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The Will: A Novel
Finalist for the National Book On the verge of receiving a vast inheritance, three brothers' clashing aspirations turn into an all-out war.
Brothers Leo and Max Land came to America from Romania in 1911, but they took different paths in pursuit of the American dream. Even as they worked together, Max sought out material things while Leo made a simple, private life for himself. Now, after the death of both brothers, Leo’s three sons - the only surviving heirs - learn that they stand to inherit a fortune. As they battle for control, they come to expose their own deeply complicated visions of success in America.
The Will is a stunning portrait of American idealism crushed under the weight of material desires.
Brothers Leo and Max Land came to America from Romania in 1911, but they took different paths in pursuit of the American dream. Even as they worked together, Max sought out material things while Leo made a simple, private life for himself. Now, after the death of both brothers, Leo’s three sons - the only surviving heirs - learn that they stand to inherit a fortune. As they battle for control, they come to expose their own deeply complicated visions of success in America.
The Will is a stunning portrait of American idealism crushed under the weight of material desires.
- GenresFiction
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1963
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About the author
Harvey Swados
31 books6 followersHarvey Swados was an American social critic and author of novels, short stories, essays and journalism.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 11, 2013
shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
You want to know the strangest thing? I was pretty blown away by this book, until I realized it was a reprint of a 1968 publication. Then, for some reason, it became slightly more so-so in my mind. Is that saying something about the state of novels in this day and age? Perhaps simply that things were written in a different way back then? I can't be sure. I just really would have been extremely impressed if someone, writing now, could have written the late '60s so well. Knowing that Swados was writing it during that time period made it less...magical, I guess? Less fanciful on the part of the author, I suppose.
Despite how that happened, though, and even though this took me months and months to read (only because I was reading it as an e-book, and those tend to get lost in the shuffle from time to time!), it was still quite good. A very well-written book about a pretty quotidian story, really. I mean, there certainly wasn't serious originality in the book, I'd argue: it was the story of three brothers who return to their childhood home in order to stake their claim on a mysterious inheritance. The book examined their relationships with one another, with their loved ones, with the world at large (including several people who played large roles in their collective past). It was also a study of fatherhood, from both the point of view of the father and that of his three strikingly different sons. The sons were stories in and of themselves, and the reader got to spend a good chunk of time with each man, learning their motives and back-story. So in this way, it was a fantastic character study. And, the descriptions of the burgeoning city (suburbs somewhere outside of Chicago, I think?) in the postwar boom were wonderful. What a different time it was back then. The end of the book, however, was...pretty anticlimactic. I still am not sure what I think about it. It reminded me in a very loose and strange way of The Usual Suspects, where a big and supposedly game-changing secret is revealed only at the end. But it wasn't that mind-boggling to me, and it felt like Swados rushed the resolution of his book, choosing to leave all of the relationships (these that he had been developing as hero vs. foil throughout the novel, poised to be resolved) still entirely open-ended.
I have to say, though, I did love the double nature of the title: of course, it refers to the actual document conferring inheritance, but I believe it also speaks strongly of the intense and stubborn personalities that all three of the brothers possessed - perhaps, in its own way, their true inheritance from their father and uncle, in the end.
Yours,
Arianna
Dear Reader,
You want to know the strangest thing? I was pretty blown away by this book, until I realized it was a reprint of a 1968 publication. Then, for some reason, it became slightly more so-so in my mind. Is that saying something about the state of novels in this day and age? Perhaps simply that things were written in a different way back then? I can't be sure. I just really would have been extremely impressed if someone, writing now, could have written the late '60s so well. Knowing that Swados was writing it during that time period made it less...magical, I guess? Less fanciful on the part of the author, I suppose.
Despite how that happened, though, and even though this took me months and months to read (only because I was reading it as an e-book, and those tend to get lost in the shuffle from time to time!), it was still quite good. A very well-written book about a pretty quotidian story, really. I mean, there certainly wasn't serious originality in the book, I'd argue: it was the story of three brothers who return to their childhood home in order to stake their claim on a mysterious inheritance. The book examined their relationships with one another, with their loved ones, with the world at large (including several people who played large roles in their collective past). It was also a study of fatherhood, from both the point of view of the father and that of his three strikingly different sons. The sons were stories in and of themselves, and the reader got to spend a good chunk of time with each man, learning their motives and back-story. So in this way, it was a fantastic character study. And, the descriptions of the burgeoning city (suburbs somewhere outside of Chicago, I think?) in the postwar boom were wonderful. What a different time it was back then. The end of the book, however, was...pretty anticlimactic. I still am not sure what I think about it. It reminded me in a very loose and strange way of The Usual Suspects, where a big and supposedly game-changing secret is revealed only at the end. But it wasn't that mind-boggling to me, and it felt like Swados rushed the resolution of his book, choosing to leave all of the relationships (these that he had been developing as hero vs. foil throughout the novel, poised to be resolved) still entirely open-ended.
I have to say, though, I did love the double nature of the title: of course, it refers to the actual document conferring inheritance, but I believe it also speaks strongly of the intense and stubborn personalities that all three of the brothers possessed - perhaps, in its own way, their true inheritance from their father and uncle, in the end.
Yours,
Arianna
August 7, 2013
Open Road Media has published The Will by Harvey Swados (As well as Going Away) as part of "The Essentials" - a selection of National Book Award finalists and winners currently being released as eBooks. Originally published in 1963, The Will is a character study of a dysfunctional family dealing with the death of the two family patriarchs in such rapid succession that a will has not been located. By all appearances there is a family fortune in a house full of collectibles (think Hoarders) and real estate, albeit in areas that would be defined as slums.
One brother, Ralph, is returning home for his father's funeral (although he skipped his uncles funeral, held just a week before). He wants to find the will, quickly settle the estate and leave. The only problem is his youngest brother is a recluse, living in the attic of the house, never venturing outside. The oldest brother, is in areas unknown, perhaps incarcerated. Problems abound when Ralph stays, and has his girlfriend come out to help. They marry and stay at the house, trying to go through the mountains of stuff looking for a will, while Ralph wants nothing more than to force Raymond out of the attic, get his inheritance and leave. Raymond, however, has his own ideas and wants any inheritance to be distributed equitably.
Swados was a part of the New York intellectuals and the writing is intelligent. The actual plot is slow moving since any development is established more by dialog than action and Swados has his characters propel his themes forward through dialog. Chapters are all told from the point of view of one of the characters. Savvy readers will catch the references to The Brothers Karamazov in The Will.
Harvey Swados is also remembered for his concern that the introduction of pocket-size books, paperbacks, would result in a “flood of trash” that threatened to “debase farther the popular taste."
Highly Recommended
Excerpt
www.scribd.com/doc/156021983/The-Will...
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Open Road Media via Netgalley for review purposes.
One brother, Ralph, is returning home for his father's funeral (although he skipped his uncles funeral, held just a week before). He wants to find the will, quickly settle the estate and leave. The only problem is his youngest brother is a recluse, living in the attic of the house, never venturing outside. The oldest brother, is in areas unknown, perhaps incarcerated. Problems abound when Ralph stays, and has his girlfriend come out to help. They marry and stay at the house, trying to go through the mountains of stuff looking for a will, while Ralph wants nothing more than to force Raymond out of the attic, get his inheritance and leave. Raymond, however, has his own ideas and wants any inheritance to be distributed equitably.
Swados was a part of the New York intellectuals and the writing is intelligent. The actual plot is slow moving since any development is established more by dialog than action and Swados has his characters propel his themes forward through dialog. Chapters are all told from the point of view of one of the characters. Savvy readers will catch the references to The Brothers Karamazov in The Will.
Harvey Swados is also remembered for his concern that the introduction of pocket-size books, paperbacks, would result in a “flood of trash” that threatened to “debase farther the popular taste."
Highly Recommended
Excerpt
www.scribd.com/doc/156021983/The-Will...
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Open Road Media via Netgalley for review purposes.
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July 14, 2017"No. It had been better when the weather had matched his inner climate, when his nose had run, his lips had cracked, and his hands had chapped and bled clenching the steering wheel. At least then, in February and March, he had the sense of combat, the bitter exhilaration that grew from pride in his own stoic courage. Now the spring sun was melting it all into mush, and Ralph was invaded by terror lest the trap he had spent these lonely months preparing with such patient care would spring (maybe it had already sprung!), only to leave him, its designer, caught beyond any possibility of release or rescue."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews