Enough is enough
During my grade-school years in the Big Apple enduring the Great Depression, movies were too expensive and there was no television. Radio provided the only affordable entertainment to us working families. Mom listened to soap operas while doing the housework and I was a captive audience.
Similar stories, different sets of characters. Heroes and villains became familiar to me. Scriptwriters included twists and turns. The stories went on and on. When televisions came on the market, dad bought one. The soaps sidestepped. But World War II had come to an end, and I was maturing. I had other interests.
Newer soap operas replaced the old and continue to this day. Turning to reading, I discovered much the same in books. Indeed, schmaltz (soap operas in print) has a widespread readership. However, the genre left me cold. Which is why I’m indifferent to the series of books known as the Clifton Chronicles.
Granted, Brit Jeffrey Archer is a storyteller of the first order. Nevertheless, his seven-volume series didn’t grab me. The plot, covering much of the 20th century, of two ambitious families in a no-holds-barred feud hasn’t justified the 2,500 pages devoted to it.
They have their ups and downs competing for bankand steamship-company ownership. Their mutual dirty tricks are vividly described, as are their court cases against each other. The women in the families are at least as conniving as the men.
There are marriages, births and deaths. Actual historical events — not least the Cold War — wind into the story. This Was A Man — and the series as a whole — ends with the deaths of key personae. I have a mind that it could have continued into the 21st century, but the author probably thought: enough is enough.
This reviewer likes his short stories best, his standalone novels almost as much. Several have been adapted for the screen, but not as well as they ought to have been. Look forward to either. Archer is a prolific scrivener and won’t disappoint.