What do you think?
Rate this book
Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution
"A rollicking tale." --Stacy Schiff, New York Times Book Review , Editors' Choice Johnny One-Eye is bringing about the rediscovery of one of the most "singular and remarkable [careers] in American literature" (Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World ). In this picaresque tour de force that reanimates Revolutionary Manhattan through the story of double agent John Stocking, the bastard son of a whorehouse madam and possibly George Washington, Jerome Charyn has given us one of the most memorable historical novels in years. As Johnny seeks to unlock the mystery of his birth and grapples with his allegiances, he falls in love with Clara, a gorgeous, green-eyed octoroon, the most coveted harlot of Gertrude's house. The wild parade of characters he encounters includes Benedict Arnold, the Howe brothers, "Sir Billy" and "Black Dick," and a manipulative Alexander Hamilton. Not since John Barth's The Sotweed Factor and Gore Vidal's Burr has a novel so dramatically re-created America's historical beginnings. Reading group guide included.
479 pages, Paperback
First published February 17, 2008
17 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
About the author
Jerome Charyn
221 books230 followersJerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With more than 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon calls him "one of the most important writers in American literature." New York Newsday hailed Charyn as "a contemporary American Balzac," and the Los Angeles Times described him as "absolutely unique among American writers."
Since the 1964 release of Charyn's first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published thirty novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays, and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year.
Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the American University of Paris.
In addition to writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top ten percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn's book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong."
Charyn's most recent novel, Jerzy, was described by The New Yorker as a "fictional fantasia" about the life of Jerzy Kosinski, the controversial author of The Painted Bird. In 2010, Charyn wrote The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, an imagined autobiography of the renowned poet, a book characterized by Joyce Carol Oates as a "fever-dream picaresque."
Charyn lives in New York City. He's currently working with artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka on an animated television series based on his Isaac Sidel crime novels.
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon calls him "one of the most important writers in American literature." New York Newsday hailed Charyn as "a contemporary American Balzac," and the Los Angeles Times described him as "absolutely unique among American writers."
Since the 1964 release of Charyn's first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published thirty novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays, and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year.
Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture. Charyn is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the American University of Paris.
In addition to writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top ten percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn's book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong."
Charyn's most recent novel, Jerzy, was described by The New Yorker as a "fictional fantasia" about the life of Jerzy Kosinski, the controversial author of The Painted Bird. In 2010, Charyn wrote The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, an imagined autobiography of the renowned poet, a book characterized by Joyce Carol Oates as a "fever-dream picaresque."
Charyn lives in New York City. He's currently working with artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka on an animated television series based on his Isaac Sidel crime novels.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
November 28, 2023
Set during the course of the Revolutionary War, this swashbuckling adventure of espionage, lust, and redemption follows the life of Johnny One-Eye. The book leaves no time for introductions, as we begin with General Washington enjoying a fresh bowl of soup that may or may not have been tampered with. From there the pace picks up speed as the roguish Johnny is apprehended, and we begin to understand the full extent of his intentions and loyalties through his feisty wit and anecdotes. As both minor and major characters are introduced further on, Charyn has the reader try to understand and yet be quite hesitant of whom indeed to trust.
Clara, a dashing octoroon receives much attention from gentlemen of birth and the lower-sort alike, as her interactions with the Howe brothers can be humorous to say the least. The infamous Benedict Arnold is depicted as a man made up more of bad luck than cruel intent, and given sympathy as a compassionate leader before his eventual turn. The same cannot be said for men whom usually have been seen in such a positive light, as both John André and Alexander Hamilton are shown as pompous and almost diabolical at times:
The only other person at this audience was Clinton's young adjutant, Major John André, a swarthy man-killer with the air of an educated Gypsy. Clinton gazed upon this boy as if he were some miracle. I did not understand at first. Major André was most petulant. He strutted across the room with such a scowl I thought he meant to bite us. His hold on Sir Henry, I would soon discover, was much more insidious than any hold little Hamilton might have had on George Washington.
Even Washington isn’t spared, with a few unusual character flaws that would be hard to swallow for those not interested in hypotheticals on the future First President. Well researched, the novel leaves no doubt that this is indeed a civil war, with the rebel Continentals fulfilling their fair share of atrocities alongside those loyal to Great Britain. While some liberties are taken in regards to personalities, views, and sexual liaisons, the character development is unique and allows for a sense of compassion and familiarity even with the two hundred years and more gap. A helpful guide to the Cast of Characters follows the Table of Contents, as well as illustrations and a well-drawn map of New York in 1776, in which the book primarily takes place. Funny and at times a little too over the top, this is a fine addition to rarely covered novella on the Revolutionary War.
Clara, a dashing octoroon receives much attention from gentlemen of birth and the lower-sort alike, as her interactions with the Howe brothers can be humorous to say the least. The infamous Benedict Arnold is depicted as a man made up more of bad luck than cruel intent, and given sympathy as a compassionate leader before his eventual turn. The same cannot be said for men whom usually have been seen in such a positive light, as both John André and Alexander Hamilton are shown as pompous and almost diabolical at times:
The only other person at this audience was Clinton's young adjutant, Major John André, a swarthy man-killer with the air of an educated Gypsy. Clinton gazed upon this boy as if he were some miracle. I did not understand at first. Major André was most petulant. He strutted across the room with such a scowl I thought he meant to bite us. His hold on Sir Henry, I would soon discover, was much more insidious than any hold little Hamilton might have had on George Washington.
Even Washington isn’t spared, with a few unusual character flaws that would be hard to swallow for those not interested in hypotheticals on the future First President. Well researched, the novel leaves no doubt that this is indeed a civil war, with the rebel Continentals fulfilling their fair share of atrocities alongside those loyal to Great Britain. While some liberties are taken in regards to personalities, views, and sexual liaisons, the character development is unique and allows for a sense of compassion and familiarity even with the two hundred years and more gap. A helpful guide to the Cast of Characters follows the Table of Contents, as well as illustrations and a well-drawn map of New York in 1776, in which the book primarily takes place. Funny and at times a little too over the top, this is a fine addition to rarely covered novella on the Revolutionary War.
September 1, 2008
I am a big fan of historical fiction and this is one of the best I have read. Having said that, it was quite different from the other types of historical fiction I have read. Where to begin. . . .
Johnny One-Eye (JOE) is billed as a comedy set during the Revolutionary War. It is, to be sure a comedy, but certainly not in the same vein as something as laugh-out-loud ridiculous as the Flashman series, courtesy of George Fraser. JOE is a dark comedy, with some giggle out loud moments, but it is more Junoesque in its comedic sensibilities than it is McLovin’. In other words, it does have its moments of both dry literary humor and silly, slapstick humor.
Most of the historical fiction I have read has been event-based. The author has chosen an historical event, or series of historical events, and plunked down a character amidst these events. The narrative is driven by these events (be it Jeff Sahara's trek through the south in his Gods and Generals series (based during the American Civil War) or E.L. Doctorow's, The March (also the American Civil War). In some cases, the character may even be the catalyst of said events as Sir Harry Flashman sometimes found himself in the amazing George Fraser series, which traipses around the world from (India, Afghanistan, Borneo, Turkey, China, Africa, and the U.S., amongst many other historical hotspots) where the reader finds poor Flashy fighting (or rather running away from) action in the Crimean, Opium and American Civil Wars. In either of these cases, the events themselves are the main characters and the fictionalized players are simply that, players atop a stage swept along by the events that swirl around them.
In the refreshing case of Johnny One-Eye, Jerome Charyn, lets the characters take center stage -- both real and imagined. The events, be it the occupation of New York, the battles for the City, the Jersey prison barge, etc. are real enough and based in historical fact, but Charyn never lets the Revolution take over completely. The War is the catalyst for the growth of his characters and it is a main focus of the novel, but it does not overtake the novel completely. Charyn allows JOE and those around him to grow, adapt, fight against, and sometimes wilt as a result of the War for Independence, but he does not let the War wash over New York and its characters like a tidal wave washing over a boardwalk.
In many fictional histories, a larger-than-life character is sprung on the reader, (again I point to Fraser's poor, misunderstood Flashy), while the real men and women of history are but cardboard cutouts, around which the main character dances. (Think the literary parallel to Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump Photoshopped in next to Kennedy, Nixon or in front of the Little Rock 9). I sometimes wonder if the author has forgotten his/her novel is being billed as fictitious and is too afraid to attach feelings to these non-fictional characters for fear of misrepresenting them. As big a fan as I am of Sir Harry and his roguishness, he is a caricature to be sure and there was no other non-fictional character in Fraser’s novels that could compete. Charyn succeeds where perhaps Fraser does not, as Charyn delves as deeply into JOE’s soul as he does the psyche of George Washington, known for his bouts of melancholy and depression. Charyn provides a refreshing look at Benedict Arnold and his social climbing wife and does not simply paint this man as the one-sided national traitor that we learned him to be as grade-schoolers.
Moreover, Charyn keeps us in one spot for the duration of the Revolutionary War -- New York City. We do not jump from Concord to Ticonderoga to Valley Forge to Bunker Hill and back again. This enables Charyn to focus on those that history forgets -- the occupied. The people who are neither patriots nor traitors, but simply survivors attempting to make it through to the end of a war alive. Charyn gives us a glimpse at those people who cannot afford to take sides, blacks, the poor, women, the old and infirm, as well as the too young.
A fascinating novel, a humorous and dark piece, perhaps more fiction than fact, but I loved it and I expect anyone who appreciates historical fiction will certainly enjoy this one as well.
Johnny One-Eye (JOE) is billed as a comedy set during the Revolutionary War. It is, to be sure a comedy, but certainly not in the same vein as something as laugh-out-loud ridiculous as the Flashman series, courtesy of George Fraser. JOE is a dark comedy, with some giggle out loud moments, but it is more Junoesque in its comedic sensibilities than it is McLovin’. In other words, it does have its moments of both dry literary humor and silly, slapstick humor.
Most of the historical fiction I have read has been event-based. The author has chosen an historical event, or series of historical events, and plunked down a character amidst these events. The narrative is driven by these events (be it Jeff Sahara's trek through the south in his Gods and Generals series (based during the American Civil War) or E.L. Doctorow's, The March (also the American Civil War). In some cases, the character may even be the catalyst of said events as Sir Harry Flashman sometimes found himself in the amazing George Fraser series, which traipses around the world from (India, Afghanistan, Borneo, Turkey, China, Africa, and the U.S., amongst many other historical hotspots) where the reader finds poor Flashy fighting (or rather running away from) action in the Crimean, Opium and American Civil Wars. In either of these cases, the events themselves are the main characters and the fictionalized players are simply that, players atop a stage swept along by the events that swirl around them.
In the refreshing case of Johnny One-Eye, Jerome Charyn, lets the characters take center stage -- both real and imagined. The events, be it the occupation of New York, the battles for the City, the Jersey prison barge, etc. are real enough and based in historical fact, but Charyn never lets the Revolution take over completely. The War is the catalyst for the growth of his characters and it is a main focus of the novel, but it does not overtake the novel completely. Charyn allows JOE and those around him to grow, adapt, fight against, and sometimes wilt as a result of the War for Independence, but he does not let the War wash over New York and its characters like a tidal wave washing over a boardwalk.
In many fictional histories, a larger-than-life character is sprung on the reader, (again I point to Fraser's poor, misunderstood Flashy), while the real men and women of history are but cardboard cutouts, around which the main character dances. (Think the literary parallel to Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump Photoshopped in next to Kennedy, Nixon or in front of the Little Rock 9). I sometimes wonder if the author has forgotten his/her novel is being billed as fictitious and is too afraid to attach feelings to these non-fictional characters for fear of misrepresenting them. As big a fan as I am of Sir Harry and his roguishness, he is a caricature to be sure and there was no other non-fictional character in Fraser’s novels that could compete. Charyn succeeds where perhaps Fraser does not, as Charyn delves as deeply into JOE’s soul as he does the psyche of George Washington, known for his bouts of melancholy and depression. Charyn provides a refreshing look at Benedict Arnold and his social climbing wife and does not simply paint this man as the one-sided national traitor that we learned him to be as grade-schoolers.
Moreover, Charyn keeps us in one spot for the duration of the Revolutionary War -- New York City. We do not jump from Concord to Ticonderoga to Valley Forge to Bunker Hill and back again. This enables Charyn to focus on those that history forgets -- the occupied. The people who are neither patriots nor traitors, but simply survivors attempting to make it through to the end of a war alive. Charyn gives us a glimpse at those people who cannot afford to take sides, blacks, the poor, women, the old and infirm, as well as the too young.
A fascinating novel, a humorous and dark piece, perhaps more fiction than fact, but I loved it and I expect anyone who appreciates historical fiction will certainly enjoy this one as well.
July 7, 2008
Wow, I'm a little surprised at all the negative reviews here! I guess it's not for everyone, but I found Johnny One Eye so funny and so clever - it was a blast to read. It explores the psychology of history, which is fascinating to me. Much of the story is fictional, of course, but from what I understand, quite a few details are accurate. I found it by chance in the New Books section at my library - I had never even heard of Jerome Charyn. I now plan to read everything he's every written!
January 13, 2015
The last novel I read about the Revolutionary War was Johnny Tremain (more recently, visits to Saratoga battlefield and hearing about Benedict Arnold's exploits, Ron Chernow's excellent Hamilton biography, and HBO's John Adams have fleshed out my imagination of the period). Jerome Charyn writes about a young Johnny, too - a few years older, I believe, at 17 in 1775 - but he moves the action from Boston to his home city of New York, to the side of George Washington as he flits around Manhattan, soon occupied the Brits, keeping his thin armed resistance alive among intrigue. Oh, and Johnny One-Eye (he lost it with brave Arnold in Quebec in a brief bit of service) might be Washington's bastard with Manhattan's premiere whorehouse madame. The word nunnery is used instead, the girls are "nuns." Scandalous? It shouldn't be. Charyn takes a few bits of historic evidence to try to flesh out the character of the quiet warrior and a wily man devoted to his country, not his rich widow wife, with a strange wartime family. It's a lot like what Kazantzakis did with Jesus in the Last Temptation of Christ. Washington is a great man, but Charyn makes him human, whereas history has not portrayed him as well as accurately as it has Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Burr and others whose pens told us a little more about them (and who left sex scandals, vicious politics, and duels in their wakes).
Johnny grows up among the nuns and loves the star of the nunnery, the beautiful blonde octaroon Clara, who like Johnny takes to spying, a bit more successfully than our main protagonist. Johnny likes King George just fine, but he loves his mother and soon General Washington, he loves Benedict Arnold too, a bond that transcends the treason. He's personally loyal. He makes his enemies too, and is whipped around by fates and plots in picaresque adventures, a Jack Sparrow-esque pirate boy in the middle of the American Revolution, a character out of a Decemberists song. Decemberists fans, read this book. Johnny One-Eye fans, pick up Picaresque if you don't have it already.
The book should be treasured for its imagination and description, bringing the New York of 230 years ago to life, including the black denizens and soldiers often left out of history books as well as fiction, and for making George Washington a man not a saint.
Johnny grows up among the nuns and loves the star of the nunnery, the beautiful blonde octaroon Clara, who like Johnny takes to spying, a bit more successfully than our main protagonist. Johnny likes King George just fine, but he loves his mother and soon General Washington, he loves Benedict Arnold too, a bond that transcends the treason. He's personally loyal. He makes his enemies too, and is whipped around by fates and plots in picaresque adventures, a Jack Sparrow-esque pirate boy in the middle of the American Revolution, a character out of a Decemberists song. Decemberists fans, read this book. Johnny One-Eye fans, pick up Picaresque if you don't have it already.
The book should be treasured for its imagination and description, bringing the New York of 230 years ago to life, including the black denizens and soldiers often left out of history books as well as fiction, and for making George Washington a man not a saint.
April 2, 2020
"Where should I begin my unremarkable life?"~Johnny One-Eye
Johnny One-Eye proclaims to have led an unremarkable life.
Don't believe it.
Born John Stocking, age uncertain, as is his sire; son of Gert, madame of Queen's Yard, and raised with her nuns; King's College educated and former classmate of 'Ham' Alec Hamilton; lost an eye serving under Benedict Arnold; employed and threatened by patriots and redcoats alike; a scribbler, a pirate, an innkeeper, prisoner, changeling, divil---and "a man who hid beneath a madrigal of words."
"Are you soldier or civilian?" the general asked John when they first meet. John is bound and with a rifle against his side, caught in the act of adding a purgative to the general's soup.
"Both. I'm a secret agent," Johnny quips.
Major Treat, Washington's chief of intelligence, calls Johnny a frog "who leaps back and forth between the royals and us." Which makes him a brilliant character to bring readers behind the scenes, patriot and British.
Johnny is buffeted by the shifting tides of war, depending on which army is in control of New York. He is only loyal to the people he loves.
John loves the king for his education at King's College. He loves Benedict Arnold, even after his acts of treason. He loves Gert. He loves George Washington who finds solace with his beloved red-haired Gert--and in games vingt-et-un at Queen's Yard. And sometimes he finds solace with Johnny, a tenuous connection to Gert.
Most of all, Johnny loves Clara, a foundling octoroon who is more than a nun for hire, even more than an Aristotle-reading uncommon beauty. Imperious and defiant, Clara dominates unforgettable scenes, including ministering to the African soldiers abandoned by the British after the battle of Yorktown.
Charyn's war novel takes readers through history in the style of the 18th c novels with stories adventurous and bawdy, panoramic in scope. Yes, it is "rollicking" and "picaresque" as the cover contends. Perhaps it is this time of Covid-19, but I also felt the hangman's noose and cold rifle against my ribs, the losses and the desperation.
***
Like so many civilians caught up in times of war, Johnny serves at the pleasure of those in power. He is surrounded by men desperate to gain advantage over the enemy. Everyone can be forced to become a spy--an orphan boy, a desperate widow, an octoroon whore.
I think of my own ancestor conscripted into the Confederate militia although he came from pacifist Swiss Brethren who did not believe in oaths to the state. Or my German nationalist Baptist great-grandfather who left Russia to escape serving in the czar's army. The winds of war drove my husband's Palatine ancestors to leave their once verdant homeland, some to England and America, and some to Poland then Russia and finally to America. My ancestor's grave marks him a Revolutionary War veteran, but he was conscripted. We little people are nothing but chaff buffeted by the wind.
Our true stories are about who we love.
***
This 'tale of the American Revolution' includes all the history I have read, Benedict Arnold despised as a traitor by patriots and loyalists alike, John Andre and Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton and Peggy Shippen and the British generals and admirals appear.
As do the major moments.
George Washington, his leadership threatened, shocks and softens the hearts of men when he dons his spectacles and admits, "I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind..."
I get a lump in my throat. He was not perfect. But he did forgo personal power for an idea--a country ruled by the people and not a monarchy. A republic, if we can keep it.
"But this war cannot go on forever. One side will win," Johnny says to Mrs. Loring, 'war wife' of General Howe of the redcoats. She responds, "I am not so certain. Both sides might also lose." Johnny considers that perhaps both sides had already lost, "with killing and plunder as a permanent language."
George Washington won the war and a nation was born. At the end of the novel he is lionized, his errors overlooked. But he is a ghost after seven years of war, wandering his farm, peacetime "but a sweet deception."
Johnny survives the hurricane. He gains the reward of true love. It is all any of us really want in this life. Survive the battle anyway we can and cleave to those we love.
Johnny One-Eye proclaims to have led an unremarkable life.
Don't believe it.
Born John Stocking, age uncertain, as is his sire; son of Gert, madame of Queen's Yard, and raised with her nuns; King's College educated and former classmate of 'Ham' Alec Hamilton; lost an eye serving under Benedict Arnold; employed and threatened by patriots and redcoats alike; a scribbler, a pirate, an innkeeper, prisoner, changeling, divil---and "a man who hid beneath a madrigal of words."
"Are you soldier or civilian?" the general asked John when they first meet. John is bound and with a rifle against his side, caught in the act of adding a purgative to the general's soup.
"Both. I'm a secret agent," Johnny quips.
Major Treat, Washington's chief of intelligence, calls Johnny a frog "who leaps back and forth between the royals and us." Which makes him a brilliant character to bring readers behind the scenes, patriot and British.
Johnny is buffeted by the shifting tides of war, depending on which army is in control of New York. He is only loyal to the people he loves.
John loves the king for his education at King's College. He loves Benedict Arnold, even after his acts of treason. He loves Gert. He loves George Washington who finds solace with his beloved red-haired Gert--and in games vingt-et-un at Queen's Yard. And sometimes he finds solace with Johnny, a tenuous connection to Gert.
Most of all, Johnny loves Clara, a foundling octoroon who is more than a nun for hire, even more than an Aristotle-reading uncommon beauty. Imperious and defiant, Clara dominates unforgettable scenes, including ministering to the African soldiers abandoned by the British after the battle of Yorktown.
Charyn's war novel takes readers through history in the style of the 18th c novels with stories adventurous and bawdy, panoramic in scope. Yes, it is "rollicking" and "picaresque" as the cover contends. Perhaps it is this time of Covid-19, but I also felt the hangman's noose and cold rifle against my ribs, the losses and the desperation.
***
Like so many civilians caught up in times of war, Johnny serves at the pleasure of those in power. He is surrounded by men desperate to gain advantage over the enemy. Everyone can be forced to become a spy--an orphan boy, a desperate widow, an octoroon whore.
I think of my own ancestor conscripted into the Confederate militia although he came from pacifist Swiss Brethren who did not believe in oaths to the state. Or my German nationalist Baptist great-grandfather who left Russia to escape serving in the czar's army. The winds of war drove my husband's Palatine ancestors to leave their once verdant homeland, some to England and America, and some to Poland then Russia and finally to America. My ancestor's grave marks him a Revolutionary War veteran, but he was conscripted. We little people are nothing but chaff buffeted by the wind.
Our true stories are about who we love.
***
This 'tale of the American Revolution' includes all the history I have read, Benedict Arnold despised as a traitor by patriots and loyalists alike, John Andre and Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton and Peggy Shippen and the British generals and admirals appear.
As do the major moments.
George Washington, his leadership threatened, shocks and softens the hearts of men when he dons his spectacles and admits, "I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind..."
I get a lump in my throat. He was not perfect. But he did forgo personal power for an idea--a country ruled by the people and not a monarchy. A republic, if we can keep it.
"But this war cannot go on forever. One side will win," Johnny says to Mrs. Loring, 'war wife' of General Howe of the redcoats. She responds, "I am not so certain. Both sides might also lose." Johnny considers that perhaps both sides had already lost, "with killing and plunder as a permanent language."
George Washington won the war and a nation was born. At the end of the novel he is lionized, his errors overlooked. But he is a ghost after seven years of war, wandering his farm, peacetime "but a sweet deception."
Johnny survives the hurricane. He gains the reward of true love. It is all any of us really want in this life. Survive the battle anyway we can and cleave to those we love.
February 10, 2022
I was hoping for a bit of bawdy humor and some battle scenes, but this book disappointed me. The main character behaves like a child - making him hard to picture as the young man he is - and every opportunity to engage in battle has someone else whisking him away from the war. Glad to be done with this one.
November 20, 2009
I've read a few other Jerome Charyn books thanks to learning about him from an old issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction that I picked up at the ginormous Friend's of the Library sale years ago. Charyn's a flat-floot, twangy, picaresque humorist writing usually about the assorted zaniness of zany people living in New York in the later part of the 20th century.
Johnny One-Eyed, like the rest I've read from Charyn (limited, he's prolific), is a love story of New York. But old, old New York. Set during the Revolutionary War, a young character named Johnny One-Eye, (lost his eye while serving with B. Arnold) and who is ostensibly the bastard son of George Washington and the Mother Superior of the Nunnery, has many a dangerous and wacky adventure as he shuffles his loyalties between the Tories and the Patriots, doubling and tripling his agency so many times until no one is sure to whom his loyalties lie, most especially himself.
Johnny spends his days hiding in the closets of the nuns (read: sex-workers, playing with the silken slippers of his great love Clara, an tall octoroon who does her fair share of spying and playing the double/triple agent as well. Until he is sent off to perform as secretary to General Arnold, he studies all the great generals, from Howe to Washington, as the men ignore their conflicts long enough to play endless rounds of "viegnt et un" at the nunnery.
Johnny One-Eyed is a great bawdy romp through an imagined history. If you recently watched the John Adams mini-series, this is a fun peek around another corner. New England may have been tightly wound, but in Charyn's imaginative colonial New York it certainly was not.
Johnny One-Eyed, like the rest I've read from Charyn (limited, he's prolific), is a love story of New York. But old, old New York. Set during the Revolutionary War, a young character named Johnny One-Eye, (lost his eye while serving with B. Arnold) and who is ostensibly the bastard son of George Washington and the Mother Superior of the Nunnery, has many a dangerous and wacky adventure as he shuffles his loyalties between the Tories and the Patriots, doubling and tripling his agency so many times until no one is sure to whom his loyalties lie, most especially himself.
Johnny spends his days hiding in the closets of the nuns (read: sex-workers, playing with the silken slippers of his great love Clara, an tall octoroon who does her fair share of spying and playing the double/triple agent as well. Until he is sent off to perform as secretary to General Arnold, he studies all the great generals, from Howe to Washington, as the men ignore their conflicts long enough to play endless rounds of "viegnt et un" at the nunnery.
Johnny One-Eyed is a great bawdy romp through an imagined history. If you recently watched the John Adams mini-series, this is a fun peek around another corner. New England may have been tightly wound, but in Charyn's imaginative colonial New York it certainly was not.
February 2, 2009
Hoping this is as good as Sot-Weed Factor
I have enjoyed this as much as Barth's book. It has a picaresque approach to our Revolutionary War. Charyn has obviously done a good deal of reseach on NYC during the this period and it is often hard to tell where the history leaves off and the imagination begins. Like The Sot-Weed Factor is has a bawdy nature and the plot is full of plots, misunderstandings and two-dimensional characters from history that are now fleshed out. Did you know that GW had a two-decade clandestine affair while he was becoming The Father of our Country? Did you know that the Howe brothers often quarreled about women and tactics (and which one was obsessive about vingt-et-un)? Were you aware that Rhode Island had a troop of exclusively black soldiers fighting for freedom or Major Andre enjoyed creating dramas as much as he did being a British spymaster. I didn't and I don't care how much is true. This war lasted from 1776 into the 1780s and Charyn provides an excellent sense of how it affected day-to-day life - from the difficulties in clothing and feeding the American troops to the exhaustion of firewood during the winter. There is plenty more including the Nuns of Robinson street whose bordello was a key to General Washington surviving the British plots to capture him. All is seen through the remaining eye of John Stocking, about twenty, who plays both sides, as necessary, to survive.
I have enjoyed this as much as Barth's book. It has a picaresque approach to our Revolutionary War. Charyn has obviously done a good deal of reseach on NYC during the this period and it is often hard to tell where the history leaves off and the imagination begins. Like The Sot-Weed Factor is has a bawdy nature and the plot is full of plots, misunderstandings and two-dimensional characters from history that are now fleshed out. Did you know that GW had a two-decade clandestine affair while he was becoming The Father of our Country? Did you know that the Howe brothers often quarreled about women and tactics (and which one was obsessive about vingt-et-un)? Were you aware that Rhode Island had a troop of exclusively black soldiers fighting for freedom or Major Andre enjoyed creating dramas as much as he did being a British spymaster. I didn't and I don't care how much is true. This war lasted from 1776 into the 1780s and Charyn provides an excellent sense of how it affected day-to-day life - from the difficulties in clothing and feeding the American troops to the exhaustion of firewood during the winter. There is plenty more including the Nuns of Robinson street whose bordello was a key to General Washington surviving the British plots to capture him. All is seen through the remaining eye of John Stocking, about twenty, who plays both sides, as necessary, to survive.
November 22, 2013
I can't think of the last book I disliked so much that I actually bothered to finish. This one took me 8 or 9 months to get through because I kept putting it down and reading other books. For a while, I kept hoping it would get better. But it never did. When I picked it up I thought, "Oh, historical fiction set during the American Revolution - this could be good." Could be, but wasn't. The short chapters seemed too choppy, so I never felt drawn into the story. I hated the main character. There wasn't enough connection with the supporting characters for me to care much about them. While writing in the language style of the time was probably historically accurate, it threw me because my little brain had to work harder to hear the language in my head. Even though the plot followed a linear path, it felt completely disjointed. Let's see...what else didn't I like? Everything. The only reason I finished was because it became a point of pride somewhere along the way (and my kids kept asking when I was going to finish it). I can see some people giving it a higher rating and I wish I could come up with some objective remarks that would lead people who might like it in the right direction. Like, "if you like books with unlikeable characters, this might be for you..."
April 24, 2008
If you like the history of the Revolutionary War in the U.S. then this is the book for you. It is well researched. The hero, Johnny, bounces among War greats such as Benedict Arnold, George Washington, and Alexander Hamilton to name a few. Despite the fact that the author jumps around a great deal, he still tells an impelling story. His description of being tarred and feathered makes your skin crawl.
August 7, 2009
Seriously one of the best books I've read. I had never heard of this guy before I picked this up, and I've never seen anything else by him in the bookstore. But if you like historical fiction, please read this. Highly entertaining.
May 2, 2021
This was interesting to read. There are a lot of tidbits history that are glossed over in our history courses that are included in historical fiction, like that Columbia University used to be King's College, or that bedrooms, personal rooms of a person's, used to be called closets (not like what we have as closets today, see https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...).
John Stocking was not born a harlot's son, but from a marriage that was broken before he was born, though we find out this and more only towards the end. This is not a spoiler because it is pretty incidental. The story picks up when Mr. Stocking is being accused of trying to poison George Washington, but that charge was created from overblown facts, that while sort of true, missed the reality. From there you get a sense of what it was like in the days of the revolution in NYC.
The story does not tell the history of Mr. Stocking, but gives us bits and pieces, and fills in with understanding of the people and how Mr. Stocking felt about them. It is hard to say how accurate the thoughts and feelings of the people of the day are reflected in Mr. Stocking's thinking, but it adds to the sense that we missed a lot in what we were taught in school.
The story commences in April, 1776, and ends in November, 1799, the death of George Washington. The story of Mr. Stocking ends March,1783. He grows from nineteen or twenty to twenty-eight or so. His story is full of his love for a sex worker, Clara, that seems to overshadow most of wht he does, and drives him batty. But he also has his part in the revolution, as somewhat a 'while he was swooning over Clara, he was doing this....'
It is interesting to read how simplistic the war effort was. Ya gotta wonder that such simple happenings, like Yorktown, really was all there was to winning the liberty, sort of – read the history of the Navy, it gives the flavor of how the British felt about the citizens of this country in the early years after the revolution.
John Stocking was not born a harlot's son, but from a marriage that was broken before he was born, though we find out this and more only towards the end. This is not a spoiler because it is pretty incidental. The story picks up when Mr. Stocking is being accused of trying to poison George Washington, but that charge was created from overblown facts, that while sort of true, missed the reality. From there you get a sense of what it was like in the days of the revolution in NYC.
The story does not tell the history of Mr. Stocking, but gives us bits and pieces, and fills in with understanding of the people and how Mr. Stocking felt about them. It is hard to say how accurate the thoughts and feelings of the people of the day are reflected in Mr. Stocking's thinking, but it adds to the sense that we missed a lot in what we were taught in school.
The story commences in April, 1776, and ends in November, 1799, the death of George Washington. The story of Mr. Stocking ends March,1783. He grows from nineteen or twenty to twenty-eight or so. His story is full of his love for a sex worker, Clara, that seems to overshadow most of wht he does, and drives him batty. But he also has his part in the revolution, as somewhat a 'while he was swooning over Clara, he was doing this....'
It is interesting to read how simplistic the war effort was. Ya gotta wonder that such simple happenings, like Yorktown, really was all there was to winning the liberty, sort of – read the history of the Navy, it gives the flavor of how the British felt about the citizens of this country in the early years after the revolution.
November 25, 2024
El tuerto es el que mejor ve, desde su holgura ficcionada, el desenvolvimiento de los últimos años de conflicto bélico de los Estados Unidos por su independencia. Desde un lugar inventado e imaginado, habla de George Washington, del traidor Benedict Arnold, del consejero Hamilton, John André y otros que se entremezclan con entidades entornadas en la novela como Gertrude y Clara.
El resultado es un paisaje heterogéneo donde un burdel es un escenario plausible para el espionaje, los juegos de apuesta y hasta resabios de paz. Un barco-prisión donde los administradores escamotean los recursos asignados a los presos y una operante separación entre las casacas rojas británicas y un ejército que a duras penas ostentaba instrucción militar. Aunque la tentación de volver una épica heroica ya muy conocida, Charyn apunta su diana narrativa más a representar la agonía de una trama relacional y no tanto un militarismo trasnochado.
Es imposible vencer al fantasma nacionalista que se asoma a cada rato y la figura de Washington toma unas alturas metafóricas como paladín de la democracia. Johnny el espía se mete ahora con el bando británico, ahora con los estadounidenses, ahora languidenciendo de amor por Clara. En medio de su voz rasposa y su necesidad de demostrar su valía, los franceses entran a la refriega y los norteamericanos se adueñan de sus territorios hasta que los británicos se retiran. Los hechos históricos tejidos de esta manera, son una bengala en un territorio que restituye el orgullo de una nación que ideológicamente siempre ha yacido en el fango.
El resultado es un paisaje heterogéneo donde un burdel es un escenario plausible para el espionaje, los juegos de apuesta y hasta resabios de paz. Un barco-prisión donde los administradores escamotean los recursos asignados a los presos y una operante separación entre las casacas rojas británicas y un ejército que a duras penas ostentaba instrucción militar. Aunque la tentación de volver una épica heroica ya muy conocida, Charyn apunta su diana narrativa más a representar la agonía de una trama relacional y no tanto un militarismo trasnochado.
Es imposible vencer al fantasma nacionalista que se asoma a cada rato y la figura de Washington toma unas alturas metafóricas como paladín de la democracia. Johnny el espía se mete ahora con el bando británico, ahora con los estadounidenses, ahora languidenciendo de amor por Clara. En medio de su voz rasposa y su necesidad de demostrar su valía, los franceses entran a la refriega y los norteamericanos se adueñan de sus territorios hasta que los británicos se retiran. Los hechos históricos tejidos de esta manera, son una bengala en un territorio que restituye el orgullo de una nación que ideológicamente siempre ha yacido en el fango.
March 31, 2024
This thing has been sitting in my library for well over a decade, and I was humming along on the peloton (library adjacent) when I saw it and thought: ooh, that looks fun.
I'll be honest, this one took a bit to get through - between the length, the language, and the number of characters, it was a bit of a slog, but once I got into the rhythm (call it 25% of the way through), I found it to be an increasingly rewarding read.
Johnny Stocking is a one-eyed young man that lives in Manhattan during the American Revolution. He bounces between King's College (now Columbia) and a preeminent brothel for his home, and also bounces along between loyalties to figures of both sides of the American Revolution. Told in a picaresque style (I finally *understand* what this means more than academically thanks to this book), Johnny is an adventurer, a spy, an orator, kind of a bumbling doofus, and eventually - a hero.
I think the novel did a wonderful job bringing to life the heroes we read about, and their inner lives, as well as the horror and chaos of war - but all in a voice and tone that was entirely unique. Apparently Charyn was a wildly prolific writer. I look forward to reading more.
I'll be honest, this one took a bit to get through - between the length, the language, and the number of characters, it was a bit of a slog, but once I got into the rhythm (call it 25% of the way through), I found it to be an increasingly rewarding read.
Johnny Stocking is a one-eyed young man that lives in Manhattan during the American Revolution. He bounces between King's College (now Columbia) and a preeminent brothel for his home, and also bounces along between loyalties to figures of both sides of the American Revolution. Told in a picaresque style (I finally *understand* what this means more than academically thanks to this book), Johnny is an adventurer, a spy, an orator, kind of a bumbling doofus, and eventually - a hero.
I think the novel did a wonderful job bringing to life the heroes we read about, and their inner lives, as well as the horror and chaos of war - but all in a voice and tone that was entirely unique. Apparently Charyn was a wildly prolific writer. I look forward to reading more.
November 12, 2022
This is historical fiction at its hilarious best! Johnny is there for all the big events -- with General Benedict Arnold on the campaign to capture Quebec and even later when the famous traitor becomes a pariah on both continents; with George Washington at the retreat from New York and later at Valley Forge; and with Alexander Hamilton in the attack that would lead to the victory at Yorktown. He alternates as a spy, a prisoner of war, a counter-spy and a love-sick soldier throughout these adventures. He is both helped and hindered by the Madame and ladies at a New York brothel that is patronized by generals, officers and soldiers from both sides of the war. This is a fun book to read and a bit of a history refresher at the same time! Can I give it six stars?
July 20, 2021
I'm giving this a Five in case a Goodreads' readers might be put off by the kind of low rating, making some look elsewhere. Yes, it is a bastardization of American Revolution history (and almost literally) with quite a lot of emphasis on a bordello, but that is the shtick. And this author can write! He has thoroughly researched the main characters and settings of this time period. The result is an historical fiction that is unique, a bit bawdy, well crafted and lovingly told. I found it amazing.
January 14, 2023
Un buen libro sobre la revolución estadounidense, me pareció un poco lento al comienzo pero conforme se va desarrollando el personaje de Johnny y se va envolviendo en la intriga de la guerra agarra un buen ritmo. Al final la vida del protagonista va en paralelo con los eventos de la guerra, siempre a la par de una relación amorosa y la búsqueda de sus padres.
January 11, 2024
En dépit de son originalité, j'avoue avoir eu du mal à lire ce livre. J'ai mis la moitié de l'ouvrage pour me repérer dans les personnages (je n'avais pas eu le courage de lire le dramatis personae, ce en quoi j'ai eu tort) et j'ai eu bien du mal à m'attacher à un seul d'entre eux.
January 8, 2018
really interesting time period and characters but the writing style gets in the way and the bawdiness is simply too unrealistic to be interesting.
February 28, 2019
This author's style of writing is not for me...couldn't get past the first several chapters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2020
The amazing liberties Charyn took in his historical fiction make for a wonderful story replete with characters who felt like lifelong friends before the tale was over. Thoroughly enjoyable.
July 29, 2021
Enjoyable read set during the American Revolution in New York.
February 10, 2022
A Tale of the American Revolution in which almost nothing happens!
June 19, 2011
Article first published as Book Review:Johnny One-Eye by Jerome Charyn on Blogcritics.
In the early years of America, a ragged group of volunteers, led by George Washington, dealt with the American Revolution and fighting for freedom. Many of them began as farmers, and yet become a part of history and recorded as heroes. Many of these men became the forefathers of our nation and are the very reason and beginning of our independence.
In Johnny One-Eye, Jerome Charyn has used history and rumors of the time, to build a story of heroes, a tale of love and revenge, and of the difficulties and possibilities of the revolution. He has used actual events and characters in history and peopled it with imaginary characters and events of his own.
Drawing from dark times of revolution, Charyn has given us a novel set during the eight years of the revolution, a gritty and difficult time. He uses Johnny as a character and narrator, which ads a different and unique take on the times. Johnny is a young man raised in a whorehouse and a double agent as many were during those times. He first comes to our attention when caught trying to poison Washington’s soup. Johnny is relatively educated and often works as a scribe, and it is during one of these missions, scribing for Benedict Arnold that he loses his eye.
Johnny seems to lead a charmed life, getting in and out of danger while balancing his confusion and concerns about the war. He loves his king, and yet now that he knows him and understands him a bit better, he is drawn to George Washington. There are also the rumors that he may be the illegitimate son of George Washington, a rumor that seems to keep him alive. Both sides have a bit of a soft spot for him, and yet there are those too that want him dead. He is in love what Clara an octoroon whore whom he grew up with and it is obvious to all in the know that the Madame is his mother. This all plays a part in this story and his mother is set as the other woman in Washington’s life.
Through the difficulties and avenues traveled by Johnny, we learn of many of the characters of the time of the revolution, notables such as Hamilton, Arnold, General Clinton, King George III and Washington himself. Set mainly in Manhattan and surrounding areas we read of the skirmishes and problems encountered by Washington and his crew. We learn about the courageous African stevedores and slaves that lay their lives on the line to help make this a new country free from England’s control. Full of both darkness and lightness, it is also full of real history and information as well as riddled with fiction.
Charyn has taken us to a time in history, when America was just becoming a new nation. His descriptions of the times and events both real and imagined, take you inside of the pain and anguish of the characters involved. You feel as though you are there, the descriptions of the winter scenes with Washington and his men such when they left bloodied trails because of lack of money for warmer clothing and shoes, left a lasting impression on me. While I read much of this same information during history classes in school, it was dryer and less real. Charyn makes it real, you can feel their pain and also feel their love and adoration of their leader. It is what keeps them fighting in the harshest and worst of conditions.
Johnny One-Eye is an engaging character that creates more of a story, and gives us an opportunity to see the unfolding of our history from a different and unique perspective. His involvement with both the women of the whorehouse as well as his own bits of intrigue keep it interesting, giving us both a more in-depth look at reality, and offering us a different perspective of events.
Jerome Charyn brings us wonderful fictional characters and weaves them into actual events in history, setting encounters with actual historical figures, which creates an interesting fictional history that reads like reality. Often truth is stranger than fiction, and while the added characters come from imagination, the truth of the times only adds a darker more sinister cast. The character of Johnny adds a bit of humor to a story that could be quite daunting.
If you love historical fiction, you will enjoy Johnny One-Eye. It is riddled with the actual events in history and is a different and more mercurial look at history. It is a view as evidenced by a young man, in the middle of a time of turmoil. This would be a great book for a reading group or book club.
This book was received as a free copy from Tribute Books. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
In the early years of America, a ragged group of volunteers, led by George Washington, dealt with the American Revolution and fighting for freedom. Many of them began as farmers, and yet become a part of history and recorded as heroes. Many of these men became the forefathers of our nation and are the very reason and beginning of our independence.
In Johnny One-Eye, Jerome Charyn has used history and rumors of the time, to build a story of heroes, a tale of love and revenge, and of the difficulties and possibilities of the revolution. He has used actual events and characters in history and peopled it with imaginary characters and events of his own.
Drawing from dark times of revolution, Charyn has given us a novel set during the eight years of the revolution, a gritty and difficult time. He uses Johnny as a character and narrator, which ads a different and unique take on the times. Johnny is a young man raised in a whorehouse and a double agent as many were during those times. He first comes to our attention when caught trying to poison Washington’s soup. Johnny is relatively educated and often works as a scribe, and it is during one of these missions, scribing for Benedict Arnold that he loses his eye.
Johnny seems to lead a charmed life, getting in and out of danger while balancing his confusion and concerns about the war. He loves his king, and yet now that he knows him and understands him a bit better, he is drawn to George Washington. There are also the rumors that he may be the illegitimate son of George Washington, a rumor that seems to keep him alive. Both sides have a bit of a soft spot for him, and yet there are those too that want him dead. He is in love what Clara an octoroon whore whom he grew up with and it is obvious to all in the know that the Madame is his mother. This all plays a part in this story and his mother is set as the other woman in Washington’s life.
Through the difficulties and avenues traveled by Johnny, we learn of many of the characters of the time of the revolution, notables such as Hamilton, Arnold, General Clinton, King George III and Washington himself. Set mainly in Manhattan and surrounding areas we read of the skirmishes and problems encountered by Washington and his crew. We learn about the courageous African stevedores and slaves that lay their lives on the line to help make this a new country free from England’s control. Full of both darkness and lightness, it is also full of real history and information as well as riddled with fiction.
Charyn has taken us to a time in history, when America was just becoming a new nation. His descriptions of the times and events both real and imagined, take you inside of the pain and anguish of the characters involved. You feel as though you are there, the descriptions of the winter scenes with Washington and his men such when they left bloodied trails because of lack of money for warmer clothing and shoes, left a lasting impression on me. While I read much of this same information during history classes in school, it was dryer and less real. Charyn makes it real, you can feel their pain and also feel their love and adoration of their leader. It is what keeps them fighting in the harshest and worst of conditions.
Johnny One-Eye is an engaging character that creates more of a story, and gives us an opportunity to see the unfolding of our history from a different and unique perspective. His involvement with both the women of the whorehouse as well as his own bits of intrigue keep it interesting, giving us both a more in-depth look at reality, and offering us a different perspective of events.
Jerome Charyn brings us wonderful fictional characters and weaves them into actual events in history, setting encounters with actual historical figures, which creates an interesting fictional history that reads like reality. Often truth is stranger than fiction, and while the added characters come from imagination, the truth of the times only adds a darker more sinister cast. The character of Johnny adds a bit of humor to a story that could be quite daunting.
If you love historical fiction, you will enjoy Johnny One-Eye. It is riddled with the actual events in history and is a different and more mercurial look at history. It is a view as evidenced by a young man, in the middle of a time of turmoil. This would be a great book for a reading group or book club.
This book was received as a free copy from Tribute Books. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
June 24, 2011
War turns lives and countries upside down. And if you’re playing both sides, you‘ll likely spend a lot of time in cellars or prison or the hold of a ship. You might even be tarred and feathered. Just ask Johnny One-Eye.
In JOHNNY ONE-EYE, A TALE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, author Jerome Charyn follows the eight years of the American Revolution in New York. Johnny Stocking, AKA Johnny One-Eye because he lost an eye in Canada with Benedict Arnold, age 17 at the beginning, is a fictional character placed in the midst of real events and participants in the war. Johnny, an orphan, suspects that Gertrude, the mistress of The Holy Ground, a brothel, and George Washington, commander in chief of the Continental Army, are his parents. So many different characters were involved in the story that parts of the book confused me and I had to refer to the list of characters at the front to see who was who. The listings were a great help.
One of my favorite parts to the novel is the vivid picture the author paints of what George Washington was like, from his physical appearance to his concern for his men and for Gert, as well as his feelings for Johnny. We see Washington, I think, as human, and not simply the great general we read about in most historical books. As for Johnny, his fears, his emotions, and what he goes through to survive show a gruesome side to the war. To me, he’s a brave young man that sometimes makes bad decisions and has to pay the consequences, much like teens of today.
The American Revolution is one of my favorite periods in history. I’ve read many books about the war, but none quite like this one. We see a different side to the war, rather than just the battles between two armies. The characters, both real and from the author’s imagination, bring the Revolution to life, with true events and imaginary ones. The language and some of the scenes are too rough for my liking and I skimmed over them. Other readers may not be offended by the openness of what goes on at The Holy Ground, but I’m not crazy about it. If you love the Revolutionary time period of our nation, you might find this novel enjoyable. I think it does show the effect war has on not only the soldiers but their wives, children, and friends. War is ugly.
But the character I enjoyed the most was the fictional Johnny One-Eye. I’m always for the underdog. I like to see someone whose life is about as bad as it can get fight back for his beliefs. Even though he may not always win, at least he tries.
July 1, 2011
John Stocking, aka Johnny One-Eye is an enigmatic character. Is he a loyalist or a rebel? Is he for the British or for America? Is he George Washington's son or not? None of these questions really get answered, but that's not really a problem in this novel. Charyn succeeds in bringing across the precarious nature of America during the Revolutionary War. The ins and outs of British occupied Manhattan are quite confusing. I found myself scratching my head several times wondering who was on whose side. We are introduced to famous characters such as George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Alexander Hamilton and we are exposed to their characters and personalities from the point of view of Johnny One-Eye. Does his one eye give him a skewed view of the world? Sometimes it would seem so. Was George Washington hopelessly in love with a woman who would become a madam? Possibly true. Did Benedict Arnold turn traitor because his beautiful wife was intelligent and a British spy? That would seem true as well. All of these intrigues are portrayed nicely in the book and although they may not be altogether factual, one can't help but believe in their plausibility. I will warn you, this may not be a book to read if you have no interest in history. As a history buff myself, I found the book to be a refreshing look at the Revolutionary War.
June 2, 2011
"Johnny One-Eye" by Jerome Charyn. Yes that is the same Jerome who wrote about Emily Dickenson and Babe Ruth. This time we are visiting the American Revolution through a interesting tale of intrigue and spics that are not quite spies. Oh and let's not forget the ever present 'nunnery' aka the local whore house where everyone gathers. Hey, you have to be able to entertain the troops some how. Actually, I am enjoying this story even if it is a lil on the far fetched side for me. Not sure life would happen this way but if your wanting to have all the interesting ins and outs of the 1700's then here it is. The cast of characters from the great George Washington to Benedict Arnold on to the British Howe brothers officers and free slaves twirled around a cast of very strong women roles, not a bad combination. I am in the last third of the book and hope to finish it on my plane ride today. Really wondering where it will end up as the main character Johnny has experienced the highs and lows of war time. From losing his eye in a battle where he was the scribe to Benedict Arnold to currently being on a British prison ship. He has served as a double agent for both sides, swooned over a whore he will never have, narrowly escaped death yet survived being tarred and feathered to even being at some of the most interesting private meetings of the time.
November 9, 2011
I’ve been letting the kiddo pick my books again. This time she did a good job – I was looking for some Michael Chabon but instead she pulled Johnny One-Eye off the shelf.
Johnny One-Eye tells the story of the American Revolution in Manhattan through the eye of the eponymous main character, who may or may not be the bastard son of George Washington. Manhattan fo the time is a city of spies, including Johnny, the “nuns” of Robinson Street (where he was raised until a benefactor got him admitted to King’s College). In the beginning of the novel Johnny plays both sides, really just looking out for his own best interests but as the war goes on he does take a side. He runs into any number of important historical figures – George Washington, of course, Benedict Arnold, pretty much all of the British commanders, as well as any number of people who may or may not have actually existed.
It’s a thoroughly enjoyable story, based in the broad stream of events of the Revolutionary War but the details are filled in from Charyn’s imagination. It’s completely plausible, though, which is a lot of what makes it so entertaining.
Johnny One-Eye tells the story of the American Revolution in Manhattan through the eye of the eponymous main character, who may or may not be the bastard son of George Washington. Manhattan fo the time is a city of spies, including Johnny, the “nuns” of Robinson Street (where he was raised until a benefactor got him admitted to King’s College). In the beginning of the novel Johnny plays both sides, really just looking out for his own best interests but as the war goes on he does take a side. He runs into any number of important historical figures – George Washington, of course, Benedict Arnold, pretty much all of the British commanders, as well as any number of people who may or may not have actually existed.
It’s a thoroughly enjoyable story, based in the broad stream of events of the Revolutionary War but the details are filled in from Charyn’s imagination. It’s completely plausible, though, which is a lot of what makes it so entertaining.
February 3, 2013
This book is like a poor man's 'Known World'. Historical fiction that humanizes an impersonal historical times. I am fascinated with non-fiction that covers the Revolution and the founding of the nation. It is easy to forget that nothing is destiny, and that choices made by Washington, Hamilton, et al, could have drastically changed the course of history and our lives as we know them. This book creates vivid emotional lives for key characters of that era, and illustrates what should be obvious, but is easy to forget - they were imperfect humans living through brutal times, with a lot at stake. My favorite part was a brief depiction of the famous scene where Washington wins back his nearly mutinous troops by faltering while addressing his army. Charyn draws a perfect picture of how that might have touched the soldiers.
Overall, the title character was basically a cipher. His main function was to appear in crucial situations and draw out dialog to illustrate key players thought process. It made for an entertaining read, but verged on preposterous at times.
Overall, the title character was basically a cipher. His main function was to appear in crucial situations and draw out dialog to illustrate key players thought process. It made for an entertaining read, but verged on preposterous at times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews