The
Pioneers, Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna
by James Fenimore Cooper is the first novel that he wrote in the
Leatherstocking Tales series, the fourth in chronological order. The
story takes place in a fictitious settlement in the mountains of New
York in 1793. It tells the story of Marmaduke Temple, the founder of
the settlement, and his daughter Elizabeth and various residents of
the settlement as well as Natty Bumppo, a Mohican Indian chief that
became a Christian and took the name John and a younger man named
Oliver Edwards that live a few miles outside the settlement. The book
covers a little under a year.
This
is the first book I’ve read by this author and it was slow reading
at first. There are people from various ethnic backgrounds in the
community and each talk
with an accent of their native tongue. It gets confusing at times
when there are several in a discussion and each talking in their
accent. It also have a lot of “thee’s” and “thou’s” in
the dialogues which get confusing at times in modern English. There
isn’t much action or adventure in the first half of the book, which
combined in the above statements, makes the reading dry and not as
much interesting to me, but I stuck it through to the end.
Download
Links:
This book can be downloaded in various
ebook formats from these sites:
Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2275
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pioneers-james-fenimore-cooper/1100316480?ean=9781605019680
Tim’s Rating: ***
(Three out of five stars)
I’m off to read another book. Check
back periodically for more book reviews.
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