Movies often don't do justice to the original material and I believe this is true for The Buccaneers. After seeing the movie I was a bit wary about reading the book, but I'm glad I took the chance and hope this review encourages others to do the same.
The story concerns five American heiresses – Conchita Closson; Virginia and Annabel "Nan" St. George; and Lizzie and Mabel Elmsworth – who are unable to gain entrée into the upper echelons of American society because their families' wealth comes from "new money." So the girls are introduced into English society with the assistance of Conchita, who has married the younger son of a marquess, and their governess, Miss Testvalley, whose previous posts included some of the noble families now on the girls' radar.
The Buccaneers was only about 2/3 complete when Edith Wharton died in 1937, and though her notes were not extensive they did include a synopsis of the main story lines. Marion Mainwaring completed Wharton's book in the 1990s, around the same time that the movie was being made. Both achieved the end result that Wharton intended but Mainwaring's version is superior in every way, building as she did on the foundation Wharton had laid without subordinating or supplanting it.
***SPOILERS***
Though the basic framework of the movie and the book are the same, the movie introduced several significant deviations that not only detracted from the story Wharton was trying to tell but turned it into soap opera fodder, i.e., Wharton never said or suggested that the Duke was sexually attracted to men, or that he consummated the marriage by raping Nan; the reason Conchita needed money was to pay off her and her husband's debts, not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, and her husband did not have a venereal disease; and Guy never actually occupied a political perch from which to give revolutionary speeches. Nan left the Duke in both renditions but the movie's handling of this event was painfully anachronistic whereas Mainwaring's depiction fits more credibly with the place, the time and the characters that Wharton described.
In both book and movie Nan is the heroine of the piece, an endearing character whose romantic nature has been nurtured by her governess, mentor and friend, Miss Testvalley. The book effectively conveys why this was such a recipe for disaster: meeting the Duke among the "magical" ruins of his Cornish castle, Tintagel, Nan imbued him with qualities he simply did not possess. He was not a bad man, just so rigidly traditional and unimaginative that he didn't know how to function outside of strict order and ritual. Even his restoration of Tintagel lacked any hint of romanticism or whimsy - he considered it a "costly folly" that he was obligated to finish only because it had been started by his father.
The Duke fell in love with Nan (as much as he was capable) because of her "childish innocence, her indifference to money and honours", but he never gave a single thought to how stifling the rigid rules, the pomp and ceremony of life as he and his family lived it, were to the very qualities in Nan that first attracted him. She was simply expected to adapt. And she might well have done so in a less stagnant, emotionally stifling setting, such as the vastly different environment she later found at Lady Glenloe's home. But the Duke and his mother, the Dowager Duchess, had been firmly inculcated in the supremacy of tradition ("It has always been like that"), and they were as intolerant of the smallest suggestion of change as they were of Nan's "asking the reason of things that have nothing to do with reasons." So, for example, Nan was surprised by the radiant Correggio paintings ("those happy pagans") hanging on the walls of her boudoir, a room previously occupied by the Dowager Duchess, until she realized the Dowager would have considered displacing the paintings to be the more subversive act.
Mainwaring picks up Wharton's thread at the point where Nan is on an extended visit to the Glenloe family. Miss Testvalley is now employed there, and Guy and his father are near neighbors and regular visitors. Guy had recently agreed to become the Duke's candidate for the House of Commons but he knows this is impossible once he realizes he's in love with Nan and how unhappily married she is. Too honorable to act on his feelings, neither can he bear the thought of spending time with her and the Duke as he would have to do as the Duke's political protege. So he decides to hire on with his old engineering firm and leave England again, and he only seeks out Nan to convince her to go with him after hearing that she has left the Duke.
The resolution of Nan and Guy's love story is only part of the appeal of Mainwaring's brilliant ending. She pulls together the threads placed by Wharton herself, drawing on the characterizations and events laid out in those earlier chapters to craft a delightfully satisfying conclusion. Reinforcing the titular theme as she ties up the loose ends, she puts on display the awe-inspiring talents of the truest buccaneers of them all, the Elmsworth sisters, as they surreptitiously aid the cause of Nan and Guy in pursuit of their own ambitious but believably achievable aims.
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
$14.49
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
In Stock
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Top reviews from other countries
a nice guy who likes reading
Full of Fun
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2018Cliente Amazon
Il libro che ha ispirato un fantastico film.
Reviewed in Italy on May 13, 2016