THE MUTINY OF THE ELSINORE

Toward the end of his career, Jack London churned out a number of adventure novels to bolster the finances of his failing ranch. Among these was THE MUTINY OF THE ELSINORE, narrated by a passenger on a ship that is delivering coal from Baltimore to Seattle. Most of the book captures the pace and drama of a long, mostly uneventful sea voyage, although the action picks up when the mutiny finally starts. The novel is further marred by London's deeply racist portrayals of the characters, each of whom is defined in terms of hair and skin color, which in turn determine strength and moral standing. While John Bolen seems to be reading a text with which he is not familiar, with odd emphases, many of his accents do successfully evoke early-twentieth-century stereotypes. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2009]