| Monaco | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1563057
Category: Book
Author: Eric Robert Morse
Publisher: CoDe Publishing
Studio: CoDe Publishing
Manufacturer: CoDe Publishing
Label: CoDe Publishing
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 612
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 1600202004
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781600202001
ASIN: 1600202004
Publication Date: May 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-6 of 6 | | « PREV | | |
What happens when a perfectionist meets his ideal? June 3, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
On the surface, `Monaco' is a story about an American industrialist who undertakes to build a race car and compete in the Grand Prix. The real story is about idealism and its struggle to survive in modern times. It is a dramatic narrative that delves into the greatest social, cultural and political challenges of our age. And it is also the most romantic book I've ever read.
Dash Bradford is the American idealist par excellence. He strives for perfection in all that he does, in work, in relationships, and in his love. In the opening, we see how he sticks to his principles when confronted by those who accept flaws in the company and when he is lured by an attractive, but mischievous girl. He rejects them easily because his eyes are set on perfection.
The real struggle begins when he meets someone who actually is perfect, in the form of Margaux Tourangeau. Suddenly, he has a first-hand glimpse of what he has wanted for so long. And she is all that he ever imagined she could be--intelligent, witty, talented, gorgeous, benevolent, etc., etc. It is when he meets this perfect individual that he begins to realize his own imperfections and doubt his own motives. Ultimately, he is forced to reconcile his past indiscretions or give up what he has striven for all his life.
Dash and Margaux create a relationship that is the tenderest, most romantic I have come across in all the novels I have read. It incorporates the author's theory on love (from Love Is Justice: An Exploration into Mankind's Fundamental Nature) and, through their dialogue and actions, shows how such a relationship is possible.
The story is constructed in a classical way for the most part and contains large sections of dialogue aimed at drawing out ideas in an intellectual (as opposed to visceral) way. There is an unmistakable 1930s feel, the banter between the characters often reminding me of the rapid-style exchanges in classic film noir. And you can just hear the big band music playing throughout. The prose is descriptive, at times lyrical, and occasionally wordy like an 18th or 19th-century novel might get. One can tell that Mr. Morse has a gift for word craft, though, and the reader will want to savor some of the more sublime passages.
`Monaco' is made up of 100 chapters (as many laps as there were in the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix), framed by three quasi-chapters that summarize and consolidate the themes at the beginning, middle and end of the book ("Overture," "Entr'Acte," and "Denouement"). These three sections, fashioned after the classic epic Hollywood format, remind me of film-in-prose with their whimsical, poetic flow. While they may turn off the mainstream reader, they do offer a very unique aspect to an overall exceptional work.
But its ideas, not its style, are what make this book so wonderful. Whether you are a fan of the classical or not, you will appreciate the thoughts and concepts that unfold as Dash and Margaux make their way into the maturing world of modernism. In the end, we know that modernism wins out, but perhaps, through novels like this, the romantic and classical can stay with us.
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