|
Kane and Abel (Mass Market Paperback) (平装)
by Jeffrey Archer
| Category:
Memoir |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
MSL Pointer Review:
A multi-generational saga of two men: Kane, a priviledged Bostonian whose future as a banking magnate has already been charted for him; Abel, a Polish orphan who is literally left to die in the woods when his mother dies in childbirth.
|
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
|
| |
AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
|
|
The New York Times (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
Cunning plots, silken style...archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader. |
|
|
The Washington Post (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
A storyteller in the class of alexandre dumas...unsurpassed skill...making the reader wonder intensely what will happen next. |
|
|
Entertainment Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
A master at mixing power, politics, and profit into fiction. |
|
|
Harinath Thummalapalli (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
Jeffrey Archer has written many international best sellers and this is one of his best works followed by the sequel to this book - 'The Prodigal Daughter'. Jeffrey Archer himself has quite an impressive background in real life. In 1969, he became the youngest member of the House of Commons in United Kingdom.
This particular book could have been based on a true story as it is mentioned at the beginning of the book that this book was made possible due to two men whose identities cannot be revealed.
The story - is about two men William Kane and Abel Rosnovski who come from opposite backgrounds and make it big in America. Kane is born and raised in a wealthy banking family while Abel is a poor Polish immigrant that survives extreme hardship before ending up in America. Due to his own ability and his background in the banking industry, Kane makes becomes a powerful force in that industry while Abel through his sheer determination and ruthless attitude builds an empire in the hotel industry.
Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding caused by a negative encounter at the beginning of their careers, they become sworn enemies and it seems like nothing can change it. Even when Kane's son and Abel's daughter fall in love, get married, and have a child, it doesn't seem to influence these two men to overcome their intense hatred for each other.
This book is extremely well written and Jeffrey Archer has a way of telling a story where you can't stop reading till you reach the end. The vocabulary is not that difficult but the author uses his extraordinary writing style to tell the story as if you are right there where it's all happening.
It has been a common experience among Jeffrey Archer fans that they literally can't put this book down till they get to the end. The other common experience is that Jeffrey Archer fans read this book again and again every few years and it still keeps their interest. It is true in my own case also where this was the only fiction book in my life that kept me awake till 6 a.m. in the morning when I started reading at 10 p.m. the previous night. I was a teenager and got in trouble with my Mom for staying up all night to read this book (even though it was my summer vacation).
I recently read this book and felt the same sense of awe and inspiration that I did almost 20 years back when I first read the book. I have read it a couple more times in these 20 years and it is always the same amazing experience. That's why I decided to spend a few minutes and write this review to share my experiences with others.
If there is one new fiction author whose books you want to try, you won't regret picking Jeffrey Archer. The best book to start with is this one - Kane and Abel. After this book, the pleasure continues if you read the sequel which is equally engrossing 'The Prodigal Daughter'. The perfect book to read on a vacation but not on a plane as you would regret not being to finish it. Enjoy!
|
|
|
A reader (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-31 00:00>
Quite possibly Jeffrey Archer's most accomplished work. In "Kane & Abel" he employed the literary device of a looking at his protagonists and antagonists' lives through a wide-angle lens, a device he was again to employ to great effect in "As the Crow Flies" and, more recently, in "The Fourth Estate". Where many writers show us only a few years or even a few weeks in their characters' lives (and often that is quite enough), Archer is the master of fictionalizing entire lifetimes, and making them interesting enough that we are happy to be a part of them.
"Kane and Abel" tells the story of two men born on the same day yet in vastly differing circumstances. William Kane is born to wealthy New York parents at the dawn of what has been called The American Century, a life full of privilege and promise stretching before him. A world away, little Wladek Koskiewicz, bastard son of a Polish baron and one of the baron's peasants, has none of Kane's early advantages; no advantages at all in fact. Wladek's family is killed in the Great War and he sets sail for America with nothing more than the scantest of birthrights, a bracelet belonging to the dead Baron through the inscriptions of which the american Immigration official incorrectly documents him as Baron Abel Rosnovski.
Kane is stubborn, Abel determined; the two men cross paths repeatedly in business, each seeking to outmanoeuvre the other. Archer writes Abel as the more sympathetic character: his conscientious effort to become a better sexual partner and his later humiliation of Melanie Leroy, the daughter of his onetime business partner, are but two actions through which Archer shows us that Abel is endowed with the methodical focus and vindictiveness traditionally associated with those driven to rise above their current station in life. Kane has an early head start in the race and is portrayed more coldly. But both are men you'll never forget once you've read this book.
|
|
|
Vijay Krishna (MSL quote), India
<2007-01-31 00:00>
Kane & Abel was the first Archer novel I ever read. Ever since, it has become one of my all-time favorites. It is an excellent tale detailing the lives of two men from exactly opposite stations of life and how each man builds a fortune, helps the other (without knowledge of the other) and finally tries to destroy each other.
A classic, it is an absorbing page-turner. If asked to use one word to describe the book, I would say 'UNPUTDOWNABLE'. And if asked to use two words for anyone who hasn't read this bestseller yet, I would day 'Read it!'
|
|
|
Dan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
The story of two ambitious businessmen, born the same day on opposite sides of the globe, who individually overcome adversity to attain levels of wealth, power and success unknown to most men. Abel Rosnovski, a self-made Holocaust survivor and American Immigrant, is a hotel tycoon who utilizes his shrewd business sense, unbounded energy and natural flair for languages to enable him to become proprietor of the largest hotel chain in the world. William Kane, born into a wealthy and socially established Boston lineage and the heir to millions, is a Harvard graduate who rises through the ranks of the banking world to become chairman of one of the largest and most respected banking institutions in the city of New York. Over time, the two men come into contact and engage in a vengeful feud so bitter and far-reaching, it affects their work, their dreams for the future and also hurts the people they love the most. Incredibly moving, deeply fascinating, ironic and awe-inspiring, it is a work of fiction so creative and true to life, it was hailed as a masterpiece the moment it was published in 1984 and to this day serves as an entertaining look into the lives of two men who had everything, except the common sense to put an end to a personal grudge before it became too late.
|
|
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
This book was superb; I thought that it was displayed magnificently. A story of the lives of two completely opposite men who came together and battled to the death between their two companies. I thought that the author did a wonderful job in getting into detail about Abel's life and how he came to America. It really is a compelling story and I found that at times I just could not put the book down. I found that the book was intricately woven story that slowly began to unravel and the plot begins to thicken. Archer takes you through so many emotions as you read this book. Sometimes you want to laugh and others you fell like you want to cry. eg. When Florentine is killed and the brutality that they suffer. overall I thought that Kane and Abel was an amazing book and I would truly recommend The Prodigal Daughter, a continuation of Kane and Abel also by Jeffrey Archer. |
|
|
|
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
