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26th out of 46 books
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Riven Rock
by
T.C. Boyle
T. C. Boyle's seventh novel transforms two characters straight out of history into rich mythic figures whose tortured love story is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious. It is the dawn of the twentieth century when the beautiful, budding feminist Katherine Dexter falls in love with Stanley McCormick, son of a millionaire inventor. The two wed, but before the marriage is con...more
Paperback, 466 pages
Published
January 1st 1999
by Penguin Books
(first published 1997)
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I was very mixed on this one. As usual, Boyle's writing was wonderful, descriptive, and puts you in every scene in the story. However, to me the plot seemed lacking. There didn't seem to be any momentum to the story. The same things seemed to happen over and over without change. I'll admit there were some fascinating aspects to the story of Stanley McCormick who was the mentally unbalanced heir to the McCormick reaper fortune. The story shifts between Stanley's inability to get along in society,...more
This book takes place at an interesting time in history, during the time of prohibition, the suffragettes, the early influence of Freud on the treatment of mental illness, the attempts of women to control their own bodies with birth control. At the same time that ii was reading this book, I was watching the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire, which is set in Atlantic City during the same time period. I must Admit,, the TV series was more riveting than the book because TC Boyle doesn't really make any...more
An excellent historical novel about Stanley McCormick, son and heir of Cyrus McCormick, who invented of the reaper. Stanley suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for his entire adult life and was confined in the house that was built for his sister, who also suffered from the same mental illness. The story moves easily from the house in Santa Barbara where he is treated by a series of psychiatrists and kept from the company of women, to the personal love life of one of his male nurses, to the even...more
I have lived most of my life on California's central coast, so it's ironic that I picked this book up at Powell's in Portland, OR, having no idea it was set in such a familiar environment.
The surroundings play a large part in this story, almost as important as the characters. There is an interesting parallel between the main characters who live in "paradise", yet are unable to truly enjoy their surroundings due to the conscripted lives they lead; in Stanley's case, his pro...more
The surroundings play a large part in this story, almost as important as the characters. There is an interesting parallel between the main characters who live in "paradise", yet are unable to truly enjoy their surroundings due to the conscripted lives they lead; in Stanley's case, his pro...more
My favorite book by one of my favorite authors. This is one of those books that I truly wish went on forever. Here is where I fell in love with T.C. Boyle and his slow-build-to-rollicking-crescendo storytelling.
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The brilliant T. C. Boyle, modern-day Dickens, here gives a fictionalized account of the lives of Stanley McCormick, sex fiend and heir to a harvester fortune, and Katherine McCormick (nee Dexter), his loyal wife, who, ironically since she never enjoyed sexual relations with her husband, contributes to the development of the Pill.
There's a lovely counterpoint in this fiction: the story of Eddie O'Kane. O'Kane is presented as one of Stanley's carers. O Kane's problems with women are alm...more
There's a lovely counterpoint in this fiction: the story of Eddie O'Kane. O'Kane is presented as one of Stanley's carers. O Kane's problems with women are alm...more
This lengthy novel is based on real characters. Stanley McCormick is an heir to Cyrus McCormick, and Katherine Dexter is a socialite, suffragist and scientist. They meet and marry, but the marriage is never consummated. Soon after, Stanley is diagnosed as a schizophrenic and sexual psychopath and locked away -- far from the company of women -- for decades. Katherine is active in the budding woman's movement and as a birth-control advocate. She also oversees her husband's business interests and t...more
Another sardonic look by Mr. Boyle at what money can buy: In this case, life-long care for a schizophrenic man held as prisoner on his property in Montecito, California, while his wife is forbidden by a series of psychiatrists to see him, and indeed, he is not allowed to see women. We gt to look into the lives of his male nurses (and their problems, too). The author pays a lot of attention to details. Being a little homesick for Southern California, I enjoyed picturing the places in the Santa...more
Some of Boyle's novels follow an interesting formula of novelization of notables. Boyle has written novels about Frank Lloyd Wright, Alfred Kinsey, and in this work Stanley McCormick, schizophrenic son of Cyrus McCormick inventor of the reaper and founder of International Harvester Corporation.
Boyle always writes a good story. I don't know how much is based on the real Stanley McCormick's life, but the tale is well-written and easy to read. Like much of Boyle's work, you need a ...more
Boyle always writes a good story. I don't know how much is based on the real Stanley McCormick's life, but the tale is well-written and easy to read. Like much of Boyle's work, you need a ...more
A departure from the "Road to Wellville". The story of two people trapped in a marriage that will never be whole would be emotionally draining to read as a fiction, the fact that this is based on a true story is all the more harrowing. Would today's drugs have helped McCormick's condition? The syncophants within McCormick's life mirror those who were in Elvis and Michael Jackson's coterie, those who had a vested interest in the vast fortune, not the man himself. Riven Rock was a de...more
I always find a book more impressive when I know it is based on real facts, events that have happened or people that have gone through what the book tells about.Stanley McCormick and Katherine Dexter take me back to Wharton's Age of Innocence, but their sufferings and tortured love seem much more heartbreaking.
Edward O'Kane is Boyle himself, more real and more flesh and blood than the characters he follows with his unforgivable eyes.Through his own story we learn all about Katherine, th...more
Edward O'Kane is Boyle himself, more real and more flesh and blood than the characters he follows with his unforgivable eyes.Through his own story we learn all about Katherine, th...more
Another excellent story from T.C. Boyle. Boyle is at his best when describing the foibles of people's sexual mores, especially in stories such as this one, which is set at the turn of the century.
Stanley McCormick, one of Cyrus McCormick's sons and joint heir to the International Harvester corporation, is married to an early feminist and first female graduate of MIT, Katherine Dexter. It should be a renowned society "match", except for the fact that McCormick is schizophrenic, an...more
Stanley McCormick, one of Cyrus McCormick's sons and joint heir to the International Harvester corporation, is married to an early feminist and first female graduate of MIT, Katherine Dexter. It should be a renowned society "match", except for the fact that McCormick is schizophrenic, an...more
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I think I've officially stopped reading this book. I started it over the winter break, and though I have tried to make myself go back to it, the protagonist's voice is SO incredibly misogynistic that I've found myself dreading picking it up. Boyle's other reads have never felt that way to me (and I've read a lot of Boyle), but I picked up most of them quite some time ago, perhaps at a time in my life when I was less tuned in to what can often be very subtle signs of patriarchy and sexism in lite...more
With a hand in mental health and illness, in sexuality and guilt, in the role of women in the early 20th century, Riven Rock was a deeply satisfying read.
The characters, so complex, sad and human, pull the reader into their motivations and spirals. You can track their highs and lows, and see them change.
The thing I love about TC Boyle, is his ability to make time pass without noticing it. As I think back to early parts of this book (I finished it moments ago), I'm amazed at how mu...more
The characters, so complex, sad and human, pull the reader into their motivations and spirals. You can track their highs and lows, and see them change.
The thing I love about TC Boyle, is his ability to make time pass without noticing it. As I think back to early parts of this book (I finished it moments ago), I'm amazed at how mu...more
Good luck finding this one. I think I found it on Amazon. It is the story of Stanley McCormick from one of America's richest families - Katherine his bride and the first woman graduate of MIT and their mental illness, struggles, hopes and hopelessness. It involves places that I love to read about - Boston, NY and Santa Barbara CA when it was the promised land of fruit and good weather.
TC Boyle does the same here as he did in Road to Wellville - which is to take an amazing time in ...more
TC Boyle does the same here as he did in Road to Wellville - which is to take an amazing time in ...more
I have just discovered this author and really enjoy the two I have read. Very well developed characters set in the realitiy of a public life. In this book it is Stanley McCormick, son of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the reaper. Stanley had significant mental health issues and was kept under lock and key the majority of his life. The story revolves around his wife and one of his caregivers/nurses.
At first, great. Very engaging. The characters grow on you, then begin to suffocate you. I was so sick of the main character's alcoholism, the protagonist's mental illness, and his wife's reluctance to get free from her sick husband.
This author is one of my favorites, but this may be my least favorite of his books.
This author is one of my favorites, but this may be my least favorite of his books.
Sad and disturbing look at the lives of non-fictional characters from the 1900's. Mental illness and how it was treated, even with extremely wealthy patients - difficult to get through, but an interestering look at the past. A lot of sexual context throughout, as the patient was suffering from many issues.
Well, I am heading towards the end of this sad, funny, layered, historical, and lush novel. I like how O'Kane is this foil for McCormick. The whole story makes me wonder about mental illness and how far we've advanced and how far we haven't in terms of treatment. But that's just one level of my thoughts.
In the early 1900's even the son of Cyrus McCormick, founder of International Harvester, couldn't buy effective treatment for what we today would call bipolar disorder. Be in the mood for a fascinating, painful study of people caught in a situation beyond their control.
loved this book- T C Boyle has an uncanny ability to mesmerize the reader. This is the based on true life story of Stanley McCormick of McCormick Harvester fame and the madness that overcame him and of his wife Katherine and the devastation his illness caused.
In 1905, Stanley McCormick, heir to East Coast millions, is most definitely mad. Heredity and an early, horrifying glimpse of his naked sister have rendered him schizophrenic, incapable of being around women--right down to his wife, Katherine, "a newlywed who might as well have been a widow." Not even the dawn of modern psychiatry can save him. Instead, he's barred and carefully cosseted in Riven Rock, the California estate he helped design for his sister, the first of the McCormicks t...more
A work of historical fiction "set in the past." In "Riven Rock," his seventh novel, T. Coraghessan Boyle has taken the depressing story of Stanley R. McCormick, one of the sons and heirs of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the reaper, and turned it into a thrilling, romantic, careening tale of love, redemption and the rewards of the faithful heart. It's no small feat when you consider that Stanley McCormick was a paranoid schizophrenic and sexual maniac who spent the better ...more
Most people know Boyle for his, "The Road to Wellville" an historical fiction based on the Kellogg health resorts. In this book, Boyle takes a look at the McCormicks (of reaper fame). Stanley McCormick is insane - scarred by an episode which happened in childhood. He cannot be around women without becoming dangerously violent. So the family packs him off and pays for the best(?) psychologists money can buy. This is also a period book - based on a actual events. The dialog is lig...more
I love this time period (late 1800s, early 1900s). A fascinating look at the time, madness, and relationships. The prose is truly beautiful, the writing lyrical and, at times, breathtaking.
Not really a review:
This is the start of my newest book shelf "Books read in Italy (not picked because they seemed interesting, but just because there were there and in English)"
This is the start of my newest book shelf "Books read in Italy (not picked because they seemed interesting, but just because there were there and in English)"
When I was in 2nd and 3rd grade @ Patrick Henry Elementary in Arlington, VA, a relative of the McCormick's was one of the teachers! Little did we know!
Dysfunctional millionaires;late 1800's-early 1900s; love; marriage; meddling family; anciallary characters; multi-perspective = good read for Nancy.
Interesting novel based on the personal life of a birth-control rights pioneer. Hard to get around the prominence of despicable characters.
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T. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, born Thomas John Boyle on December 2, 1948) is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eleven novels and more than 60 short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a Distinguis...more
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