The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 06, 1978, Page Page 9, Image 9
Thefc
By Danny Powell
Ttw Immigrants by Howard Fast; Dell; $3.75
The Immigrants, a fast-paced
novel covering 45 years of turbulent
American history, is a
masterpiece of literary art.
U<v??r.??t 4U- _*
uunaiu i' asi, uic auuiur ui many
historical novels, excels in this
book about the backbone of the
American people, those immigrants
who came to America
looking for a fresh, new hope.
The immigrants came from all
over the world and are brought
together in San Francisco at the
turn of the century. Fast introduces
Dan Lavette, the son of a
French fisherman and his Italian
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Dan is an American, born in a
railroad boxcar as his parents
were moving west to help create
the great system of railroads
which, at that time, were the
lifeline of the United States.
The novel begins its fast-paced
focus on Lavette and the other
immigrants in 1906, the year of the
San Francisco earthquake. Fast's
detailed description of what
happened during the earthquake is
outstanding, and his interesting
detail continues throughout the
novel.
r\ _ _ i . i
h siigrmi
By Gary Brackett
Gamecock Staff Writer
Attachment* by Judith Rossner; Pocket; $2.50
A few years ago, Judith Rossner
shocked her readers with a compelling
novel of a young girl's
search tor love in the world of
singles bars and her eventual
death at the hands of one of her
lovers.
That novel, Looking For Mr.
Goodbar, was one of the most
highly acclaimed works of the
decade. With her latest novel,
Attachments, Rossner has done it
again.
Attachments is the tale of a
woman's struggle over 20 years to
go "beyond her surroundings and
her relationshiDS to become her
self."
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THE EARTHQUAKE is the
turning point for three immigrant
families: the Lavettes, the
Cassalas and the Levys. Lavette
survives the quake and ends uo
making a fortune ferrying people
to Oakland in his deceased father's
fishing boat, making more than
$4,000.
The Cassalas, Anthony and
Maria, who were more fortunate
than most immigrants, had a small
make-shift bank to help the less
privileged survivors of the quake.
With the help of Lavette, Cassala
forms the Bank of Sonoma. The
Levys later become partners of
Lavette, and together the three
immigrant families prosper
because of the tracedv of iao?
A device Fast uses to keep
reader interest is the powerful
amibition cf Dan Lavette. His
plans disturb his partner, Mark
Levy, but nothing will stop Dan
from making it to the top, a place
called Nob Hill in the novel.
Nob Hill is a place of the rich, a
place everyone but Dan knows is
unattainable. To start his climb up
Nob Hill, Dan marries into a Nob
Hill family by taking the lovely.
Jean Seldon as his bride. However,
this relationship is from the start
j unusual lo
Attachments is the story of
Nadine and her relationship with a
set of Siamese twins, who are
joined at the liver. After years of
research on the twins, Nadine
eventually meets and falls in love
with them. Later, Nadine's best
friend, Dianne meets the twins and ,
one of the most unusual
relationships of all time develops.
Dianne and Narfinp mnrrv ?h??
twins, Eddie and Ames, and
eventually both have children. The
novel continues to follow the
couples' lives through their
problems and through the
operation which eventually
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a IUO uic miiia,
Attachments is not a book to be
taken lightly. It is the novel of the
season. Attachments will be a
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of fime
one of principle rather than
romance.
LAVETTE'S AMBITION is only
a part of his driving force. He is
also a strong-willed person with the
courage to do what he wants
without listening to anvone else He
exhibits this trait when he hires a
Chinese bookkeeper to maintain
his business affairs, something just
not done at the turn of the century
in San Francisco.
Lavette's ambition, courage,
personality, background and
relationships make the book very
enticing and readable. Fast divides
the book into seven parts. Each
part is subdivided into smaller
sections which deal with different
topics, enabling Fast to develop
several smaller plots while still
dealing with the prosperous Dan
Lavette.
The chapter entitled "Russian
Hill" is the step before Nob Hill for
Dan and Jean Lavette and their
two children in the year 1914. After
the birth of their second child, Jean
gives the cold shoulder and the cold
bed treatment to Dan, who finds
this very frustrating. To satisfy his
need for love, Dan becomes
romantically involved with the
daughter of his bookkeeper, Feng
ve story
classic. Or, as the Philadelphia
Inquirer put it so well, "Good as
Goodbar was, Attachments is
better."
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Wo; a very out-spoken Chineese
girl named May Ling. Since the
romance has left his marriage,
Dan becomes more and more involved
with the Mav IJntf who
shows him nothing but respect and
consideration.
The Levy and Lavette shipp^.0
empire becomes of age in "Russion
Hill" with a fleet of cargo
freighters, and the flood of
prosperity begins to level off, with
a few victims emerging.
WORLD WAR I and the effects it ^
had are described brilliantly in
"Sons and Daughters" and Fast
begins to broaden the spectrum of
the book. Though much is dealt
with about Dan Lavette, the center
staffp is tfivpn tn th#? nViilHron nf tKo
immigrants, mainly of the
Casallas and the Levys. The
financial prosperity of the Levy
and Lavette shipping lines comes
into full force and the company
makes a fortune from the war,
something that embitters the son of
Mark Levy, who is fighting in
France.
Fast shows a bit of the shrewd
business character of Dan as the
end of the war comes into focus.
Levy and Lavette sell their entire
shipping line just months before
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The
Immigrants
Howard Fast
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the war ends, knowing that cargo
freighters will not be much in
demand after the war. They
prosper even more from the sale.
THE FINAL two chapters are
much too involved to give much
insight into. They combine for a
fabulously ironic climax which
occurs in the late 1920s.
The Immigrants makes for very
good reading in the last chapters,
appropriately titled "The Wind"
and "The Whirlwind." The flood of
prosperity finishes its destructiveness,
allowing a new begin nine.
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