasion and have even read a few pages, but then I have always put it back on the shelf.
I have been trying to read some of the backlog of books that I have owned for years, "Spartacus" and "Oliver Twist" being a couple of recent examples, so yesterday I began "The Honey Badger." I read eighty-two pages.
It is divided into five "books," each named after a character. One of the books bears the name of the main protagonist, Alec. The other four are Amelia, Barbara, Jill, and Penny. (There was also a Shelia and a Dinah, but they didn't get a book. I don't know why.) Alec is married to Amelia, but is having an extramarital affair with Barbara (and before that with Shelia and Dinah), and I hadn't even gotten to Barbara's book when I stopped reading.
I picked it up again this evening and knowing that I had over four hundred pages to go, and with Barbara and Jill and Penny waiting in the wings, I quit.
Into the "Deep-Six" file it goes.
By the way, I know what a honey badger is, but I have no idea why that is the title of the book.
I have been trying to read some of the backlog of books that I have owned for years, "Spartacus" and "Oliver Twist" being a couple of recent examples, so yesterday I began "The Honey Badger." I read eighty-two pages.
It is divided into five "books," each named after a character. One of the books bears the name of the main protagonist, Alec. The other four are Amelia, Barbara, Jill, and Penny. (There was also a Shelia and a Dinah, but they didn't get a book. I don't know why.) Alec is married to Amelia, but is having an extramarital affair with Barbara (and before that with Shelia and Dinah), and I hadn't even gotten to Barbara's book when I stopped reading.
I picked it up again this evening and knowing that I had over four hundred pages to go, and with Barbara and Jill and Penny waiting in the wings, I quit.
Into the "Deep-Six" file it goes.
By the way, I know what a honey badger is, but I have no idea why that is the title of the book.
Want to read
June 21, 2012While I was out shopping for some new clothes today - at the Salvation Army thrift store - I found this little gem. The honey badger! before it was cool. The first page,
"Alexander Barr's wife Amelia, remaking her mouth in front of her vanity, appeared maddeningly cool. She did not look, as Alec Barr felt, like a person who had just burst in from a world which was entirely too full of anonymous people"
I randomly flip it open and see,
"Yes, I know what you said, you bloody expert. You're the authority on everything. You and Hemingway. The how-it-is brothers. The boys with the self-cultivated hair on their literary chests."
Literary chest hair. Oh my.
Oh my! The Hardcover is selling for $185.54 - $200.12 on Amazon. I'm rich. And it's signed! *puts pen away*
From the blurb on the dust jacket (in good condition btw, some foxing {ask me how}),
"The Honey Badger is an honest and full bodied novel-a story whose truth no man can ignore and few women will DARE acknowledge."
Do I dare? and, Do.I.dare??
"Alexander Barr's wife Amelia, remaking her mouth in front of her vanity, appeared maddeningly cool. She did not look, as Alec Barr felt, like a person who had just burst in from a world which was entirely too full of anonymous people"
I randomly flip it open and see,
"Yes, I know what you said, you bloody expert. You're the authority on everything. You and Hemingway. The how-it-is brothers. The boys with the self-cultivated hair on their literary chests."
Literary chest hair. Oh my.
Oh my! The Hardcover is selling for $185.54 - $200.12 on Amazon. I'm rich. And it's signed! *puts pen away*
From the blurb on the dust jacket (in good condition btw, some foxing {ask me how}),
"The Honey Badger is an honest and full bodied novel-a story whose truth no man can ignore and few women will DARE acknowledge."
Do I dare? and, Do.I.dare??
April 16, 2018
Skvěle vystavený román o plytkém životě úspěšného spisovatele, novináře a cestovatele. Z životopisu autora je patrné, že jsou Medojedky prošpikované autobiografickými prvky.
February 1, 2016
Stiff, stilted, and dated even though it was written in 1965 about events during WWII and within 20 years thereafter. Obviously, Ruark was living the old life of too many cocktail parties and hunting safaris seemingly untouched by the 1960's of the Beatles, Picadilly fashions, and hip pot. He writes like Mad Men looked during it's first season. If only he wrote as well that show was written! I was bored from page 1 but because Ruark seemed to be such a towering icon of print (whom I had never heard of), I plunged on.
[And roue Ruark also drops a lot of names--from the Stork Club to 21, Beluga caviar to Pucci shirts. ... However, somewhere around the middle, Alec tries to get something out of his portable besides "wooden characters... turned to stone"... But "it all comes out crap." He said it. We didn't. (Kirkus Reviews)]
The protagonist is pretty much simply a self-absorbed asshole and a jerk. I could not sympathize with him nor care about him.
This unhappy book drags on. I'm determined to finish but it is not enjoyable. And to top off the previous, this used book is filled physically on most pages by ashes and food crumbs as if the protagonist himself had read it; although, then, instead of crumbs, there would be the residues of martinis, scotch, and pink gin, but still plenty of cigarette ash.
But let me try to remain somewhat impartial. Once the womanizer alights in Africa, both the book and the man become more interesting. Alec Barr changes within Africa becoming a "man's man" rather than a profligate rake. He's at home, working hard, playing hard. He's almost a decent human being in the absence of women. However, he inevitably returns to America.
Done. I didn't care for the ending either. Alec Barr attempting to be noble, not pulling it off. Probably feeling sorry for himself (the actual author Ruark, was himself in the process of dying, and would be dead within months of completion of this work) and pegging Life as the Honey Badger. "Life went instinctively straight for your groin and then killed you for fun." Ruark was killing himself with alcohol, but decided to kill his character off with a twist on the previous line.
On to something more meaningful.
[And roue Ruark also drops a lot of names--from the Stork Club to 21, Beluga caviar to Pucci shirts. ... However, somewhere around the middle, Alec tries to get something out of his portable besides "wooden characters... turned to stone"... But "it all comes out crap." He said it. We didn't. (Kirkus Reviews)]
The protagonist is pretty much simply a self-absorbed asshole and a jerk. I could not sympathize with him nor care about him.
This unhappy book drags on. I'm determined to finish but it is not enjoyable. And to top off the previous, this used book is filled physically on most pages by ashes and food crumbs as if the protagonist himself had read it; although, then, instead of crumbs, there would be the residues of martinis, scotch, and pink gin, but still plenty of cigarette ash.
But let me try to remain somewhat impartial. Once the womanizer alights in Africa, both the book and the man become more interesting. Alec Barr changes within Africa becoming a "man's man" rather than a profligate rake. He's at home, working hard, playing hard. He's almost a decent human being in the absence of women. However, he inevitably returns to America.
Done. I didn't care for the ending either. Alec Barr attempting to be noble, not pulling it off. Probably feeling sorry for himself (the actual author Ruark, was himself in the process of dying, and would be dead within months of completion of this work) and pegging Life as the Honey Badger. "Life went instinctively straight for your groin and then killed you for fun." Ruark was killing himself with alcohol, but decided to kill his character off with a twist on the previous line.
On to something more meaningful.
September 5, 2020
This book is well-written but still it wasn't enough to capture my attention and I had to force myself through some parts. Because even the nice style cannot compensate for a boring topic (at least for me, I know it's considered a masterpiece in some literary circles... I bought it due to a recommendation from my university professor after all).
The thing is, the main character of the book, Alex, goes through life (and a middle-life crisis) with such an ease and he encounters so many women which he falls in and out of love so fast that after a while it becomes repetitive and boring. The way he is portrayed is idealised: he isn't a player or anything, when he cheats on his wife, it just happens and there are no guilty feelings in it, he takes everything in his stride and doesn't really lie to anybody... because everybody loves him and he is so charming and nice. Riiight... He just leaves a lot of broken hearts behind. Which is contradictory to the motto of the book about the honey badger who has a lot of common with an American woman- it goes straight for the crotch. I didn't feel like the women were any more predatory than Alex so the meaning of the motto kinda didn't make sense to me. The exchanges of bodily fluids and feelings went both ways, nobody did what they didn't want to do so why not? Or was it supposed to put a shame on women who sleep with whom they want? Is it really that chauvinistic?
I think at least the ending was supposed to make me emotional but it failed. Again, Alex hit the ground running and there were no hard feelings about it. I couldn't emotionally connect with his character so I didn't really care how he winded up because as I've already said, he was painted almost without any flaws AND despite the book spanning decades, he made no progress. Mentally he didn't develop so the book was about nothing if I think about it now.
The thing is, the main character of the book, Alex, goes through life (and a middle-life crisis) with such an ease and he encounters so many women which he falls in and out of love so fast that after a while it becomes repetitive and boring. The way he is portrayed is idealised: he isn't a player or anything, when he cheats on his wife, it just happens and there are no guilty feelings in it, he takes everything in his stride and doesn't really lie to anybody... because everybody loves him and he is so charming and nice. Riiight... He just leaves a lot of broken hearts behind. Which is contradictory to the motto of the book about the honey badger who has a lot of common with an American woman- it goes straight for the crotch. I didn't feel like the women were any more predatory than Alex so the meaning of the motto kinda didn't make sense to me. The exchanges of bodily fluids and feelings went both ways, nobody did what they didn't want to do so why not? Or was it supposed to put a shame on women who sleep with whom they want? Is it really that chauvinistic?
I think at least the ending was supposed to make me emotional but it failed. Again, Alex hit the ground running and there were no hard feelings about it. I couldn't emotionally connect with his character so I didn't really care how he winded up because as I've already said, he was painted almost without any flaws AND despite the book spanning decades, he made no progress. Mentally he didn't develop so the book was about nothing if I think about it now.
May 17, 2023
OH MY GOD. I know this book was written in "a different time", but come ON. The author clearly hated women. And anyone who wasn't straight and white. It was also very clever and made me laugh out loud several times. I wish Amelia would have murdered his ass. The main character was so unlikable. The toxic masculinity was rampant. Fix it, Jesus
August 16, 2009
Not so good. Reminds me of the books by Hemingway and Steinbeck when they needed money and just wrote some crap to get a paycheck.
May 28, 2020
Tohle je snad první knížka, které jsem dala jen jednu hvězdičku, konečně 😎. Následuje vlna negativity, čtěte na vlastní nebezpečí :D
Plytké a zpátečnické a americky arogantní a plné skrytých předsudků. Každá postava promlouvá úplně stejným tónem a jazykem. Už jenom ten název, kterým autor připodobňuje všechny ženy k africké šelmě, která údajně vraždí jen tak pro zábavu a mužům útočí na rozkrok, mluví za vše.
Jako protagonistu autor představuje jakousi zidealizovanou verzi sebe sama. Tomuto vysněnému spisovateli všechny ženy padají k nohám, je úspěšný a přirozeně také neuvěřitelně "inteligentní" a "světaznalý"... což nevyhnutelně vede k tomu, že je opravdu nesympatický. Hlavním problémem ale je, že v průběhu celých šesti set stránek neprojde absolutně žádnou proměnou, jenom zažívá bujnou krizi středního věku.
Dvě pozitiva: přes všechny nedostatky byla kniha záhadným způsobem velmi čtivá a jedna krátká africká pasáž byla docela zajímavá.
Plytké a zpátečnické a americky arogantní a plné skrytých předsudků. Každá postava promlouvá úplně stejným tónem a jazykem. Už jenom ten název, kterým autor připodobňuje všechny ženy k africké šelmě, která údajně vraždí jen tak pro zábavu a mužům útočí na rozkrok, mluví za vše.
Jako protagonistu autor představuje jakousi zidealizovanou verzi sebe sama. Tomuto vysněnému spisovateli všechny ženy padají k nohám, je úspěšný a přirozeně také neuvěřitelně "inteligentní" a "světaznalý"... což nevyhnutelně vede k tomu, že je opravdu nesympatický. Hlavním problémem ale je, že v průběhu celých šesti set stránek neprojde absolutně žádnou proměnou, jenom zažívá bujnou krizi středního věku.
Dvě pozitiva: přes všechny nedostatky byla kniha záhadným způsobem velmi čtivá a jedna krátká africká pasáž byla docela zajímavá.
August 8, 2014
I read this in 2008, and recently was telling someone about it, which almost made me want to read it again. So then of course I had to look it up. I wasn't a member of Goodreads at the time, nor was I blogging, but on BookCrossing this is what I wrote in my Journal Entry:
This sat on my shelf for a long time, and then on a whim one weekend I decided to pick it up and read it. And I'm really glad I did! After the first awkward sentence I almost stopped:
"It was that hot -- steaming, stinking, sewer-vaporous, New York -- humid, solid, soul-smiting hot."
But fortunately I continued on, and found it a very enjoyable read. In fact, in my head I could picture all the snappy dialog in a movie from the 30's or 40's, being spoken by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and their peers!
I will definitely be on the lookout for more from this author, who passed away two years after I was born (at the young age of 49).
-----------------------------------------------
I did look for more by the author, but all his other books were non-fiction focusing on big game hunting, so this is the only one I read. But I still think about it six years later.
This sat on my shelf for a long time, and then on a whim one weekend I decided to pick it up and read it. And I'm really glad I did! After the first awkward sentence I almost stopped:
"It was that hot -- steaming, stinking, sewer-vaporous, New York -- humid, solid, soul-smiting hot."
But fortunately I continued on, and found it a very enjoyable read. In fact, in my head I could picture all the snappy dialog in a movie from the 30's or 40's, being spoken by Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and their peers!
I will definitely be on the lookout for more from this author, who passed away two years after I was born (at the young age of 49).
-----------------------------------------------
I did look for more by the author, but all his other books were non-fiction focusing on big game hunting, so this is the only one I read. But I still think about it six years later.
November 19, 2012
This is a BIG book! It was interesting and as I read I kept getting the feeling that even though it was written in the sixties and was set in forty or so years before then, the story still holds up in the 21st century. It is the fascinating story of Alec Barr (the author's alter ego) and how he deals with his life and (mostly)the women in it. The end is poignant to the point of actually drawing a tear, it was so honest. I couldn't help liking Barr as he generated anger, empathy, sympathy and entertainment all along as I followed his adventures through his life. Well worth the time spent on the couch!
March 30, 2018
Read this back in my high school days. Perhaps just to please a boyfriend who also read it. It was just slightly interesting to me. More as an insight into insufferable men then anything else. I do remember at the end the MC is dying of prostrate cancer and his current arm candy wife leaves him in disgust and I think his first (or 2nd can’t remember) returns.
Will have to read it again.
Will have to read it again.
November 7, 2013
A marvelously written journey of one man through life, marriage, and remarriage.
May 3, 2024
I would’ve given this book 5 stars if I did not read the chapter entitled Barbara. I think this book is about his life. I actually saw a honey badger this year. Horn of the Hunter was one of my favorite books after reading this novel and having to look up words, I understand that he was truly a great author and it’s a pity that he died at age 50.
September 10, 2023
mala som tak trochu pocit, ze by som toto nemala citat, ale na druhu stranu sa mi to citalo velmi dobre, takze vlastne neviem, ze ako to ohodnotit
August 13, 2013
I wouldn't probably pick up such a book, but as it was given to me as a gift, I appreciated its thickness and started reading immediately :D The best thing about the book is probably its ability to depict real life. It isn't a fairytale with one eternal true love or happy ending. Instead, 'The Honey Badger' offers interesting insight into life of successful writer Alec Barr and his love life. I like the book very much, both the plot and the symbol of the name of the book. A great read indeed!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2015
Hodně zajímavá kniha, jedna z těch, která v člověku vyvolá stesk po dobách, které vůbec nezažil. Být tak spisovatelem v Americe 50. let. Chodit na schůzky s literárními agenty, na drinky do vyšší společnosti a když už je toho příliš, odjet na svůj luxusní venkovský dům, tam se zavřít a tvořit.
Pasáže z Afriky byly asi nejlepší, škoda, že zabraly jen tak krátký úsek knihy. Taky vyprávění z války. A vůbec, celé to bylo dobré.
Pasáže z Afriky byly asi nejlepší, škoda, že zabraly jen tak krátký úsek knihy. Taky vyprávění z války. A vůbec, celé to bylo dobré.
October 14, 2014
The Honey Badger by Robert Ruark (McGraw Hill 1965) (Fiction). Ruark has drawn up a protagonist very much like himself; athletic, hard drinking, and a big game hunter. My rating: 7/10, finished 1985.
February 1, 2014
I would probably have enjoyed this more had I not read it right on the heels of Ruark's POOR NO MORE, which was more or less an endless parade of booze and broads - THE HONEY BADGER seemed like more of the same, engaging though the story was.
January 8, 2009
Exciting--actually a man's book
February 17, 2011
A most memorable book that will keep your interst throughout. Read it some years ago and still keep a hardcopy on my bookshelf.
Read
July 6, 2011I read this many winters past, in my Hemingway days. Ruark is the working man's Hemingway. Be curious to read it again from the distance of thirty years.
Want to read
April 21, 2014
February 6, 2019
And again in 1975.
December 20, 2022
POWERFUL
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews