Friday Book Report: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper is widely considered one of America’s first great novelists.  His story, Last of the Mohicans, part of The Leatherstocking Tales is quite possibly his most famous and most read.  Originally published in 1826, Last of the Mohicans has been a classic ever since.

Set in 1857 during the French and Indian wars, a young British officer is tasked with the safe delivery of Commander Munro’s daughters to Fort William Henry.  Munro is stationed at Fort William Henry and wants his daughter’s with him.  The British officer, Duncan Heyward employs an Indian by the name of Magua to guide them through the wilderness of New England.  Soon after they set off, we learn that Magua is not the trusting guide he seemed to be and he is using the Munro daughters as revenge against their father for a past wrong-doing. 

We meet Hawkeye, a white-man travelling with Mohican companions, Chingachgook and his son Uncas, and together with the young Heyward, they weave through the wilderness to protect the Munro sister’s from the clutches of the vengeful Magua.  This is a story about love and hate, survival and death, treachery and deliverance.  It’s an engrossing tale, not for the faint of heart, but definitely one worth reading to really appreciate just how American literature came to be. 

I really don’t know what to make of this book.  At times I really loved it, and then there are other times when I hated it.  Cooper, being a 19^th century writer ventures the route of extreme literal description and prose to tell his story which at times made me lose focus on what was actually going on.  There are times when his descriptions are beautifully done, but for the most part the verbal assault was too much for me to take.  The language is old, and I kept that in mind while reading, but there were several times when I just had to stop reading after a chapter to let what I just read sink in and really digest what was going on.  Cooper’s writing style and the dialogue he applies to this tale definitely took some getting used to.

I found I really enjoyed the character of Cora Munro, and wished very much that she was in this book more.  She was strong and brave and confident for a typical 19^th century heroine.  She wasn’t afraid of what happened to her, so long as her sister was safe.  An attitude like that in those days speaks of tremendous courage.  My only beef is that at times Cooper displays Cora’s strength of character, but later on condescends himself by describing her has gentle and tender.  I didn’t get that at all…ah well; the male brain of the 19^th century can’t make a woman look too strong-willed without some character defects…right?

I will say this book is non-stop from chapter to chapter.  Once you get into the meat of the story, the action hardly ever stops and Cooper sends the reader on quite a bloody journey.  There are a lot of battle scenes, and some really graphic descriptions (especially of the massacre at Fort William Henry – which actually happened) and definitely not to be read by anyone that isn’t a fan of bloody and horrific battles.   Some of those scenes were hard for me to get through, and I don’t know if all of the graphic descriptions were really necessary to the overall plot of the story, they definitely did make me perk up and pay attention to the gruesome accounts Cooper was telling. 

After I read the book, I decided I needed to watch the movie to compare and contrast the two mediums.  I found I liked the movie adaptation much more than I enjoyed the book.  While the movie veers off absolutely from the book, it appealed much more to my 21^st century mind.  Michael Mann (the director) took the plot of the book and made it his own, with a totally flip-flopped ending that I found much more pleasing.  Usually when a movie deviates from the original story I don’t like it, and most books are much better than their film counterparts, but this is one exception (to me at least).  If you’ve seen the movie but not the book (or vice versa) be prepared that the two are sort of the same, but essentially a different story with the same characters involved. 

This is considered a “classic” for a reason.  It depicts (in Cooper’s opinion) early America before the revolution and the relationship between Native American’s and the Europeans taking over the land.  There’s a little bit of history to be learned as some of the events actually did take place, such as the massacre at Fort William Henry and the scalping of Jane McCrea (her story comes much later, but is mentioned in Cooper’s footnotes) and I found I was actually looking up some of these historical events to learn more about them.  So, I guess the book taught me a little bit, which counts for something.  It’s hard to say I didn’t love a “classic”, but I didn’t love this book.  The relationships between all the main characters just weren’t developed enough for my taste.  The story is good (until the end, in my opinion) and the non-stop adventure and action is appealing, but the overuse of haughty language and confusing dialogue was too much for me to ignore.  I give this book a C+ grade, and recommend reading only to those die-hard literature fans that want to broaden their knowledge of early American novelists.  If you’re looking for pure entertainment, just watch the movie with Daniel Day Lewis.