Book Review: A Journey to Matecumbe
When I was twelve, I saw the Disney movie The Treasure of Matecumbe, which starred Robert Foxworthy, Joan Hackett, and Peter Ustinov. I probably liked it at the time, though the only thing I remember is Peter Ustinov being swept off his feet during a hurricane and rolling toward the sea. For Christmas, my mother bought me the book, A Journey to Matecumbe by Robert Lewis Taylor, the basis for the movie.
I never got very far in the book because Davie’s Uncle Jim is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and I couldn’t reconcile that the hero of the book would be in any way associated with a hate group. I tried a couple times to get through it, but I always got hung up on this enormous detail.
Something recently made me think about the book again, and I dug up a copy from the library to see if I could get through it. And the truth is I really had to force myself through the first part. Even though Uncle Jim recants his membership in the KKK, and he and Davie go on the run, there is something decidedly unpleasant about the storyline.
But that’s the thing about this book: Robert Lewis Taylor is writing a novel about the antebellum South, its racism and its reconstruction. It’s not the shiniest period in U.S. history, and the author doesn’t shy away from the absurd aspects of culture nor its bitter racism. The book is full of questionable characters seen through the eyes of fourteen year old Davie, who is getting his first glimpse at the wider world.
This is a novel.
This is a movie.The adventures are a mixture of Mark Twain and Dicken’s Martin Chuzzlewit. The characters elbow each other to get the spotlight, basking in their grandiosity. There are Civil War veterans, quack doctors, wily villains, and a fair amount of racist portrayals of Native Americans and Blacks. But is the author representing how society probably was at the time or is he subtle enough to tap into the humanity of the characters, despite the stereotypes? I haven’t decided. My guess is that he is endeavoring to be historically accurate while representing a bit more enlightened view of the world. The novel was written in the 1961 in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement so he was probably sensitive to the complexity of the characters. By 21st Century standards, though, the book feels dated, sociologically speaking. The movie focuses on the adventures to find the treasure, while the novel uses it as the McGuffin. It’s the excuse for the various episodes: Uncle Jim encountering a pal from the Mexican-American War, Davie and Lauriette hooking up with Native Americans to sail through the Florida swamps, Dr Snodgrass shystering small-town yokels. By the time they reach the treasure, its discovery is tossed off in three anticlimactic paragraphs. In other words, the journey is more important than the destination.
A Journey to Matecumbe is long by today’s standards. YA novels tend to roll out over the course of many books, so Robert Lewis Taylor’s novel may seem a bit ponderous, but if you’re in a Twain type of mood, you might enjoy the adventures.
I enjoyed some sections of the novel, and I got bored in others. I guess I will keep trying to figure out if it’s a product of its time or an accurate portrayal of the antebellum world.
I never got very far in the book because Davie’s Uncle Jim is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and I couldn’t reconcile that the hero of the book would be in any way associated with a hate group. I tried a couple times to get through it, but I always got hung up on this enormous detail.
Something recently made me think about the book again, and I dug up a copy from the library to see if I could get through it. And the truth is I really had to force myself through the first part. Even though Uncle Jim recants his membership in the KKK, and he and Davie go on the run, there is something decidedly unpleasant about the storyline.
But that’s the thing about this book: Robert Lewis Taylor is writing a novel about the antebellum South, its racism and its reconstruction. It’s not the shiniest period in U.S. history, and the author doesn’t shy away from the absurd aspects of culture nor its bitter racism. The book is full of questionable characters seen through the eyes of fourteen year old Davie, who is getting his first glimpse at the wider world.
This is a novel.
This is a movie.The adventures are a mixture of Mark Twain and Dicken’s Martin Chuzzlewit. The characters elbow each other to get the spotlight, basking in their grandiosity. There are Civil War veterans, quack doctors, wily villains, and a fair amount of racist portrayals of Native Americans and Blacks. But is the author representing how society probably was at the time or is he subtle enough to tap into the humanity of the characters, despite the stereotypes? I haven’t decided. My guess is that he is endeavoring to be historically accurate while representing a bit more enlightened view of the world. The novel was written in the 1961 in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement so he was probably sensitive to the complexity of the characters. By 21st Century standards, though, the book feels dated, sociologically speaking. The movie focuses on the adventures to find the treasure, while the novel uses it as the McGuffin. It’s the excuse for the various episodes: Uncle Jim encountering a pal from the Mexican-American War, Davie and Lauriette hooking up with Native Americans to sail through the Florida swamps, Dr Snodgrass shystering small-town yokels. By the time they reach the treasure, its discovery is tossed off in three anticlimactic paragraphs. In other words, the journey is more important than the destination.A Journey to Matecumbe is long by today’s standards. YA novels tend to roll out over the course of many books, so Robert Lewis Taylor’s novel may seem a bit ponderous, but if you’re in a Twain type of mood, you might enjoy the adventures.
I enjoyed some sections of the novel, and I got bored in others. I guess I will keep trying to figure out if it’s a product of its time or an accurate portrayal of the antebellum world.
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