Century

by Fred Mustard Stewart

The impassioned love affair between a young Italian princess and an impoverished gardener, her would-be kidnapper, sets in motion a series of events that reaches across four generations of an American family and their Italian cousins

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

560 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

American popular novelist, several of whose books were filmed.

Stewart came to be best known for his intercontinental sagas. Year in, year out, the 600-page mark didn't daunt him, a far cry as this was from early hopes as life as a concert pianist, something which had inspired his 1st novel The Mephisto Waltz (1968) which also began his lucrative connection with the film industry. Born in Anderson, IN, he was the son of a banker &, after the Lawrenceville school, near Princeton, NJ, he studied history at Princeton University & later piano at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. By the 1960s, he realised he wasn't going to succeed as a pianist & with marriage to a literary agent, Joan Richardson, in 1967, he began to write, & found immediate success with The Mephisto Waltz.

With The Methuselah Enzyme, Stewart showed wit, but it was clear that it wasn't Henry James. There was, however, a certain charm to Six Weeks (1976), told by a married aspirant for a Democratic senatorial nomination who becomes infatuated with a cold-cream heiress, largely at the behest of her 11-year-old, would-be nymphet daughter who, beset by cancer, has less than two months to live. Nabokov it isn't, but certainly better than the 1982 film with Dudley Moore & Mary Tyler Moore.

Reviews

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read several books by Fred Mustard Stewart (Ellis Island, Glitter and Gold and the Savage series) and never been disappointed! Love historical fiction genre that starts in the early 1900’s.

Century covers 1860 – 1960. An Italian princess meets a NY banker’s wife and the story follows both families and subsequent generations. Noticed some similarity to the characters heritage found in the Savage series of later years so that’s why I’m at a 4 rating. Of course during this era there are segments on the immigrants, the Great Depression, stock market crash, WWI and WWII, but this book goes off into the movies and fashion for more of a fun twist. What I also liked is as the story progresses someone else becomes the main character, but in the end it all ties together. Enlightened by the transformation of “ugly duckling” Gabriella.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't expecting much, but this turned out to be a delightful novel, along the lines of Rutherford/Michener except not quite so epic -- or wordy.

[BLRBrazil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great book - the writing is lightweight and many situations seem unrealistically contrived (Howard Fast would've done a much better job with the same material) - but it was entertaining and, as the title suggests, is very broad in scope, covering three generations spread over Europe and the USA (basically Italy, Paris, NY and Hollywood). It also takes in major events of the period: Italian unification, WW1, the birth of Hollywood, Russian revolution, Prohibition, the Great Crash and Depression, fascism and WW2. There is triumph and tragedy and a lot of challenging decisions to be made along the way. So one is able to engage with some of the characters portrayed, though not as deeply as in books with a stronger focus. Nevertheless, it is more than just a potboiler and I enjoyed the journey enough to recommend the book.

[Tess · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first half of this I was genuinely gripped by. The historical blurbs and insights tracking late 19th to mid-20th century Europe & America were interesting and enjoyable. The second half… I almost couldn’t wait to be over. For one, this book seriously does not withstand the test of time, e.g. misogyny, pervasive racial slurs, and endless body dysmorphic musings about the virtues of thin-ness. Secondly, the book strayed so far from a coherent plot in its attempt to track a century’s worth of familial saga that it reads as a serious of fractured and discombobulated short stories. And don’t even get me started about the absolutely cringing dialogue. This book should have been promptly ended after its initial chapters.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1981 historical novel that begins in Italy in 1859 and wraps up in New York in 1960 is an old-fashioned multi-generational yarn of the type that used to spawn TV miniseries (think "Roots" or "Captain and the Kings" or "Centennial"). Stewart is much more interested in telling a tale than in wowing a reader with his prose, but he does what he sets out to do and even at 500-plus pages the sprawling story zips along. Along the way, a multitude of characters fall in love, commit crimes and go to prison, fight in wars and make (and sometimes squander) fortunes in banking, motion pictures and fashion, etc. It's not great literature but it's always readable.

[ANGELIA · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't find any fault with this book, the characters kept me interested and their stories captured my attention and didn't let go. A winner!

[Cheryl Barrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book missed the mark for me. Didn't like the characters. They were shallow.

[Wileyoneone · Rating 4 out of 5]

J's book-In my library

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was recommended in several places as a good novel to learn about Italian history. And yes, I did learn something about it. But it is one of those "sweeping family saga" books a la Taylor Caldwell that were so popular. There were times I felt like I was back in grade school reading a "Cherry Ames" book and another time "Marjorie Morningstar" (a HS read) came to mind.
I also find it annoying when a "historical novel" has a blatant error. A sailor in WWII sends his wife a long letter from Manila. And she gets it uncensored? I know the author used it as a literary device, but it bugged me.
I guess I'd give it 2 1/2 stars. It was fairly enjoyable, but I was glad when I finished it.

[Brenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read on Panama City Beach