Tales of the South Pacific

There's a reason Michener is considered great. OK, many reasons but, this one stands out to me. After reading this, I can barely even watch the movie "South Pacific". This book, a collection of "tales", is so much more evocative. Turn off the TV. Read this!

Michener's best work. Every fault attributed to him in his later work is absent from Tales of the South Pacific. His characterizations are varied, full, and complete. The work contains strong elements of humor. In fact, it shifts its emotions constantly and surprisingly. And the narrative is not relentless; it is a complex series of stories with inter-related characters who some how come to populate the entire book. It is a masterpiece. And it is probably the best retelling ever of World War II in the South Pacific.Bus Adams, Tony Fry, Bill Harbison, Comdr. Hoag, Bloody Mary, Liat, and LaTouche. All are memorable characters you cannot dismiss from your mind. Add to that, the voice of the narrator, and you get a picture of a tropical paradise, the South Pacific, in the midst of turmoil. At times it is boring, other times it produces a serene melancholy, yet other times yield moments of breathtaking beauty, and in others there is horror and bloodshed. Michener has created an entire world: America at war in the Pacific. And he presents the entire picture: we go from the rear echelons, the supply depots, the emergency safe harbors, the evacuated zones, the places recently conquered, the places being conquered, and the final resting place of the men who will never return from the war.Finally, there is Michener's unique ending. Once again he rounds up all his characters. This time he assesses those who fell and those who survived. Because we have followed along so closely, we readers also feel the impact of lives suddenly removed from all their aspirations, all their wants, all their loves and desires. We are the narrator--the ones who survived and who were tasked with building a postwar America.

Students of the American character, both in our values and our history and traditions, are without excuse in their understanding of what it means to be an American if they have never read James Michener's "South Pacific." More than an excercise in military history, it has to be read to understand how the American will has shaped the modern world. "South Pacific" is also a seminal influence on the American musical theater, full of timeless melodies and emotions, with the 1949 musical with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rogers, and book and direction by Joshua Logan. The book explains how dismal the outlook was for the Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders in the early days of 1942 at the outset of the Pacific War against the Imperial Empire of Japan. It continues through 1943 when things have at last started to look more optimistic. South Pacific is full of Michener's own views against bias, and his vision of a people unfettered by the prejudices of their parochial backgrounds. The Broadway musical had the stars Enzio Pinza and Mary Martin in the leading Tony awared winning roles, and the show won ten Tony's; becoming the only Broadway show to win all four awards for acting. The 1958 film version with Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor in the leads, along with John Kerr, Ray Walston, and Juanita Hall is a must see. I don't know how well young people can understand the depth of the adult emotions that fill South Pacific from one end to the other, but for those interested in courage, fortitude, love that goes beyond devotion, and the trimuph of the American will when it had to triumph, I must say you need to know and appreciate "South Pacific." Jim French, Dakota, Illinois, USA January 3, 2013

TALES OF THE SOUTH PACFIC by James Michener is a rare book which communicates what it felt like to be involved in WWII.The budding genius author Michener had the privileged viewpoint of being "embedded" with the Navy during the war. Hethen lightly fictionalizes, organizes, and distills his experiences into 19 highly varied short stories which communicatesomething about what it felt like, and what it meant.I am fascinated by WWII and, have read probably a hundred books by historians, memoirs by soldiers and sailors, and soforth. Those are wonderful books but, they are nonfiction and fairly dry. They tell you a lot about what happened andwhy, but not much about how it felt.For example, take WAR IN THE BOATS by William Ruhe. This is a WWII Pacific submarine memoir and an exact contemporary ofTOTSP. The difference is, Ruhe is not a novelist. He tells you as best he can, what it was like but, one must be amature reader to project context, feelings, and meaning onto the (indisputably incredible) story he tells. That is tosay, Ruhe gives you the skeleton but it's quite dry to read.As I get older I often prefer more facts and less embellishment but, that's because I am better able to fill in thedetails myself, and also the embellishment is often poorly done and ends up reducing your trust in the author anddetracting from the story.Michener is talented enough that, he embellishes terrifically and, is becoming one of my special authors:I first read Michener's HAWAII during a trip to that isle. Intrigued, I dug into Michener's origins and discoveredTALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, published in 1947. It won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted by Rogers & Hammerstein forthe musical SOUTH PACIFIC.After this amazing beginning Michener went on to become one of the 20th century's most prolific authors, writing hugehistorical epics (HAWAII was the first).I found TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC to be more literary than HAWAII. Whereas Hawaii was a "historical epic genre novel",his ambition in this book is more intimate and personal, and more true, like literature is true, with difficult toexpress real human situations, and great breadth.Michener, an orphan raised by a Quaker, made very good use of his fortune, to the point where in wikipedia I read:"Michener became a major philanthropist, donating more than US$100 million to educational and writing institutions."I haven't read his other epics yet although I think THE SOURCE may be next on my list.

Great book and author

Stilvolles Schreiben auf Englisch!

....A good set of tales and gives a fascinating possible insights into how "tales" became the familiar musical.I Recommend

Regalo di natale per mio marito. Molto apprezzato

The book and stories is worth 5 stars but the Kindle book is delivered with the entire text underlined, which cant be removed through settings. So while you can still read it, the underlined text is a strain to read and makes the journey a little less rnjoyable