Another Graustark Adventure

Beverly of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not really a 4--but more fun than most 3's. 3.5, IMO.

I rather like this book and this series, despite a number of criticisms any reader could easily make. It's not very serious, mostly silly melodrama, and reads a little cartoony. It's coming from outdated turn-of-the-century (120+ years ago, I mean) sensibilities--putting me in mind of early Hollywood. In fact, the whole time I was reading this, I kept imagining it as a very old epic filmed on a soundstage with cheesy costumes, stilted dialogue, and lame sets. That's not a criticism, though, but rather my opinion about the best way to approach this book. You have to let it be a bit over-the-top.

Like the Zenda books, this series is about a fictional small country in Eastern Europe. In the previous book, an American man married the princess of the country, and in this one, a Southern woman, a friend of the princess, visits Graustark and falls in love with a man from neighboring Dawbergen. He isn't what he seems--then he is--then he isn't. You don't know until the last couple pages who he actually is. But Beverly and Baldos fall in love while he is hiding from partisans trying to overthrow the rightful prince of his country. I don't think I could put up with Beverly in real life. Her game playing--pretending not to care about Baldos, then showing him a little attention, followed again by studied neglect--was annoying, but treated like just what women do.

Overall, it's a light adventure, or maybe a cozy romance, with pretty low stakes and a happy ending. It's pretty fun, and though it suffers from many of the outdated attitudes of the time, it's entertaining and silly, and readers might be able to overlook its flaws just enough to be amused by its melodrama.

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