2024: April-June: Husky: The Stars Look Down by A.J. Cronin

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Our second quarter husky read is The Stars Look Down by A.J. Cronin. It is his fourth published novel. Set in the north of England at the turn of the century, the story focuses on the lives of a coal mining community and the dawn of World War I.

Archibald Joseph Cronin (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981), known as A. J. Cronin, was a Scottish physician and novelist. His most notable work is the medical fiction, The Citadel.

Source: Wikipedia

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Is anyone planning to read this? I won't be able to begin before June.

[Rosemarie, Northern Roaming Scholar]

I read this a few years ago and loved it!

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Glad to hear that, Rosemarie. I loved his Citadel. Looking forward to reading this.

[Kathy]

I’ll be reading this but not until June probably. I loved The Citadel.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

That's quite alright, Kathy. Glad to have you in. I too will be reading this in June.

[Mbuye]

Piyangie wrote: "Is anyone planning to read this? I won't be able to begin before June."

I just finished rereading it, Piyangie. It's a fairly easy read, though it looks formidable. It helps also to have a background of the socio-economic politics of the time, but not not necessary, as you get it in the book as you go along. AJC was almost a cult favourite of ours in my college days, heady without too much of the head stuff.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Glad to hear you reread this, Mbuye. You must have really liked it at your first reading to go through it again. I have read only his Citadel and loved it. He is an author I want to explore. So, your recommendation of him comes in handy. :) Now it's a matter of waiting till June!

[John]

I'll be reading this, probably in May.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Glad to have you, John. Waiting to hear your insights.

[Brian E]

I am definitely in on this one. Not only do I already own it but I nominated it so am morally obligated to read it.
Even without the moral obligation, I really do want to read it but as my April is busy, I planned to read it toward the end of May and June.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

That's great, Brian. Many of us seem to read it in June. We'll be a merry party.
@John - You also may consider reading the book in June. :)

[John]

Yes, I'm happy to wait until everyone else is reading it.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

How nice, John. We have four of us already. You, me, Kathy and Brian. Hope some more will join our party.

[Lorraine]

I will join you but probably in May when I get back from Europe.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

It seems, we all are planning a late May-June read. You are welcome to join us then (that is if you are okay to wait. No pressure)! :)

[Chad]

I got a copy of this from my local library. A bruised and battered hardcover. I’ve been meaning to read this guy and am happy to start with this one. I’ll get on it in a week or two.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Welcome, Chad! Hope you'll enjoy your first A.J. Cronin work.

[Chad]

I actually decided to start it this morning on my train commute. The first 25 pages introduce a lot of characters and I’m not entirely sure which ones will be most heavily featured in the coming pages. The story is being laid out pretty quickly (unless it takes a turn and goes somewhere completely different). A workers strike is devastating a community. I like it.

[John]

I started reading this yesterday, and I'm already reminded of how much I enjoy Cronin's books.

[Chad]

I’ve been slowly making my way through this one. I like it very much I just have a number of things going on at the moment. I’m going to start to ramp up the pace this weekend. I’m almost 200 pages in and this Jenny girl reminds me a bit of the girlfriend in Of Human Bondage, which I read recently.

[Brian E]

I'll start reading this on Monday. Looking forward to it.
I appreciate the heads up Chad. I will probably start reading with a pen and paper in hand to start a character list. I have found that doing this with certain books that don't have their own list helps me keep track. Sometimes, though, the list turns out to be unnecessary work when twenty characters are introduced and all but six of seven disappear from further story involvement. But it generally still pays off.

[Chad]

Excellent, Brian. This is a good one. I really only felt like there were going to be too many players at the beginning. As you say, the writer weeds out the unimportant ones along the way. I also occasionally like to keep character lists too.
Something that I’m really digging about the novel is the way that we get pretty deep into a number of characters lives and stories and then they intertwine nicely back and forth.

[Chad]

I’m now nearing page 500 so I’ll probably finish this one up by tomorrow. I really like the writing and the flow of the story. It’s written in a way where each 5 or 6 page chapter contains an event or revelation that alters the entire story for one or more characters. I find it very engaging.

[Brian E]

I just started and enjoy the start. As Chad predicted, I'm not finding myself overwhelmed by the number of characters. Cronin does a good job of differentiating between them and emphasizing the important ones.
I'm at page 70, or about 1/10 of the way through, and, outside of middle son Hughie, I have a handle on the members of the Fenwick family at the core of the story and each side character has made the appropriate amount of dent in my memory bank.
Cronin is an expert storyteller and, early on, establishes identifiable characters, lays the proper foundation for developing these characters and vividly portrays the setting these characters will develop and operate in. He does this with prose that is clear, descriptive and unpretentious. A pleasure to read, even when describing a fairly unpleasant setting such as a mine.
On reflection, I have to admit that I don't take that much pleasure in reading scenes set in the inside of mines. It's interesting and rewarding but not always that enjoyable as the better the description the more claustrophobic I feel. Perhaps this unpleasant feeling when reading about time spent inside a mine is why, though I enjoyed How Green Was My Valley, The Citadel and Germinal none were 5 star books for me. Actually, most of the authors seem to know better and don't spend too much time within the confines of the mine.
Hmm, I should probably avoid books like The Hunt for Red October and Das Boot: The Boat too.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Chad wrote: "I’m now nearing page 500 so I’ll probably finish this one up by tomorrow. I really like the writing and the flow of the story. It’s written in a way where each 5 or 6 page chapter contains an event..."

Great to hear that, Chad. I just started and kind of understand what you mean. I'm still at very early stages, but get a feeling I will enjoy this read.

[Chad]

I gave it 5 stars. I could have easily read another 600 pages about these characters with joy. I can’t wait to check out more by the author.

[Rosemarie, Northern Roaming Scholar]

That's so good to hear, Chad! I loved that book as well.

[Brian E]

I'm getting toward the end of Volume II and am enjoying it too. I like that Cronin has set the novel into 3 relatively equivalent volumes, in the manner of many Victorian and Regency novels of the 19th Century. This reminded me of the novelist main character's thoughts on the pressure of producing 3 volume novels in George Gissing's New Grub Street
Here's Wikipedia of the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-v...

I also enjoy that, in order to sustain this large amount of story, Cronin has added some other protagonists to the sole protagonist he used in the two shorter Cronin novels I had read, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Citadel.

Here, in addition to the primary protagonist of David Fenwick, the youngest son in a coal-mining family, we get chapters not centered on David, but that instead follow the storylines of 2 other characters that have been part of David's life, the charming and amoral childhood friend Joe Gowlan, and the conscious-stricken Arthur Barras, the young son and heir to the coalmine owner.

The Gowlan storyline adds the tale of the young man on the rise, who's willing to do anything to climb up the work and social ladder. While this story has been told in many American potboilers of the past from authors like Howard Fast, Harold Robbins and the ilk, it can also be done well and meaningfully as in John O'Hara's From the Terrace and John Braine's Room at the Top. And I don't mind a bit of the 'potboiler' in the story anyway. I have enjoyed Cronin's handling of this story's erotic elements, something not present in his previous novels I had read. Not that I would have anticipated ever reading any in The Keys of the Kingdom

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Just finished reading book 1. It's such a sad ending. Didn't have an easy time reading the last few chapters. The story somehow reminded me of Zola's Germinal.

[Brian E]

I finished The Stars Look Down a few days ago. It was very epic with the scope of storytelling far exceeding my expectations. The scope was more similar to a Dickens, War & Peace or The Way We Live Now than the Cronins I had previously read. As the various storylines resulted in extended absences of certain characters from the text, I did find myself often having to reacquaint myself with some of the female characters.

A very good reading experience. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

I just finished book 2. The story has become quite interesting to me despite my greater dislike to some of the characters. Cronin hasn't been kind in portraying his female characters.

[Brian E]

Piyangie wrote: "Cronin hasn't been kind in portraying his female characters."

I wonder if that may be a tendency for Cronin. He wasn't kind to Dr. Manson's wife Christine in The Citadel either. Cronin treated her as if her life only mattered to the extent to which she could impact Manson.

He didn't have a problem with the female characters in The Keys of the Kingdom, which I thought the best of the three Cronins I've read and rated 5 stars. Maybe Cronin should write more about priests.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Brian E wrote: "Piyangie wrote: "Cronin hasn't been kind in portraying his female characters."

I wonder if that may be a tendency for Cronin. He wasn't kind to Dr. Manson's wife Christine in The Citadel, Bryan. He wasn't kind in the portrayal of Dr. Manson's wife, Christine, in that book. But I enjoyed that book somehow irrespective of his poor treatment of Christine. It's not so easy as several prominent female characters exist here. I'm doing my best to overlook his prejudice at present. But I fear that, to some extent, it may dampen my enthusiasm for the story. Thank you for your recommendation. I still like Cronin's writing.

[Chad]

That’s interesting, Piyangie. I don’t break it down and think in those terms when reading a novel but I understand why someone would.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

I DNF the book. I feel so bad since I enjoyed his The Citadel so much. I managed to get through to quarter of the third book, but I cannot go on. The story simply failed to keep my interest.

[Chad]

Piyangie wrote: "I DNF the book. I feel so bad since I enjoyed his The Citadel so much. I managed to get through to quarter of the third book, but I cannot go on. The story simply failed to keep my in..."Sorry this one didn’t work out for you, Piyangie.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

I'm sorry too, Chad. I might try Brian's recommendation some day.

[Kathy]

I only read to page 54, Piyangie, when I DNF'd. I couldn't read it at this time. I may try The Keys of the Kingdom sometime also.

[Piyangie, Classical Princess]

Good to know I'm not alone, Kathy. I feel a little better now.