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Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise
Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos, is a luminous work of fiction inspired by the real-life, 37-year friendship between two towering figures of the late nineteenth century, famed writer and humorist Mark Twain and legendary explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. Hijuelos was fascinated by the Twain-Stanley connection and eventually began researching and writing a novel that used the scant historical record of their relationship as a starting point for a more detailed fictional account. It was a labor of love for Hijuelos, who worked on the project for more than ten years, publishing other novels along the way but always returning to Twain and Stanley; indeed, he was still revising the manuscript the day before his sudden passing in 2013. The resulting novel is a richly woven tapestry of people and events that is unique among the author's works, both in theme and structure. Hijuelos ingeniously blends correspondence, memoir, and third-person omniscience to explore the intersection of these Victorian giants in a long vanished world. From their early days as journalists in the American West, to their admiration and support of each other's writing, their mutual hatred of slavery, their social life together in the dazzling literary circles of the period, and even a mysterious journey to Cuba to search for Stanley's adoptive father, Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise superbly channels two vibrant but very different figures. It is also a study of Twain's complex bond with Mrs. Stanley, the bohemian portrait artist Dorothy Tennant, who introduces Twain and his wife to the world of sv©ances and mediums after the tragic death of their daughter. A compelling and deeply felt historical fantasia that utilizes the full range of Hijuelos' gifts, Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise stands as an unforgettable coda to a brilliant writing career.
473 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 3, 2015
64 people are currently reading
2636 people want to read
About the author
Oscar Hijuelos
34 books218 followersOscar Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) was an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents. He attended the Corpus Christi School, public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976). He then practiced various professions before taking up writing full time. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University and at Duke University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
November 3, 2015
In this imagined account of the very real friendship between Mark Twain and explorer Henry Stanley, Oscar Hijuelos has captured Mark Twain down to the last satirical barb. (Though I knew little of Stanley before reading this book - beyond the obvious accounts of his fabled career - as a self-acknowledged "Twainiac" I know a lot about Mark Twain.) This is a magical story with one of the most unique narrative structures I’ve ever experienced; it will leave readers wishing that Hijuelos could write another volume about the pair.
July 8, 2024
I have just finished Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise by one of my favorite authors, Oscar Hijuelos. This was a remarkable book that the author was working on for over twelve years, and unlike all of his previous books with a Latin flair in lively New York City neighborhoods and the passion and love of music in the midst of the immigrant experience, as beautifully rendered in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise was a fictionalized account of the lifelong friendship between Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain, and the British explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. As his wife, Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos notes in the Afterword, all of the writing is that of Oscar Hijuelos. In addition to the narrative, all of the diary entries, letters, and speeches in the book that are imagined and created by Hijuelos. It was informed not only by extensive research but in the many field trips allowing the author to better understand the backdrop to his story. It is said that he loved New Orleans and French Quarter and river views along the promenade where he ”felt Twain’s and Stanley’s footprints everywhere.” In addition to visiting Mark Twain’s home in Hartford, Connecticut, Hijuelos went on European jaunts to better understand Stanley, including trips to Wales and England and Belgium where there were displays of African artifacts, a reminder of Stanley’s exploits under the patronage of King Leopold II. While still in the process of editing and finalizing this book, Oscar Hijuelos died of a massive heart attack while playing tennis on October 12, 2013. According to Ms. Carlson-Hijuelos, the book was edited and published by in 2014 by Grand Central Publishing in July 2014.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is the beautiful fictional work inspired by the 37-year friendship between two towering and romantic Victorian figures of the nineteenth century, famed writer Mark Twain and legendary explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. Their friendship inspired Oscar Hijuelos to do research into their lives and begin work on this novel. Since the historical record was spare, the author utilized an unusual format for the book, utilizing not only the omniscient narrator but also the fictional letters, diaries, speeches to give the book a framework where he draws one into the lives of Mark Twain, Henry Morton Stanley and Dorothy Tennant, a portrait artist and wife of Stanley. This labor of love by Oscar Hijuelos is the resulting novel that is a rich tapestry of people and events making up the lives of these Victorian giants as their lives intersected over their lifetimes. I loved the book even though it was so different in both scope and structure from his previous works, a fitting coda to the beautiful body of work of Oscar Hijuelos.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is the beautiful fictional work inspired by the 37-year friendship between two towering and romantic Victorian figures of the nineteenth century, famed writer Mark Twain and legendary explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. Their friendship inspired Oscar Hijuelos to do research into their lives and begin work on this novel. Since the historical record was spare, the author utilized an unusual format for the book, utilizing not only the omniscient narrator but also the fictional letters, diaries, speeches to give the book a framework where he draws one into the lives of Mark Twain, Henry Morton Stanley and Dorothy Tennant, a portrait artist and wife of Stanley. This labor of love by Oscar Hijuelos is the resulting novel that is a rich tapestry of people and events making up the lives of these Victorian giants as their lives intersected over their lifetimes. I loved the book even though it was so different in both scope and structure from his previous works, a fitting coda to the beautiful body of work of Oscar Hijuelos.
“We climbed up to the highest part of the ship and entered the pilot house, as elegant as any first-class parlor, with polished wood floors, gleaming spittoons, shiny brass railings, and a ship’s wheel six feet high: It was entirely surrounded by windows, and its sweeping view of the river, lit by lanterns beaming out over the waters, left one with the feeling of being up in a lighthouse tower.”
“And he told me there were the glories of calm nights, when the stars were clear in the sky and moon shone over the water and the river seemed to go on forever in its reflected light, such a fine scenario turning one’s thoughts to many fanciful speculations about God and destiny and Providence. The mystery of a universe spreading endlessly onward, as if emanating from one’s self, making the pilot feel grand and, at the same time, as if he were nothing at all.”
December 4, 2015
This book is for the true historical-fiction nerd, of which I am one.
I loved Hijuelos' imagination that came up with supposed letters and journal entries, and the narrative that painted a picture of the friendship between Twain and Stanley and Stanley's wife, Dorothy Tennant.
However, some of the chapters required resolve and fortitude to get through. They seemed to meander and go on and on.
I am proud to report that I stuck with those chapters, which numbered far less than the chapters that genuinely held my interest.
I now feel I am sort of an expert on the biography of Stanley, and have more knowledge about Samuel Clemens' personality. Hijuelos presents a more positive view about Clemens than did Lynn Cullen in Twain's End. However, it's possible he did not utilize some of the sources that Cullen used.
It felt like Hijuelos believed the caricature we've all had of the Mark Twain we want Samuel Clemens to be. Probably a more honest assessment would include some of the observations from Cullens book.
I liked the parts in this book that scathingly revealed how Stanley dealt with natives in the Congo, though politically, he was very much against slavery. His actions on behalf of Belgium clearly paved the way for colonialism.
However, a few chapters, especially toward the end of the book, bored me with polemics about some political notion, or other ideas, pros and cons. Please, dear author, leave the pontificating out. Bores me to tears. I just want the STORY.
Which, for the most part, Hijuelos gives us here. A story of a lasting life-long friendship, and of two men who were adventurers in their youth, and then grew old and died.
I loved Hijuelos' imagination that came up with supposed letters and journal entries, and the narrative that painted a picture of the friendship between Twain and Stanley and Stanley's wife, Dorothy Tennant.
However, some of the chapters required resolve and fortitude to get through. They seemed to meander and go on and on.
I am proud to report that I stuck with those chapters, which numbered far less than the chapters that genuinely held my interest.
I now feel I am sort of an expert on the biography of Stanley, and have more knowledge about Samuel Clemens' personality. Hijuelos presents a more positive view about Clemens than did Lynn Cullen in Twain's End. However, it's possible he did not utilize some of the sources that Cullen used.
It felt like Hijuelos believed the caricature we've all had of the Mark Twain we want Samuel Clemens to be. Probably a more honest assessment would include some of the observations from Cullens book.
I liked the parts in this book that scathingly revealed how Stanley dealt with natives in the Congo, though politically, he was very much against slavery. His actions on behalf of Belgium clearly paved the way for colonialism.
However, a few chapters, especially toward the end of the book, bored me with polemics about some political notion, or other ideas, pros and cons. Please, dear author, leave the pontificating out. Bores me to tears. I just want the STORY.
Which, for the most part, Hijuelos gives us here. A story of a lasting life-long friendship, and of two men who were adventurers in their youth, and then grew old and died.
February 10, 2016
This is certainly going to be one of the best books that I have read in 2016, and I am able to recognize that right off the bat. To begin, I am a scholar on Twain and his work, and I try to read and experience as much as I can as it is released (as much as I can keep up with, anyway).
This was only the second Hijuelos book I have read, the first being Mambo Kings when I was in high school. This final book was something that Hijuelos worked on for ten years, and it is purported that he was editing the manuscript and making final touches and revisions the day he died. His dedication to this passion project was such that he wanted it to be perfect, and to be honest, I couldn't imagine a more fitting, beautiful, and perfect project to round out a career with. While it was edited posthumously, the result seems to be something that Hijuelos should be incredibly and impressively proud of were he alive to see it through to publication.
The story is a variety of viewpoints and approaches to the relationship that Henry Morton Stanley and Mark Twain had during their lives. It begins at the beginning, and ends at the end, and is told in documents, first person, and third person narratives and epistles. It is beautiful. It is complete. It is perfect. It is an absolutely beautiful triumph.
What I found to be the most magical thing about this book is the manner in which Hijuelos is able to weave real source documents and fictional additions to create this completely immersive Victorian world. The men are stark and three-dimensional within these pages, and we experience the pain, suffering, and triumphs each of them faced throughout their careers and their inter-personal choices. This believable, magical structure allows for the seamless kinetic energy that rolls this amazing narrative along on a steam train, until it fizzles into a gorgeous reflection on the lives and the work of these two men as their existence fades out into the blackness of the universe.
What we are left with is a deep appreciation of their fraternity, their work, and an accurate and gorgeous rendition of what these men were able to accomplish in love and life. The complexity with which Hijuelos presents the material's fact and fiction is just magnificent, and what prose he wrote is a true inspiration to myself as a writer. In communicating what may be bone dry and dusty to a wide audience, he has been able to plant the seeds of story he kept in his heart for three decades, tend and fertilize it, and have it bloom into a gorgeous book in his final days is a testament to a wonderful career and a gravitational talent. In truth, I could think of fewer perfect passion projects that any writer has had, and was able to finish with such poetic flair. Hijuelos' book is a true masterpiece of modern fiction that draws from true documents, growing the relationship and lives of two very important men into a beautiful, timeless bloom of a book.
This was only the second Hijuelos book I have read, the first being Mambo Kings when I was in high school. This final book was something that Hijuelos worked on for ten years, and it is purported that he was editing the manuscript and making final touches and revisions the day he died. His dedication to this passion project was such that he wanted it to be perfect, and to be honest, I couldn't imagine a more fitting, beautiful, and perfect project to round out a career with. While it was edited posthumously, the result seems to be something that Hijuelos should be incredibly and impressively proud of were he alive to see it through to publication.
The story is a variety of viewpoints and approaches to the relationship that Henry Morton Stanley and Mark Twain had during their lives. It begins at the beginning, and ends at the end, and is told in documents, first person, and third person narratives and epistles. It is beautiful. It is complete. It is perfect. It is an absolutely beautiful triumph.
What I found to be the most magical thing about this book is the manner in which Hijuelos is able to weave real source documents and fictional additions to create this completely immersive Victorian world. The men are stark and three-dimensional within these pages, and we experience the pain, suffering, and triumphs each of them faced throughout their careers and their inter-personal choices. This believable, magical structure allows for the seamless kinetic energy that rolls this amazing narrative along on a steam train, until it fizzles into a gorgeous reflection on the lives and the work of these two men as their existence fades out into the blackness of the universe.
What we are left with is a deep appreciation of their fraternity, their work, and an accurate and gorgeous rendition of what these men were able to accomplish in love and life. The complexity with which Hijuelos presents the material's fact and fiction is just magnificent, and what prose he wrote is a true inspiration to myself as a writer. In communicating what may be bone dry and dusty to a wide audience, he has been able to plant the seeds of story he kept in his heart for three decades, tend and fertilize it, and have it bloom into a gorgeous book in his final days is a testament to a wonderful career and a gravitational talent. In truth, I could think of fewer perfect passion projects that any writer has had, and was able to finish with such poetic flair. Hijuelos' book is a true masterpiece of modern fiction that draws from true documents, growing the relationship and lives of two very important men into a beautiful, timeless bloom of a book.
December 31, 2015
A novel about the friendship between Mark Twain and Henry Morton Stanley (he of the famous – or infamous – line "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"). There's not much of a plot; this is rather a meandering collection of moments across the two men's lives, with a much greater focus on Stanley than Twain. Stanley's wife, Dorothy Tennant, a wealthy painter, is also a prominent character – probably moreso than Twain, which is unfortunate because of all the historical and fictional figures in this book, he was the only one I liked and enjoyed spending time with.
The book switches between epistolary style (diaries, letters, and segments of autobiographies), and more straight-forward third person limited POVs. The only real structure the book has is that it's bookended by twin retellings of the same moment in Stanley's life: when, at about age 20, he went searching for his adopted father who had disappeared in Cuba. The tellings (one by Stanley and one by Twain) differ significantly. Rather than plot, there's a strong thematic thread holding the book together; characters are constantly ruminating on death, the afterlife, fame, their legacies, and especially the inevitability of the passing of time. I don't like to read too much autobiography into novels, but it's extremely hard to avoid the reflection that this is a book written at the end of Hijuelos's life, and in fact only edited and published after his death.
I didn't like this book. The lack of any sort of plot made it feel as though it was dragging on forever, and the constant references to an Ozymandius-like passing of all grandeur just made me think of better things I could be doing with my time than reading this book. In addition, I found it incredibly hard to have any sympathy or patience with Stanley. He's a man who both served in the Confederate Army in the US Civil War and worked for King Leopold. Stanley is, in fact, responsible to some degree in the founding of the Congo Free State (trigger warning on that link for pretty much every terrible thing you can imagine; literally the URL is "Humanitarian Disaster"). And I'm not saying that Hijuelos should have changed these things! They're a matter of historical record, and if you're going to write about real people, these are the sorts of issues you must confront. But Hijuelos chooses to deal with it by... ignoring it, mostly, or including as few references as physically possible, which often involves skipping over entire years or decades of Stanley's life. If I had not already known about the problems of the Congo Free State, I could easily have finished this book without even being aware they existed. The writing itself was great, but it's hard for me to care about Stanley dating some lady when part of my mind is screaming, "ARE WE JUST NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU WORK FOR A LITERAL GENOCIDAL MONSTER?"
And no, we never do talk about it. At least not in this book.
On the other hand, hey, it turns out Mark Twain is cooler than I'd realized! Did you know he was an active campaigner for women's suffrage, spoke out against missionaries, campaigned heavily against imperialism, particularly in the context of the Spanish-American war and the US expansion into the Phillipines, and supported unions and the labor movement? I wish he had been the focus of this book instead of Stanley.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
The book switches between epistolary style (diaries, letters, and segments of autobiographies), and more straight-forward third person limited POVs. The only real structure the book has is that it's bookended by twin retellings of the same moment in Stanley's life: when, at about age 20, he went searching for his adopted father who had disappeared in Cuba. The tellings (one by Stanley and one by Twain) differ significantly. Rather than plot, there's a strong thematic thread holding the book together; characters are constantly ruminating on death, the afterlife, fame, their legacies, and especially the inevitability of the passing of time. I don't like to read too much autobiography into novels, but it's extremely hard to avoid the reflection that this is a book written at the end of Hijuelos's life, and in fact only edited and published after his death.
I didn't like this book. The lack of any sort of plot made it feel as though it was dragging on forever, and the constant references to an Ozymandius-like passing of all grandeur just made me think of better things I could be doing with my time than reading this book. In addition, I found it incredibly hard to have any sympathy or patience with Stanley. He's a man who both served in the Confederate Army in the US Civil War and worked for King Leopold. Stanley is, in fact, responsible to some degree in the founding of the Congo Free State (trigger warning on that link for pretty much every terrible thing you can imagine; literally the URL is "Humanitarian Disaster"). And I'm not saying that Hijuelos should have changed these things! They're a matter of historical record, and if you're going to write about real people, these are the sorts of issues you must confront. But Hijuelos chooses to deal with it by... ignoring it, mostly, or including as few references as physically possible, which often involves skipping over entire years or decades of Stanley's life. If I had not already known about the problems of the Congo Free State, I could easily have finished this book without even being aware they existed. The writing itself was great, but it's hard for me to care about Stanley dating some lady when part of my mind is screaming, "ARE WE JUST NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU WORK FOR A LITERAL GENOCIDAL MONSTER?"
And no, we never do talk about it. At least not in this book.
On the other hand, hey, it turns out Mark Twain is cooler than I'd realized! Did you know he was an active campaigner for women's suffrage, spoke out against missionaries, campaigned heavily against imperialism, particularly in the context of the Spanish-American war and the US expansion into the Phillipines, and supported unions and the labor movement? I wish he had been the focus of this book instead of Stanley.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
October 31, 2016
I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but I was pleasantly surprised and very enraptured by the storytelling and style. While it sounds like, and reads in some places like, a biography of Twain and Stanley it is 100% fiction--Hijuelos made up not just dialogue, but the journal entries, letters, etc. I was a bit disappointed with the fact that there wasn't any "works cited"--did Hijuelos base his style off of letters actually written by Twain, Stanley, and Dolly, or did he completely make it up? But it's not too much of a peeve to dwell on, because the style was very beautiful and there was a distinct voice that each character had. The pacing is a bit different, and I was disappointed that most of Stanley's time in Africa was glossed over (him finding Livingstone was mentioned in a brief sentence when it happened in the timeline, and only expanded upon much later), but this was supposed to be more of a biography of a friendship, rather than a biography of each author's life.
The themes throughout were also very well done. I loved how both Twain and Stanley talked about the idealness of youth, the nostalgia that they had for it sometimes being the only thing to hold on to during rough times.
If you're interested in this book, but still skeptical, I would recommend you give it a try. It oddly sucks you in, getting you deeply invested in the characters and their subtle voices, and painting a wide-arching history that's diverse enough not to get bored with. It does start out heavily favoring and focusing on Stanley's past, but as the book goes along, Twain gets gradually more equal page time.
The themes throughout were also very well done. I loved how both Twain and Stanley talked about the idealness of youth, the nostalgia that they had for it sometimes being the only thing to hold on to during rough times.
If you're interested in this book, but still skeptical, I would recommend you give it a try. It oddly sucks you in, getting you deeply invested in the characters and their subtle voices, and painting a wide-arching history that's diverse enough not to get bored with. It does start out heavily favoring and focusing on Stanley's past, but as the book goes along, Twain gets gradually more equal page time.
January 8, 2016
I love Samuel Clemens even more after reading this book about him and his friend Henry Stanley, the British explorer who found Dr. Livingstone in the African jungle. Stanley was a dying breed, one of the last of the colonialists. Interesting insights into 19th century Britain's intellectual landscape, and Stanley's wife, the artist Dorothy Tennant, is a breath of fresh air,
March 10, 2019
This is a long, meandering historical novel, really more about Stanley than Twain, but emphasizing their intersections. Also, it’s about Lady Dorothy Tennant Stanley, though she doesn’t get top billing, who knows why. Like any posthumously published novel, one wonders if it turned out like the author would have wanted. Still, if you have interest in what the world was like from the US civil war through the massive colonization of Africa, or of Twain or Stanley, this book should not be missed. 3.5 stars
February 24, 2024
A fictional account of the relationship between Mark Twain and Henry Morton Stanley. From pre-civil war to early 1900s. I wonder how much was real. Stanley is a pitiable character, having such a sad youth with no family to support him. But also an intriguing life. I suspect he was always searching for love and acceptance. His marriage to Dorothy Tennant and subsequent adoption of Denzil seemed to be the best comfort to him. I feel the mark of good historical fiction is the personal desire to learn more about the characters portrayed. Throughout the book, I was googling Twain, Stanley and Tennant to find out more about them.
July 2, 2019
I was expecting the book to be more focused on Mark Twain rather than Henry Stanley. That being said I found the book to be very interesting and informative as I did not know much about Stanley. The book was a bit drawn out but still readable for me.
November 16, 2015
"Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise" is a 12 year labor of love and the last book written by the late Oscar Hijeulos. Mr. Hijuelos was apparently obsessed with both Samuel Clemens and the explorer Henry Morton Stanley who, apparently, were long-time friends though neither wrote much about the other. This book is Mr. Hijuelos' fantasy of what that friendship may have entailed, written as a (entirely fictional)collection of letters, journal entries, speech excerpts, etc. A third person, Stanley's wife Dorothy Tennant is also well-represented to add a third party view of the relationship between the two men. The whole thing is brought off marvelously well and I would have believed it was non-fiction if I hadn't known otherwise.
In the novel, the two future world figures meet on the Mississippi riverboat captained by Clemens. Their shared love of literature leads to a friendship that is mostly long distance as each go their separate ways in the world. They do share an adventure in Cuba looking for Stanley's adoptive father and the "secret" of that trip is the loose thread that binds the book's story together. In my opinion, this one device is an unnecessary gimmick as the book would be altogether delightful without it. Just letting their life stories unfold in correspondence is engaging enough. As a fan of Twain, the letters and other writings attributed to him ring true. This is the best example I've found so far of an historical fiction with Clemens/Twain as a major character (and there seem to be more of those every day).
In the novel, the two future world figures meet on the Mississippi riverboat captained by Clemens. Their shared love of literature leads to a friendship that is mostly long distance as each go their separate ways in the world. They do share an adventure in Cuba looking for Stanley's adoptive father and the "secret" of that trip is the loose thread that binds the book's story together. In my opinion, this one device is an unnecessary gimmick as the book would be altogether delightful without it. Just letting their life stories unfold in correspondence is engaging enough. As a fan of Twain, the letters and other writings attributed to him ring true. This is the best example I've found so far of an historical fiction with Clemens/Twain as a major character (and there seem to be more of those every day).
January 15, 2016
XXX I was not aware that we had lost this wonderful author. He will be greatly missed.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is a fictionalized history of the relationship between these two wonderful authors over their lifetimes, from their early journalism careers in the American West through their successes and into old age. Much of the story is told in letters between Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Henry Morton Stanley, including letters to and from Dorothy Tennant, wife of Sir Henry Stanley and an artist in her own right.
Oscar Hijuelos again makes you wish you could think in the beautiful, flowing manner he writes. And he manages to humanize these literary giants, without the reader losing any of the awe we hold them in.
A look at history I would recommend to anyone who loves American history, historical fiction or any of the above mentioned artists.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is a fictionalized history of the relationship between these two wonderful authors over their lifetimes, from their early journalism careers in the American West through their successes and into old age. Much of the story is told in letters between Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Henry Morton Stanley, including letters to and from Dorothy Tennant, wife of Sir Henry Stanley and an artist in her own right.
Oscar Hijuelos again makes you wish you could think in the beautiful, flowing manner he writes. And he manages to humanize these literary giants, without the reader losing any of the awe we hold them in.
A look at history I would recommend to anyone who loves American history, historical fiction or any of the above mentioned artists.
November 29, 2015
I feel as if I really accomplished a lot by reading this book. Hijuelos has written a fictional account of Mark Twain's and Henry Morton Stanley's long-time friendship, but with all the research he did and the letters and diaries he created for this work (which evidently took him 12 years to complete), it feels like non-fiction. In a good way.
I learned a lot about Twain and his early life, his marriage, his anti-imperialist leanings, and more. Henry Morton Stanley was only a name to me (the "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" guy), but his life also was fascinating. I can't do a review of this book justice - it was filled with so many people, and really captured the atmosphere of life in the mid to late 1800's.
I learned a lot about Twain and his early life, his marriage, his anti-imperialist leanings, and more. Henry Morton Stanley was only a name to me (the "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" guy), but his life also was fascinating. I can't do a review of this book justice - it was filled with so many people, and really captured the atmosphere of life in the mid to late 1800's.
April 8, 2016
First it is a tribute to the Author's wife who published her husband's manuscript 2 years after his death. A fiction work of a supposed lifetime friendship between two noted subjects the author was obsessed with. Samuel Clemens working the Mississippi as a Pilot and Henry Stanley in the trade business up the river could have met. History does not record they did. The accounts of the two lives are historically correct, but as we know, "Never the Twain shall meet" (Pun intended) Enter Dorothy Tennant who Stanley really did marry. Was their courtship so unsettling? Reader has to be reminded, it is fiction even tho. most events are factual, just nothing to do with the other character in the book.
February 22, 2016
I didn't want to finish this book! I love getting lost in a historical fiction and allowing my imagination to wander along with the story. This was the first book that I have read by Oscar Hijuelos and the touching afterword written by his wife added another subtle dimension to the crafting of this story. It must have been no small feat to construct complex and three dimensional characters from well-known historical figures but Twain and Stanley were thoroughly interesting. I would have added an additional star if Twain had been explored as deeply as Stanley was.
October 4, 2016
I probably would give this 3.5 stars if I could. I was conflicted by it being a fictional story of Twain and Stanley's friendship and I guess it bothered me a good bit that I had no idea what was factual and what was fantasy. I liked Twain and Stanley (as portrayed) quite a lot and I guess this makes me want to read more about each of them. My impression of Stanley from books about the Congo is not too favorable but I think this fictional account does a good job of showing a possible other side of the man. I know nothing of Twain but he is extremely likable in this novel.
October 8, 2015
This was my first novel by Oscar Hijuelos and from what I understand, I should probably read some of his earlier work. As this book was published posthumously, it might not be what he fully intended to publish. Nevertheless, it was brilliant in its own messy way. I'm just familiar enough with Twain's personal story to get many of the references - I almost didn't want to know what was real and what was fictitious.
Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.
Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.
November 29, 2015
I was excited when this book was assigned for book club. Mark Twain is such an interesting man and I was looking forward to learning more about Henry Stanley's exploration of Africa. Unfortunately the book is rather dry and boring. Nothing about Stanley in Africa and Twain's side of the story has not been told.
July 16, 2015
Two interesting men who became good friends even though they had some fundamental different views; e.g. one was religious, the other not. Have to go back and read foreword because there were many letters in the book and I'm not sure if they were actual or fiction. Enjoyed it and well written.
November 12, 2015
Best for people with a strong interest in Henry Stanley. The book feels overly long and the fictional but documentary approach is dry and rarely comes to life.
July 17, 2021
Full disclosure, Oscar Hijuelos was one(1) of my creative writing professors in college, and I only took one (1) class with him but it had a lot of impact on my life. He gave me a copy of his first book and told me sort of in his friendly upfront and blithe way -- that I was not going to be a journalist. At first shook me a bit, but turned out he was right.
Hijuelos taught at our university for only a short time. Was an adjunct professor in writing he got through another professor/writer he knew, Julie Markus -- she helped him get the gig so he could pay off some debts including an IRS tax bill from when he lived abroad in Italy. Did not know about anything of that backstory though, until years later I read his memoir. Teaching at our school he gave us one line, that I will paraphrase basically saying he liked us "kids" most were from hard working/working class families either first or 2nd generations going to college, and not wasting time and money.
And I recall he also bummed a lot of cigarettes, not from me because I never smoked, but again post-memoir reading took away how much he struggled with trying to quit cigarette smoking for a very long time.
Should be noted, Hijuelos said to us (his students), that he would never write a memoir or a sequel -- but he did both, although Beautiful Maria of My Soul, isn't exactly a sequel but a retelling of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love from the point of view of Maria -- a female character and Hijuelos left some of the third person narrated scenes completely the same/or used some of the same chunks of narrative in the 2nd book -- which I thought was pretty cool that universally some narrative was the same despite different points of view. Strong point of action for a writer to take.
When he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Mambo Kings, all bets were off, I'd registered for another writing class for the following semester, but the university administration had to get someone else to cover them -- another excellent writer Vince Passaro -- so I was pretty lucky. In the pre-internet days it was difficult to stay in touch, I had a phone number that soon no longer worked and no way to look up an address. Once I visited him at reading in Boston University after he read, excited to tell him I was sending out short stories and finally got a tiny nibble, but he did not seem to remember me, I think he wanted to speak longer but the BU handlers wanted him to shake hands and move along. For years, I went to a few other readings when was in Boston/or that I knew about it, but never tried to approach or speak again.
About a year or so before he passed away, I was ordering the memoir and the Maria book via a book gift certificate and read from his posted bio that he was teaching at a university in North Carolina. So I got his email from the university's website and wrote a short note, expecting a form letter back from an intern, but instead got an email from Hijuelos saying that he did remember me. Perhaps not...but he was pretty gracious to personally answer after 20 years, a cold call email, etc.
The book: Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise, I'm sad to say that I bought it from a book/clearance warehouse that -- I buy a lot of kids' books from and other gifts and some times they do have titles that sound interesting so I order them with mixed results. When I saw this I ordered it immediately.
To note, I'm unsure if there is a hard backed first edition so I will keep it with my collection of Hijuelos's books that I've had now for several decades. There is an afterward by *Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos his wife, about how the book came about from Hijuelos love for many things including different historical subjects, including the explorer Henry Stanley -- a subject that fascinated him and he collected many books about Stanley. After reading a small section in one biography citing the friendship between Twain and Stanley he set out to research it and filled in the blanks from his own imagination. The book is truly historical fiction as she explains Hijuelos wrote all the letters and journal entries in the book which makes it epistolary in its composition and structure. He also left a manuscript of over 900 pages that had to be condensed and edited down after his passing.
Overall I enjoyed this book it was like getting a gift from a long lost friend.
*I believe Lori Marie Carlson substituted for Hijuelos in our writing class when he was away on a British promotion tour for Mambo Kings. Remember a female writer/novelist came in and substituted for a couple of weeks, over the years I could not recall her name nor find it in any papers or journals that I kept. But she was lovely and myself and a few others appreciated her support and encouragement and also her frankness with the clique we had in the class; that considered themselves so much above us.
Hijuelos taught at our university for only a short time. Was an adjunct professor in writing he got through another professor/writer he knew, Julie Markus -- she helped him get the gig so he could pay off some debts including an IRS tax bill from when he lived abroad in Italy. Did not know about anything of that backstory though, until years later I read his memoir. Teaching at our school he gave us one line, that I will paraphrase basically saying he liked us "kids" most were from hard working/working class families either first or 2nd generations going to college, and not wasting time and money.
And I recall he also bummed a lot of cigarettes, not from me because I never smoked, but again post-memoir reading took away how much he struggled with trying to quit cigarette smoking for a very long time.
Should be noted, Hijuelos said to us (his students), that he would never write a memoir or a sequel -- but he did both, although Beautiful Maria of My Soul, isn't exactly a sequel but a retelling of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love from the point of view of Maria -- a female character and Hijuelos left some of the third person narrated scenes completely the same/or used some of the same chunks of narrative in the 2nd book -- which I thought was pretty cool that universally some narrative was the same despite different points of view. Strong point of action for a writer to take.
When he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Mambo Kings, all bets were off, I'd registered for another writing class for the following semester, but the university administration had to get someone else to cover them -- another excellent writer Vince Passaro -- so I was pretty lucky. In the pre-internet days it was difficult to stay in touch, I had a phone number that soon no longer worked and no way to look up an address. Once I visited him at reading in Boston University after he read, excited to tell him I was sending out short stories and finally got a tiny nibble, but he did not seem to remember me, I think he wanted to speak longer but the BU handlers wanted him to shake hands and move along. For years, I went to a few other readings when was in Boston/or that I knew about it, but never tried to approach or speak again.
About a year or so before he passed away, I was ordering the memoir and the Maria book via a book gift certificate and read from his posted bio that he was teaching at a university in North Carolina. So I got his email from the university's website and wrote a short note, expecting a form letter back from an intern, but instead got an email from Hijuelos saying that he did remember me. Perhaps not...but he was pretty gracious to personally answer after 20 years, a cold call email, etc.
The book: Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise, I'm sad to say that I bought it from a book/clearance warehouse that -- I buy a lot of kids' books from and other gifts and some times they do have titles that sound interesting so I order them with mixed results. When I saw this I ordered it immediately.
To note, I'm unsure if there is a hard backed first edition so I will keep it with my collection of Hijuelos's books that I've had now for several decades. There is an afterward by *Lori Marie Carlson-Hijuelos his wife, about how the book came about from Hijuelos love for many things including different historical subjects, including the explorer Henry Stanley -- a subject that fascinated him and he collected many books about Stanley. After reading a small section in one biography citing the friendship between Twain and Stanley he set out to research it and filled in the blanks from his own imagination. The book is truly historical fiction as she explains Hijuelos wrote all the letters and journal entries in the book which makes it epistolary in its composition and structure. He also left a manuscript of over 900 pages that had to be condensed and edited down after his passing.
Overall I enjoyed this book it was like getting a gift from a long lost friend.
*I believe Lori Marie Carlson substituted for Hijuelos in our writing class when he was away on a British promotion tour for Mambo Kings. Remember a female writer/novelist came in and substituted for a couple of weeks, over the years I could not recall her name nor find it in any papers or journals that I kept. But she was lovely and myself and a few others appreciated her support and encouragement and also her frankness with the clique we had in the class; that considered themselves so much above us.
August 12, 2017
NOTE: I received this book free through the Goodreads First Reads program.
This is a difficult book to review in large part because it was published posthumously; who knows how Hijuelos would have constructed the final product had he lived to shepherd it to completion. Given that Hijuelos devoted over 12 years of his life to this project—an effort still clear even in this disjointed work—it is highly probable that he would have sacrificed even more time in pursuit of a more perfect novel. That said, Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is a good, if not great, read.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise focuses on the friendship between American author Mark Twain and Welsh explorer and writer Henry Morton Stanley. “Paradise” largely represents childhood here, that pleasant meandering through the beginning stages of life when the unknown is exciting and everything is possible. Twain’s early life represented that idyllic experience, Stanley’s much less so. The distinction is highlighted in the way each man determined his pseudonym and offers greater insight into the book's characters. Samuel Clemens paid homage to his work as a steamboat pilot in the moniker Mark Twain. The pseudonym illustrated his wonder and love for the intricacies of river travel. Even as he embraced “Mark Twain” the author, he recognized and welcomed Samuel Clemens as his real persona. John Rowlands, on the other hand, was an unloved reject who was obliterated with the “birth” of Henry Morton Stanley. Morton’s self-construction often bordered on the fictive; rather than offering a distinction between a personal and professional life, it served rather as reinvention. And so the self-confidence of Twain is often juxtaposed with the dubious authenticity, and real angst, of Stanley. This tension makes for an interesting telling, and reading, of the friendship between these men.
The book is at its best when the men are actively engaged in adventure—either sailing the Mississippi, traveling to and through Cuba, or engaged in incursions of the African continent. In addition to these exploits, the book focuses on the growing fame of the two men, with all its concomitant benefits and disadvantages; the familial lives of both men (with interesting, if uneven, attention given to Stanley’s wife, the beautiful, eccentric painter and socialite Dorothy Tennant), and their end-of-life preoccupations with time and religion. Their social circles are also peppered with members of the aristocracy (Queen Victoria, King Leopold), the literati (Henry James, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc.), and many other historical notables which work to enliven the novel.
I recommend this book with caution: this is no full-on page turner but easily worth the effort.
3.5/5
This is a difficult book to review in large part because it was published posthumously; who knows how Hijuelos would have constructed the final product had he lived to shepherd it to completion. Given that Hijuelos devoted over 12 years of his life to this project—an effort still clear even in this disjointed work—it is highly probable that he would have sacrificed even more time in pursuit of a more perfect novel. That said, Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise is a good, if not great, read.
Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise focuses on the friendship between American author Mark Twain and Welsh explorer and writer Henry Morton Stanley. “Paradise” largely represents childhood here, that pleasant meandering through the beginning stages of life when the unknown is exciting and everything is possible. Twain’s early life represented that idyllic experience, Stanley’s much less so. The distinction is highlighted in the way each man determined his pseudonym and offers greater insight into the book's characters. Samuel Clemens paid homage to his work as a steamboat pilot in the moniker Mark Twain. The pseudonym illustrated his wonder and love for the intricacies of river travel. Even as he embraced “Mark Twain” the author, he recognized and welcomed Samuel Clemens as his real persona. John Rowlands, on the other hand, was an unloved reject who was obliterated with the “birth” of Henry Morton Stanley. Morton’s self-construction often bordered on the fictive; rather than offering a distinction between a personal and professional life, it served rather as reinvention. And so the self-confidence of Twain is often juxtaposed with the dubious authenticity, and real angst, of Stanley. This tension makes for an interesting telling, and reading, of the friendship between these men.
The book is at its best when the men are actively engaged in adventure—either sailing the Mississippi, traveling to and through Cuba, or engaged in incursions of the African continent. In addition to these exploits, the book focuses on the growing fame of the two men, with all its concomitant benefits and disadvantages; the familial lives of both men (with interesting, if uneven, attention given to Stanley’s wife, the beautiful, eccentric painter and socialite Dorothy Tennant), and their end-of-life preoccupations with time and religion. Their social circles are also peppered with members of the aristocracy (Queen Victoria, King Leopold), the literati (Henry James, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc.), and many other historical notables which work to enliven the novel.
I recommend this book with caution: this is no full-on page turner but easily worth the effort.
3.5/5
January 20, 2019
It's hard to pin this novel down for a number of reasons. I was drawn to reading it because it appeared under "Epistolary" novels on the NYPL's "How to Read Harder in 2019" list (https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/12/28/...), but it's not epistolary, exactly. It's more akin to the "source pastiche" of something like Dracula (and Bram Stoker makes an appearance in this very name-droppy work). And then, of course, it's dealing with historical figures, amplifying the relationships between the two men (and their families), as well as actual events, from source material, yet creating nearly every word in the book (if the afterword by Hijuelos's wife, Lori Marie Carlson, is to be taken at face value).
The NPR review that comes up readily in Google searches (I haven't read the review itself yet) claims that the novel informs, but doesn't entertain. I'd really say the opposite. Once past the clunky "cabinet manuscript" at the beginning, I found this to be a page turner, despite knowing (in large part) how events would turn out. Particularly with regard to Twain, I found Hijuelos's imagined reflections on writing and his take on how life events shaped his work and politics quite compelling. On the flip side of the novel, I didn't know Stanley's life nearly as well, so having those historical pieces put together was also interesting, but ultimately I don't know what in that history to "trust." That said, I'm aware that all history is untrustworthy, so that bothers me less.
What was of no interest at all to me was the "love triangle," which the author's note indicates was quite central for Hijuelos. That's not to say I wasn't interested in Dorothy, but for all that he foregrounds the idea of her "voluptuous" and "seductive" nature in that note, sex is VERY eleventh hour here. This is strange (and awkwardly handled), given the rumors about Stanley's various reprehensible behaviors in Africa and the claim of his biographer that the marriage between Stanley and Dorothy was likely unconsummated.
I'm sympathetic to the chore before Carlson in getting this edited and then published after her husband's unexpected death, but boy howdy did it need better editing. There's a tremendous amount of repetition that goes well beyond needing to stitch together a not-exactly-linear narrative. That seems to intensify near the end of the novel (which, of course, may be attributable to the fact that he was working on this at the time of his death), where there almost seem to be "cut and paste" errors from a "letter" to a section of "authorial exposition."
The NPR review that comes up readily in Google searches (I haven't read the review itself yet) claims that the novel informs, but doesn't entertain. I'd really say the opposite. Once past the clunky "cabinet manuscript" at the beginning, I found this to be a page turner, despite knowing (in large part) how events would turn out. Particularly with regard to Twain, I found Hijuelos's imagined reflections on writing and his take on how life events shaped his work and politics quite compelling. On the flip side of the novel, I didn't know Stanley's life nearly as well, so having those historical pieces put together was also interesting, but ultimately I don't know what in that history to "trust." That said, I'm aware that all history is untrustworthy, so that bothers me less.
What was of no interest at all to me was the "love triangle," which the author's note indicates was quite central for Hijuelos. That's not to say I wasn't interested in Dorothy, but for all that he foregrounds the idea of her "voluptuous" and "seductive" nature in that note, sex is VERY eleventh hour here. This is strange (and awkwardly handled), given the rumors about Stanley's various reprehensible behaviors in Africa and the claim of his biographer that the marriage between Stanley and Dorothy was likely unconsummated.
I'm sympathetic to the chore before Carlson in getting this edited and then published after her husband's unexpected death, but boy howdy did it need better editing. There's a tremendous amount of repetition that goes well beyond needing to stitch together a not-exactly-linear narrative. That seems to intensify near the end of the novel (which, of course, may be attributable to the fact that he was working on this at the time of his death), where there almost seem to be "cut and paste" errors from a "letter" to a section of "authorial exposition."
October 12, 2022
This book captured my attention from the first until the last word. Mr. Hijuelos has been a favorite author of mine. This is a completely different oeuvre from his other works that I have read. It does touch on Cuba but in a fleeting and nominal way.
The fictionalized story of two of the most famous men of their time: Mark Twain and Henry Morton Stanley. The friendship in and of itself was very wonderful to read about because they both had strong ideas politically and otherwise. The part I found most interesting seeing commonly held beliefs of the day spoken about without a revisionist slant. For example both men fought for the Confederacy more because of geographical association that being believers in slavery. Twain later became an ardent abolitionist and Mr. Stanley had to contend with the rightful change of attitude about his actions in the Congo. However, first and foremost this is an excellent read from a master author.
The fictionalized story of two of the most famous men of their time: Mark Twain and Henry Morton Stanley. The friendship in and of itself was very wonderful to read about because they both had strong ideas politically and otherwise. The part I found most interesting seeing commonly held beliefs of the day spoken about without a revisionist slant. For example both men fought for the Confederacy more because of geographical association that being believers in slavery. Twain later became an ardent abolitionist and Mr. Stanley had to contend with the rightful change of attitude about his actions in the Congo. However, first and foremost this is an excellent read from a master author.
September 29, 2017
this was an interesting reading experience. i'm not sure i really loved it, but i found it fascinating at moments, and was lulled along on the meandering paths the story took. i appreciated the different forms of storytelling hijuelos used in this novel. but, i did find myself wondering about the story's length (which is weird, because i LOVE a big, chunky novel)... in the afterword, by hijuelos' widow, she notes the book was edited down from over 900 pages to its published length. i did find the second half of the story was paced better than the first half. also, initially, i wanted more of twain's arc. stanley's side of things did get a bit repetitive. still, i am glad i finally got to this book, and found it a pleasant diversion.
February 2, 2018
I previously received this through the Goodreads First Reads program, and I was just never drawn to it. In an effort to clear some shelf space, I decided to give it a go.
While this is a novel, it reads more like a non-fiction book. There was a lot of 'he did this, then this, and then this' rather than a more story like description of events. If you enjoy that type of narrative, then I would recommend this to you. It was a very interesting story overall and I did enjoy it. My biggest issue is that the story did drag on quite a bit where more of a traditional novel like writing may have sped things along better.
While this is a novel, it reads more like a non-fiction book. There was a lot of 'he did this, then this, and then this' rather than a more story like description of events. If you enjoy that type of narrative, then I would recommend this to you. It was a very interesting story overall and I did enjoy it. My biggest issue is that the story did drag on quite a bit where more of a traditional novel like writing may have sped things along better.
December 15, 2022
I would give this a 4 1/2 if I could. I had just finished a book I really enjoyed and was waiting for a couple books on hold from the library and realized I had purchased this a couple years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I agree with the observations about the authors skill and creativity in imagining the relationships between these 3 historical figures, set in a time that begins with slavery still an accepted fact of life. I wish I had read the late author's wife's comments at the end of the book before I read it. I didn't realize that the author had died in 2013 and her perspective about him and how he approached this amazing creative endeavor would have helped at the start.
July 20, 2024
This isn't my first mistaken nonfiction turned fiction read. Not sure how I keep missing that fine line. Regardless, despite the seemingly slow start with chapter after chapter of Stanley's life, we are finally provided some interaction between the two, or at least mentioned sporadically. In one case Twain was said to have been at one of Stanley's talks although they didn't speak. It is due to some of these loose connections I was led to think this was a nonfiction account. Why else would you include something like this when you can literally make up anything you want!? On second thought changing my rating from a weak four to a three.
February 2, 2018
I loved this novel based on the lives of Samuel Clemens (Twain) and Henry Morton Stanley( the English explorer of Africa). Oscar Hijuelos created all the content, letters, speeches and conversations but they really could have happened. Twain and Stanley did have a friendship and much research was done to present this wonderful novel. It's so sad the Oscar died of a heart attack before the book was published,
July 10, 2019
I actually listened to this on my work commute. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed reading it as it did get long winded. I did find myself curious about the individuals in the tale. Bits were bsaed on fact but the entire premise is fictional and a lot of what is contained is fictional.. I would have liked to know the bits of fact vs fiction BEFORE i read it.
It did get me thinking and has made me curious about both me and Tennant as an artist. That, to me, makes the book a good book.
It did get me thinking and has made me curious about both me and Tennant as an artist. That, to me, makes the book a good book.
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