Review: Handyman's Journal
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2011
I know it's by a classic author & I feel I should join the positive reviewers here, but I'm afraid I can't.The book starts well enough, with a daring prisoner-of-war camp escape, by balloon, followed be a harrowing flight through the storm & a forced landing on a Pacific Island. Then the plot weakens....One of the book's biggest mysteries must be that, whilst huge numbers of indiginent Pacific islanders evolve by scratching out a living fishing off a sand-bar of an island, this extemely large, visible (it has a huge mountain in the middle) island, remains undiscovered. A pity because this surely must be one of the most verdant, farming-friendly, mineral wealthy islands on Earth. It is also extremely well-stocked with all manner of useful, & tasty beasts. Our heroes, in a few short years, manage to become completely self-sufficient & are soon spoilt for choice as to where to abide & what to have for supper.I would estimate that a full eighty percent of the plot is dedicated to the ingenious, almost miraculous, development of the island's bounty. Our five heroes are the most innovative of castaways; nothing is beyond them. During their time on the island they have the know-how & resources to produce bricks, pottery, ironware, gunpowder, nitro-glycerene, etc. etc., even introducing a telegraph system & no detail is spared in the descriptions of each operation. As a consequence the book reads like a cross between Handyman's Journal, Construction Weekly & Farming Monthly.The castaways are a deadly boring bunch. They quickly become firm friends; respectful, tolerant & pass their time in mutual hero-worship & devotion. They are such a 'hail-fellow & well met' group that there is a complete absence of any sort of jealousy, resentment, discontent or moaning; indeed a complete absence of any emotional excitement.There is a mystery involved but I didn't feel it worth the effort of wading through the massive amount of technical details to find out the end result.Look here for blandness & do-it-yourself tips; look elsewhere for adventure.