The Deerslayer Annotated (2025)

I think Cooper was paid by the word and repetition. The story in this novel could have easily been shared in a satisfactory way in one-third to one-half as many words. Several times I though I had accidentally jumped back in the book and was rereading a section. If you read this one, prepare for much verbosity!

The story was pretty good (once you get through all the words and find the point!) It is an adventure of fur trappers in the wilds of 1800s America and their encounters with the natives. I am reminded of the fact that a lot of places are starting to put disclaimers that a story contains dated cultural depictions. This story should have that disclaimer. If you are going to be uncomfortable with Native American stereotypes from early American literature, you should not try this one.

I mainly read this one so that I can read The Last of the Mohicans (which I was surprised to find was the second book in this series). I don’t think I would have been drawn to read it otherwise. I am not sure that I can say it has me excited to go on to the more familiar title, but at least I will have some good points of reference for the characters and Cooper’s style of writing. I am sure he brings all the words along with him!

I am going to end the review here . . . Cooper didn’t leave any more words for me to use.

Note, Aug. 22, 2021: I've just edited this review to correct a couple of minor typos.

Though this book was the last of the Leatherstocking Tales series (which follows the life of backwoods hunter and scout Natty Bumpo --"Leatherstocking" and "Deerslayer" are two of the several nicknames he'll bear during his career) to be written, it's actually the first in the internal chronology of the series, set in 1744 at the outbreak of King George's War. (This was one of several English vs. French wars in North America, leading up to the French and Indian War depicted in The Last of the Mohicans. Neither the date or the name of the war are explicitly given in the book, but enough clues are supplied to make them clear.) Having read two books of the series out of order, as a grade-school and junior-college student, I'd resolved, after this long hiatus, to finally read the whole corpus, in as close to the internal order as I could. Now that I've finished this one, my only regret is that I waited so long; it's the best of Cooper's works that I've read yet. The cover copy of this 1982 Bantam classic printing (not the same edition Goodreads depicts above) characterizes this as Cooper's masterpiece. Since I've only read three of his other novels, I can't say for certain if that's true; but I think it well may be.

We first meet the roughly 22-year-old Natty here about to arrive at Lake Otsego, in the New York Appalachian mountains just about due west of Albany (the later site of the real-life settlement of Cooperstown, where the author grew up). An orphan raised by the Delaware Indians (how that came about isn't explained in this book), he's on his way to meet his Indian friend Chingachgook on an at first undisclosed errand, and traveling in company with slightly-older trapper Henry "Hurry Harry" March, just because they're bound for the same place. March is interested in visiting the lake's residents: widowed, mysterious (and maybe shady) "Floating Tom" Hutter, who's built a residence/fortress on a shoal well out into the lake, and his two comely daughters, Judith and "feeble-minded" Hetty. It's a situation already fraught with danger and suspense, because the recent outbreak of war makes isolated settlers like these probable targets for bands of the Indian allies of the French. The main events of the story (except for a sort of epilogue --which Cooper handles here much better than he does in The Spy) take place in less than the span of a week; but an enormous amount of adventure and moral trial and growth happens in that span.

All of the author's works I'd read previously were early ones; this is a much more mature work, and it shows. Cooper's diction here isn't any more elaborate and orotund than that of most Romantic-era fiction (and that's also the case with The Spy; I'm beginning to think the fulsomeness of The Last of the Mohicans is more unique to that work than a general defect of Cooper's style). His approach to story telling, to be sure, is slow and deliberate; he uses big words if they serve his purpose, constructs complex sentences, and isn't afraid of occasional direct address to the reader. But those features don't bother me; and the story he tells is absorbing (even suspenseful and tense), well-constructed, and emotionally powerful; this is Romantic historical fiction at its finest. Moreover, it's the vehicle for profound moral and spiritual reflection, which is built into the fabric of the story and animates it as naturally as blood and breath animate the human body. That aspect is more pronounced here than in any other Cooper novel I've read, and that's what elevates it into five-star territory.

Both Balzac and James Russell Lowell (in the latter's satirical poem "Cooper," one of several literary criticisms he wrote in poetic form of other authors of his day) fault Cooper as not being particularly sharp in his characterizations. (Although despite that, Balzac rated him highly overall.) Lowell was particularly caustic about Cooper's female characters, deeming them all "sappy" and "flat," and essentially indistiguishable. But by now, I've read enough of Cooper to judge this for myself, and to a degree rebut it --and no Cooper novel furnishes as much grist for a rebuttal as this one, because ALL of the important characters here are sharply-drawn and distinguished, and come alive with considerable reality. We get more of a sense of Natty's inner character here than we do in either of the first two books of the series to be written, and I'd say that's true of Chingachgook as well. Judith Hutter is anything but "sappy" or "flat," and Hetty is sui generis. (Some of Cooper's women deserve Lowell's stricture --Alice in The Last of the Mohicans comes to mind; but that's mainly because she's overshadowed by Cora, who's another exception to the charge; and Frances Wharton in The Spy is yet another.) And there's no Cooper novel I've read that's without some distinctively drawn and memorable male characters, as well.

In my review of The Last of the Mohicans, I mentioned (and refuted) Mark Twain's snide criticism of that work in "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," but noted that he reserved most of his artillery for The Deerslayer. His principal criticism is for the scene where Hutter's "Ark," or oar-and-sail propelled barge, passes a point where Indians are waiting in a tree to ambush it, and successfully gets by before any of them can effect a permanent landing on the boat, most of them falling into the water. With a great show of supposed plausibility, he purports to show mathematically that it's impossible for a craft to go that rapidly, and ridiculous to suppose that it could. (When I read Twain's collected essays as a teen, I noted that in controversies, intellectually dishonest ridicule is a tactic he generally preferred over reasoned argumentation, which is why his essays have never commanded the same respect as those of some other writers of his era; and this case is no exception.) Suffice it to say that his argument depends on his "guess" about the dimensions of the vessel and its possible speed, and that when the actual passage is read and compared to Twain's description of it, it's Twain who looks ridiculous. His (hyperbolic) claim that Cooper overuses the device, in this series, of persons disclosing their whereabouts in the forest by stepping on a twig also falls flat here; some characters avoid doing so, and a deer does it (I've actually personally heard a deer doing that in the Appalachian forest, which I doubt Twain ever did --the woods around Hannibal, MO in the 1830s were a lot less "wild" than the real wilderness), but no human ever does it.

My one criticism of Cooper's performance here is on a major point of historical accuracy (or, in his case, inaccuracy); he confuses the Iroquois and the Hurons as the same tribe, allied with the French, whereas in fact they were two different tribal groups, mortal enemies of each other, and the former were actually allied with the British. For a New York native who wrote a great deal about Indians (and the Iroquois were and are THE major Indian group in the state!) and purported to know something about them, that's a pretty glaring error. However, his portrayal of the Indians here is otherwise accurate, and not an unsympathetic depiction of their attitudes and culture (warts and all). Criticisms of Cooper's portrayal as racist, IMO, are unfounded. Natty has, to be sure, some excessive consciousness of his white identity (partly a psychological reaction to growing up as a minority of one in another culture --and as Cooper makes clear in the Preface, Natty's prejudices aren't necessarily his own prejudices); but he respects Indian culture and beliefs and recognizes Indians as fellow humans of no less worth than his own, in sharp contradistinction to the racist attitudes of March and Hutter. Personally, I found that one of the best features of the book.

I definitely intend to read more by this writer; and he's earned a place in my Favorite Writers list!

I picked up The Deerslayer in a used bookstore not too far from Upstate New York where the book is set. I get a kick out of reading books that take place in locations I am visiting and always enjoy catching a missed classic, so, for dual reasons, it became my next “currently reading”.

High melodrama set in the 1740s during King George’s War, the main events take place over a few days on and around Otsego Lake (where Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame are currently located 🙂). A father and two daughters (Judith and Hetty) who live in a cabin floating on the lake are visited by our hero Natty Bumppo-- aka Deerslayer-- and his companion Hurry March, and later by Natty’s Native American friend Chingachgook.

Also passing through the area is a small group from the Mingo tribe. The Mingos have been offered payment by the French for any British scalps they can bring in, and the British likewise have been offered recompense for Mingo scalps. Conflict ensues comprising deadly fights, the taking of prisoners, as well as the battle of wits and capabilities, honor and deceit that accompany these things.

Because the women on the floating house are of marriageable age, as are Natty and Hurry -- and because Chingachgook has come looking for the woman whom he loves who was kidnapped by the Mingos -- potential romance also plays a large role in the book.

The Romantic characters are all clearly drawn, perhaps a bit too mono-dimensionally so, as Cooper has a tiresome habit of repeating each person’s defining characteristic every single time they are mentioned, e.g., Natty is an honest woodsman; Judith is somewhat vain, too drawn to worldly things; her sister, Hetty, is “simple-minded” but pure and spiritually insightful, etc. The reader is reminded of these things ad nauseam.

Modern readers may also be troubled by some of the views of the day that would currently be labeled as racism and sexism. Overall, however, the book is well told and engaging, intertwining gripping scenes of the two battling sides trying to outsmart each other with the emotionally heightened scenes between those currently living in the house on the lake. And Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook are memorable American orginals who no doubt paved the way for similar protagonists, heroes, and superheroes in future books and movies.

I hate you for all those hours of my life I'll never get back, James Fenimore Cooper.

The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper was written in 1841. I found the story interesting. The more formal writing typical of books written in the 1800s was fun to hear, but I discovered I kept wanting to push the story along as it seemed very slow. I thought it was a good idea to reread a classic and remember what the world was like at that time in America.

I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is twenty hours and fifteen minutes. Raymond Todd does a good job narrating the book.

I chose to read this book because I had accepted to read the second in the series (The Last of the Mohicans) as part of a challenge, but I didn't want to jump in at the second book. This book also conveniently met the requirements for yet another challenge I'm completing; so, a win both ways!

I really wanted to like this story, but it was so excruciatingly slow. I could seriously have let the audiobook play for thirty minutes without listening and then pick right back up with the story without really missing anything. I'm not sure if it was the time period during which this book was published (1840s) or if it is simply the writing style of the author.

Three things I learned in this story:

1. Hetty Hutter lacked intelligence. Every time the poor girl's name was mentioned, which was a lot, readers were reminded of how feeble minded she was.

2. Judith Hutter was beautiful. For how many times we were reminded that Hetty was dimwitted, we were reminded an equal number of times that Judith had the looks and the brains out of the two.

3. Racism has existed in many forms for a long time. I'm not really sure the author intended for all of Deerslayer's remarks about white gifts and red gifts to be viewed as racism, but when you insinuate that someone simply cannot help the way they act because of the color of their skin, that's racism. A major plot point in this book was to lay out all the differences between white gifts and red gifts. Toward the end of the book James Fenimore Cooper did elaborate a bit and say that all human nature is the same but we are different based on how we are raised. I'm not sure if that was the main theme he was trying to drive home, but I think he fell a little flat.

I was really looking forward to reading The Last of the Mohicans, but I'm not so sure I want to put the time into it now. We shall see.

This novel is primarily a romance or what might be called an action romance I suppose. It has come in for some notable criticism (from names as well known as Mark Twain no less) BUT as it's been around since 1841 there is obviously something here.

I think the only things to really be aware of here...going into it as a novel have "mostly" to do with the time in which it was written. The language is (of course) very dated. Often it is more like reading poetry than prose.

Then there are the racial attitudes. Yes to a modern "ear" they will even be found somewhat offensive. When Harry and Deerslayer start discussing the differences in race you'll need to get that grain of salt everyone is always talking about to take with said discussion.

As a matter of fact one of the main plot points of the book revolves around what is "natural" for whites.

If you can deal with the fact that we are seeing what were actually rather liberal ideas for the 1840s expressed by Deerslayer (Natty) then you'll get a romantic adventure. Some of the characters are well done...others not so much, but again I sort of think me criticizing a book that's been in print for over 170 years might be a bit presumptuous, LOL.

I did skim the book some...the old language got to me to. But this is a good book for...remember when it was written.

This book receives quite a bit of vitriolic language about how it's the "worst book ever written" and other predictably trite rantings of those who have different expectations than the book satisfies. I began this book with an open mind and with an interest in the writing style of an author I hadn't read before. Although I freely admit the prose is a bit longwinded, it contains some eloquent passages among the numerous pithy and dry paragraphs (think Romantic Period of literature and nature writing). Descriptions run a bit long in some cases and the characters set off on lengthy soliloquies at the oddest of times, but the book simply isn't without merit. It's a fairly unique voice offered in the age of Manifest Destiny and bigoted attitudes towards Native Americans, the author commits quite a few of these himself, it must be admitted, but offers a generous view for its era.

Twain probably does more damage to Cooper's legacy than any other American author with his quick-witted and poignant critique of Cooper's style. His typically viperous tongue slashes to the bone while at the same time coaxing a smile from the reader. I am a huge Twain fan but to compare these two authors is folly. I would imagine Cooper never expected to be a gritty American author like Twain but most likely envied those like Emerson or Thoreau. It can be debated whether he successfully accomplished this aim, but to cast this book unfairly into the bonfire as so much kindling is unfair. It is clearly not the best example of American writing of the era, but clearly it isn't the worst either. It's a modestly enjoyable book with moral lessons for the era, which I believe makes it a limited success.

Mark Twain: "Cooper’s art has some defects. In one place in ‘Deerslayer,’ and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record."

I'll refer you to Mark Twain's essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses":

Now I feel sure, deep down in my heart, that Cooper wrote about the poorest English that exists in our language, and that the English of "Deerslayer" is the very worst that even Cooper ever wrote.

I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that "Deerslayer" is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of art; in truth, it seems to me that "Deerslayer" is just simply a literary delirium tremens.

A work of art? It has no invention; it has no order, system, sequence, or result; it has no lifelikeness, no thrill, no stir, no seeming of reality; its characters are confusedly drawn, and by their acts and words they prove that they are not the sort of people the author claims that they are; its humor is pathetic; its pathos is funny; its conversations are -- oh! indescribable; its love-scenes odious; its English a crime against the language.

Counting these out, what is left is Art. I think we must all admit that.

i think that's a bit harsh. but this book was pretty bad.

Ось і завершилася моя купероретроспектива. На початку цього року я вирішив перечитати Пенталогію про Шкіряну Панчоху, але не в хронологічному порядку, а в порядку написання, тобто Піонери, Останній з могікан, Прерія, Слідопит та Звіробій. І тепер можу сміливо казати: в цьому є сенс. Купер не мав генерального плану пенталогії (є навіть версія, що він мріяв про 7-8 романів про Натті Бампо), а тому багато речей він придумував по ситуації - і далі враховував в процесі написання наступних томів циклу. Це особливо видно по історії полковника Еффінгема, який є дуже важливою фігурою для Натті в Піонерах, але відсутній в інших томах (дія яких відбувається раніше). Чому? Бо Купер зрозумів, що британський полковник Еффінгем для американських читачів є більше символом британського колоніального панування, ніж ностальгією за колоніальними часами. Так само в Чингачгука в Піонерах дітей багато, але в Останньому з могікан - лише один син. І вік Натті... Він "плаває", а тому томи в цілісну хронологію не вишиковуються.

Так от, Звіробій - найкращий роман циклу. Дивовижним чином Купер тут уникає всіх своїх типових помилок. Тут немає спроби писати шпигунський трилер / детектив (як в Прерії чи Слідопиті), тут немає карикатурних персонажів на зразок псалміста (Останній з могікан) чи натураліста (Прерія), та й типаж моряка тут - нарешті! - не карикатура, а повноцінний персонаж (на відміну від Піонерів чи Слідопита). Нарешті є сюжет! Він не є постійним самоповтором (Останній з могікан, де головних героїнь тричі викрадають поганці-індіанці), не є плоским як прерія - без жодної інтриги (Прерія чи Слідопит). Купер майстерно виписує "годинник", тобто необхідність героїв діяти, бо на них "тисне" ситуація - і тому треба діяти швидко і рішуче. Купер переплітає декілька сюжетних ліній, щоб ніде не було "провисання" (бо одна цілісна лінія йому тяжко виходить - і він далі пише низку окремих епізодів, які починаються і завершуються в межах роману). Купер показує, а не розказує. В нього чудові типажі, яким віриш. Том Гаттер, Гаррі Непосида, Джудіт, Гетті - всі вони особистості, а не функції сюжету. І, звісно ж, Чингчагук та Уа-та-Уа. Звіробій - нарешті! - схожий на молоду людину. Так, він і далі нудить як Натті в інших романах, але тут відчувається його невпевненість в собі. І це просто шикарно, бо Натті з інших романів однаковий, чи йому 32 роки, чи 88.

А головне, що сюжет вдало доповнений описами природи, а самі пригоди мають і "мормальну" складову. Купер далі критикує колоніалізм і зневажливе ставлення до індіанців. І додає нові речі. Натті - вперше! - стає амібалентним персонажем. Він відкидає любов Джудіт, бо повірив чуткам про неї. Це дивовижно, але Купер безжально показує цей недолік свого героя.

Але для мене найбільшим відкриттям була Гетті. Коли я читав роман чверть століття тому, її лінія була невиразною. Наче вона мала бути комічною - як в псалміста чи натураліста. Але навіщо такий фінал?! І ось раптом я помітив, що Купер хоче сказати. Це Політ над гніздом зозулі Мілоша Формана, тільки на 130 років раніше. Гетті зізнається, що після смерті матері хотіла вчинити самогубство, бо сестрі Джудіт та й батькові Томасу вона була б тільки тягарем - як розумово неповносправна. На цих словах її монологу я просто не міг стримати сліз. Це ж Квіти для Елджернона, але на 120 років раніше! І головне, що тут же Купер показує, як до таких людей ставляться корінні народи Америки. Це таке чітке послання, що годі втриматися від здивування.

Роман ідеально вивірений - як в сюжеті, структурі, так і в персонажах та ідеях. Купер нарешті показує, а не розказує. Його герої та героїні діють - і одночасно розгортають сюжет, і роблять експозицію. Вони всі мають і позитиви, і негативи, вони викликають співчуття. Шкода, що Купер не написав всі романи в такому ж стилі.

Але я розумію, чому цикл мене затягнув. Звіробій ідеально пасує для початку. Він є "буксиром" для решти романів. Крім Піонерів, які також чудові. Але якби я починав з Останнього з могікан... Я не знаю, чи цикл мене б так вразив. Та й сам Останній з могікан виглядав би сіріше.

Чудове завершення циклу, коли розумієш: я змінився, бо пройшло 25 років, але й роман розкрив глибші пласти смислів. Він aged well, а тому є чудовим романом і для підліткового, і для дорослого читання.

If one can read books promiscuously, as I was reassured in graduate school that one could, I read all five of the books in this series like a complete whore, giving myself entirely over to the story - loved all five. A word of caution, however: They were written in a different order than the chronology of the narrative. Imagine my disappointment at the Deerslayer's death at the end of the third book out of five.

The order that the author produced them:

The Pioneers
Last of the Mohicans
The Prairie
The Pathfinder
The Deerslayer

The order of the narrative (Thanks for the assist with this, Dave):

The Deerslayer
Last of the Mohicans
The Pathfinder
The Pioneers
The Prairie

If you've seen my booklists and read my reviews, you'll know I'm usually a great lover of classic novels. When I was about 11 or 12, my Dad got me a big stack of paperback classics and I spent an entire summer with Ivanhoe and Sidney Carton and Jane Eyre. I mean, I munched them up! Then I got to James Fenimore Cooper. Oh bad. Oh really, really bad. The stories themselves were pretty good, as witness the fact that they have been made into many successful movies. However, to read the stories, you have to read the sentences. Some of these sentences are pages long. By the time you get to the predicate, you've forgotten the subject! American authors in the early 1800's seemed determined to prove to a European audience that they had great vocabularies and could craft an elaborate style. Cooper obviously was of this school of thought. All those intervening clauses and subclauses, hanging on his sentences like poor relations! If you want to read the classics, and you should, try Ivanhoe! Or if you have your heart set on this one, get the Cliff notes!

This wasn't for me.

I love the era, I love the historical theme of it, I love the old west, I love stories with native americans... and I mainly love everything about the 1800s.

What I hate though is the authors who was pretty clear they were racists, sexists and all that shit, you want the time being what it was, they should have known better than that, like other authors who weren't racist back then, or even the exact opposite, at least not in a show-y way.

I hate the fact that Cooper pretty much tells you that Indians are savages and bad, white men are the best thing to happen and women are useless empty minded (YEAP, he said that) and pretty much all that put together is a sad day for any book.

I don't mind a character being racist or sexist or whatever the fuck, I mind the author describing stuff and being racist about it or having the norm of his/her characters being THAT.

Other than that, we now go to the story, the story was too simplistic for my liking, with shit happening for no reason without realism half the time, that's what got me out of the story one too many times (example, indian dude being killed and while dying he's pretty much complimenting Deerslayer and he's renaming him Hawkeye...I mean, c'mon, like, I'm trying to kill you and while I fail doing so, I'm dying and I suddenly realize how good your skills of killing me were that I have to give you a name..) Nope. My main problem with the story was things like that happening.

Other than that it's a typical old west story with a bad ending that I didn't care for or liked, but it was so bad that I had to write about it now, so that loses another star.

Gonna admit that it had some ok moments that I thought it was gonna get better, but it did not and it felt like a chore after awhile, then it would get interesting a bit, and then go downhill again, so at the end of the day, I'd rather watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie than read this or anything like that again.

PS. I'm still going to read The Last of the Mohicans right now (the whole reason I read this in the first place)

I never read Cooper growing up so wasn't sure what to expect in reading this novel. What I discovered was a multi-layered text that did the following:

Introduced Deerslayer, or Hawkeye as he is subsequently known (Hawkeye Pierce in MASH gets his nickname from him!). We see the maturing of this young woodsman who has lived among the Delaware Indians and is a sure shot with the rifle. At the beginning of the novel, he has only killed animals for food. Much of his development comes following a deadly encounter with an Iroquois where he takes a life in self defense, and contributes to the spiral of hostility between the whites and Iroquois.

It is a novel exploring various conceptions of the humanity and spiritual status of native Americans, including their own self-conceptions as portrayed by Cooper.

It is a religious tale, exploring various Christian notions of native American spirituality and chiefly of the piety of Hetty, the mentally impaired daughter of Thomas Hutter, the white trapper living in an island fortress on Lake Glimmerglass.

Running through all this is an adventure novel as Deerslayer and his Delaware friend Serpent seek to rescue Serpent's betrothed from the Iroquois. They are joined by Hurry Harry who is enamored of Hutter's other daughter (an affection not returned and later given to only one other). The plot moves through a series of encounters, captures, releases or escapes to the climatic confrontation of white and Indian and its aftermath. In all, a long but good read!

Just as enjoyable as the first time I read it many years ago. I can agree with some critics' poor ratings of Cooper's writing, but the misplaced soliloquys, slow action, and preachiness can be overlooked. Cooper, after all, was writing in a different time, and in a different style, than what many people today are used to. Cooper spends a lot of time describing nature, and using conversations to convey the beliefs of his characters, but when he gets to action, as in the last third of the novel, his writing is excellent.

The first in the series of ‘The Leather Stocking Tales’ which was also the last one Cooper wrote. The story is the beginning of Hawkeye’s career and more known for the next novel in the series ‘Last of the Mohicans ‘.

The story is about morality, racism and romance. An epic with the story set on and around a remote lake. The Huron and his battle with them and following his own moral code. In comparison to Hutter and Hurry Harry whose moral compass is askew. The daughters Judith and Hetty are interesting in Hetty’s feeble mind and Judith journey from apparently being vain to maturity.

The trials and tribulations of Hawkeye was entertaining if a bit far fetched. Great descriptive prose of the landscape and Cooper captures the mythical view of the early woodsman. Some say his character was based on Daniel Boone. All in all a great read with action, adventure and moral questions thrown into the mix.

Not a book for the young or the impatient. I find the slowness and the intricacy of the prose delicious. The story line is no more laughable than most action movies. . . Cooper gets inside the mind of a frontiersman and slowly spins out a story that proceeds in microsteps of explication. It is both awe-inspiring and funny. One wonders if Cooper were a forerunner to Doestoyevsky.

The setting of the story in primeval upstate NY gives one pause. We know how fragile and fleeting this seemingly unbounded nature proved to be. Those pure lakes, virgin forests, plentiful game--forever gone--lend irony, perhaps unintended, to the story. It deepens the reader's sense of the impermanence of life and the awful power we wield to disrupt.

So, no, the book isn't recommended for casual reading.

Slightly slower in pace than its sequel, Deerslayer reveals a coming of age tale of our Leatherstocking hero, Natty Bumpo. In this work, we learn how Hawkeye earned his noble nom de guerre. Together with his Delaware friend, our protagonist meets and ultimately redeems a frontier family. Although the dialog and musing of the frontierwomen, the Hutter sisters, is often tiresome, this is nicely balanced by Cooper's adroit action sequences. This is a novel for all genders. Slightly dissatisfying is the ultimate and final decision the normally unerring Hawkeye makes- perhaps uncharacteristically relying upon conjecture and rumor. Does he rely too heavily on stereotype? Does he not allow for redemption? It may be this character's major failing is his simplicity, bordering on one-dimensionality

I admit it took a while for me to get into this book. Part of that was due to the fact that it's not really the type of book I was "in the mood" for--but it was the book I had set aside for myself to read, so I read it. It's also due to the lengthy, indirect dialogue and language, which is not the type of writing I typically enjoy. However, once I got into the book I found that I did enjoy the insights he gave into human nature and how it doesn't really change regardless of age, race, or time.

It was nice to hold an old book in my hands again and to slough through dense language and archaic mannerisms and speech. I do like those sort of things. At first, I liked the book (thought bland at times). It beckoned to nobility and honor. But the ending fell flat for me. Not because of the lack of happiness but because of how unfair and stupid the main character acted at the end. I would encourage my sons to read this book because it contains much good but then discuss the ending with them in great detail.

Overall not a fan of cooper's style in this book. Perhaps I'll give him a try later on.

Turpinu lasīt “Piedzīvojumi. Fantastika. Ceļojumi.” sēriju, tagad domāju uzsākt nelielu indiāņu grāmatu lasīšanas maratonu. Šī tēma man bērnībā bija ļoti iemīļota, un par pārsteigumu pats sev es atklāju, ka viņa man šķiet pievilcīga joprojām. Kūpers gan kā rakstnieks nav tas izcilākais, bet viņa darbi man bērnu dienās patika tik un tā.

Zvērkāvis vēlāk pazīstams arī kā Vanagacs ierodas pie kāda meža ezera, kas atrodas tagadējā Ņujorkas štatā. Plāns ir atlikt kādu delavēru virsaiti Čingačguku, puikām ir padomā neliela šepte. Viņa ceļabiedrs Harijs Mārčs ir ceļā sastapts robežnieks garš un skaists, nodarbojas ar medīšanu un iesaukts par Nerimšu, jo līdz ar pulvera smakas saošanu, viņš ņem pēdu neatskatīdamies. Meža ezeru par savu īpašumu ir pasludinājis kāds Toms Haters, cilvēks ar tumšu pagātni un divām meitām. Džūdita ir smuka un gudra, bet Hetija ir mazprātīga. Zvērkāvja apmeklējuma laikā Hateram uzbrūk nodevīgie mingi, un sākas cīņa par izdzīvošanu.

Ja es sauktu Kūperu par izcilu rakstnieku, tad es melotu. Viņam piemīt praktiski visas sliktās īpašības, kuras vien rakstniekam var piedēvēt un, ja vien es varētu atgriezties atpakaļ bērnu dienās, kad šāds literārais izstrādājums man šķita laba un aizraujoša lasāmviela!

Zvērkāvis ir delavēru uzaudzināts baltais cilvēks. Viņam piemīt augsta pašcieņa, morāli viņš iemieso paraugcilvēku un nekad nemelo. Smuks gan diez ko nav, bet ar savu nepiespiesto tiešumu viņš meičām patīk. Lasot no šīs dienas viedokļa, var uzslavēt autoru, ka šis nav kautrējies sarkanādainos nostādīt uz viena pakāpiena ar baltajiem cilvēkiem. Ir jau tādi pusmežoņi ar saviem tikumiem, tomēr prognozējami un cienījami ļaudis. Tas gan neattiecas uz mingiem-irokēziem-hūroniem, tie ir īsteni maitas gabali, neuzticamāki par vēju un kanādiešu pakalpiņi. Skuķi Zvērkāvi neinteresē, taču laba plinte un brieži gan nav smādējama lieta. Interesanti, ka oriģinālais grāmatas nosaukums Deerslayer, burtiski būtu jātulko kā Briežkāvis.

Harijs Mārčs ir tipisks mutes brūķētājs un uzmetējs. Viņam ir plāni uz Džūditu, un šis ir sasolījies nosist katru viņas nākamo vīru, ja vien tas nebūs viņš. Patīk viegla nauda un īpaši ar prātu neizceļas, toties ir varens rīcības cilvēks. Viņam ļoti līdzīgs cilvēks ir Toms, kas arī ir visnotaļ netālredzīgs cilvēks, kura vienīgie panākumi dzīvē ir divas meitas, cietoksnis uz ezera un cietoksnis liellaiva. Domāju, ka pie bērnudienas mīlestības pret šo grāmatu ir vainojami pēdējie divi faktori. Kurš puika gan negribētu burāt pa ezeru un dzīvot uz pāļiem uzceltā mājā.

Čingačguks, kurš nez kādēļ no bērnības ir iespiedies atmiņā kā megaindiānis grāmatā vispār praktiski neeksistē. Te ir tikai pāris dialogi, viņam veltītas slavas dziesmas un klusējošā piekrišana. Tāda slēptā klātbūtne, kas praktiski neko neietekmē.

Džūdita ir smuka un māk lasīt. Tiem laikiem priekš sievietes tas bija vairāk nekā vajadzīgs. Viņa ir arī nedaudz ar savu viedokli, kas garantē, ka nekāda labā sieva no tādas nesanāks. Hetija ir ne šāda, ne tāda. Galvenais viņas mīnuss ir mazprātība (cik noprotu, garīgi neattīstīta). Tas gan viņai nav traucējis iemācīties lasīt, citēt Bībeli vietā un nevietā un uzvesties tīri racionāli. Viņai gan ir pataloģiska nosliece uz patiesību, tas lieti noder dažiem sižeta pavērsieniem.
Grāmatai ar sižetu ir diezgan pašvaki. Tuvākā anotācija notiekošajam varētu būt pāris dienas Zvērkāvja dzīvē. Ir trīs puiši un trīs meitas. Tā kā Čingačguks ir indiānis, tad viņam ir padomā sava skvo, un patiesībā ir tikai divi pāri. Zvērkāvis uz attiecībām neraujas un, lai gan viņa dialogi lauž meičām sirdis, skaidra lieta, ka nekāda jēga no tā nebūs. Nerimša grib tikai vienu meiču, bet tā viņu pamatotu iemeslu dēļ negrib. Tā kā īsti nekāds mīlestības romāns te nesanāk. Notikumi, lai cik man viņi saistoši nešķistu bērnu dienās, patiesībā nav nekādi, tie ir visnotaļ komiski, kur galvenie varoņi vienā laidā krīt gūstā, un kad no tā atbrīvojas, krīt gūstā atkal. Skalpēšana tiek piesaukta riņķī apkārt un šajā jomā Nerimša ar Hateru uzvedas kā īsti atsaldeņi. Par laimi indiāņiem un lasītājiem viņu spējas ir pilnīgi neiemērotas šim pasākumam.

Dialogi ir kaut kas briesmīgs, visi runā tā it kā būtu sapulcējušies saviesīgos pasākumos. Ar gariem pārspriedumiem un augstiem vārdiem grēko visi personāži no indiāņu puišeļiem līdz ciniķim Tomam. Ticamības moments pazūd uzreiz, kā varoņi atver muti. Autora tieksme dzejiski aprakstīt dabu ir pielīdzināma “Straumēniem”, taču tikai daudzuma ziņā, šeit tie izklausās samāksloti un smieklīgi.

Paši galvenie varoņi grāmatai absolūti nav vajadzīgi. Notikumi viņus nekādi neizmaina, visi paliek tādi paši kādi bija grāmatas sākumā. Ja vien par personas izaugsmi neskaitām nāvi, tad tādas te vispār nav. Nav arī īsti skaidrs kāds ir autora vēstījums lasītājam izņemot labus vārdus par dažiem atsevišķiem indiāņiem.

Grāmatai lieku 5 no 10 ballēm, un arī tikai par bērnu dienas atmiņām. Ja te nebūtu cietokšņa uz ūdens, tad viņu nelasītu pat pusaudži. Ja esi lasījis bērnu dienās, tad noteikti nepārlasiet, nevajag sabeigs savas gaišās bērnības atmiņas. Ja tev jau ir pāri sešpadsmit gadiem, tad nopietni apsver to vai ir vērts lasīt.

This was a very tedious read. While I normally like older books, something about Cooper's writing style just didn't grab me.

The Deerslayer is mainly a story about a man named Nathaniel Bumppus, or as he is better known by in this novel, Deerslayer. He is headed with a friend commonly referred to as "Hurry" to a lake where he will later meet another friend of his, a Delaware Indian he calls the "Sarpent" to rescue the Sarpent's betrothed from a group of Hurons. When they reach their destination they meet a man and his two daughters who live on an island in the lake.

The older daughter Judith, is quite taken with the Deerslayer and the younger, who is described as feeble-minded is as sweet a person as could be met. Their father is a bit rougher than them and after the death of his wife has been raising them himself.

When Hurry and Thomas Hutter (the father) decide to go scalping Indians for fun and profit, Deerslayer doesn't go. Then when they are kidnapped, it is up to Deerslayer and the girls to ransom them and bring them home safely. Unfortunately, as soon as the men are returned home, Deerslayer is captured in the rescue of the Sarpent's betrothed. The rest of the novel deals with his capture.

The characters in this story were hard for me to like. Hurry is a racist, which during the times, a little could be expected, but he regards anyone of skin other than white as no more than animals. Judith, while the author tries to paint her as vain, never appears that way in the novel to me, in fact, she seems very down to earth. The younger daughter, Hetty, is said to be feeble minded but I also didn't get that impression from the book. She seemed to be more just naive. Lastly, our main character, the Deerslayer, while he is supposed to be a wonderful man, not boastful, but not handsome either, is annoying. He continually goes on about "white-man's gifts" and "red-man's gifts" and repeats himself. He also is self described to go on long soliloquies which it seems as if he just likes to hear himself talk and somewhat pretentiously at that.

The writing style is very tedious. There is a lot of conversation, which normally wouldn't be so bad, but Cooper seems to have them have different variations of the same conversation over and over. There is always mentions of red-man's ways and white-man's ways and the beauty of Judith in almost every conversation. I just wasn't as impressed with this as much as I am with some of the classics. While I know the book is very popular and has been around a long time, I guess I just don't think that's enough to make it outstanding to me. I probably won't pursue the rest of the books of "the Leatherstocking Tales" that this novel begins.

The language is very authentic for the time and I do give Cooper credit for that. It was easy to imagine these characers talking with the dialect they were written in. Drawn out vowels and backwoods names for things are tastefully used for some of the characters and other characters to show a difference in upbringing and education have a more refined speech. It was well done.

It was a nice tale, but just stretched out far too much with Cooper's stylistic writing.

The Deerslayer
Copyright 1841
548 pages

There is also a bunch of prefaces that accompany the novel as well.

This it the story of Deerslayer and his best buddy Chingachgook (which I still have not figured out how to say) as they go on their first "warpath" together. I looked for a movie version of this story after I finished it because I was interested to see how it would play out in modern times, but there is no movie made since 1920 (silent movie). I shouldn't be surprised. Let me say from the onset that I consider James Fenimore Cooper one of the finest writers I have read. That being said, the time and circumstances in which he lived seem to have made him a judgemental and unforgiving man. And from what I hear, in his time, he was considered to be a little bit "lax" in the accepted moral deportment of the day. WOW!
This story was very exciting and certainly held my interest even as I navigated the verbose style of the 19th century writing. A bit wordy, why use 2 words when 20 will do. But the words he chose were of such beauty and description that it made it worthwhile - a feat not managed by all the authors of his time. I skipped over nothing. Also, each chapter began with a quote from some antiquated author that was lovely and foretold a bit of what was to come. I enjoyed this rather than finding it cumbersome as I sometimes do.
Never has there been a hero as virtuous as Deerslayer. In this day and age it is pure fantasy to imagine that he could exist. He is brave, honest, kind...but here we come to my problem....a little too judgemental for my taste.
The reason I could not give this wonderfully written and exciting story 5 stars is that I feel the author too harsh on his characters. I cannot believe that the world is so black and white. I cannot allow the author that - even taking into consideration the times in which he lived. And I could not embrace the bigotry expressed in the characters. This is why, I am sure, you cannot find a modern portrayal of this story. Taking out the bigotry would destoy the story. Ironically, the bigotry and judgementalism are what destroy an otherwise timeless tale.
I recommend reading this book simply for the wonderful descriptive prose and historical knowledge it possesses. Cooper WAS a genius of a writer. And for his time, he may even have had a more kind and open mind than I am giving him credit for. But don't expect to feel particularly good when you finish the book.
I will say that the closing lines of the book do attempt a bit of redemption of the predjudices within:

"We live in a world of transgressions and selfishness, and no pictures that represent us otherwise can be true; though happily for human nature, gleamings of that pure spirit in whose likeness man has been fashioned, are to be seen, relieving its deformities, and mitigating, if not excusing its crimes"

This is the closest Cooper gets to admitting that "All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and that we should "Judge not, lest we be judged".

I enjoyed this book for two main reasons: the first being JFC's exuberant, almost worshipful respect for nature that permeates the story, and the second being his mostly objective treatment of the Native American characters. The Deerslayer is not just a story about a group of humans fighting over a lake, it is the story of the lake itself and the surrounding landscape. JFC crafts beautiful images of the region throughout the book, and in several places juxtaposes those images with later visions of how the lake is altered and disfigured by human activity, much to the dismay of his characters who love and respect the land. Unfortunately, he does use the word "savage" frequently in ways unflattering to himself, but he sets himself apart from most of his contemporary and future colleagues by presenting positive images of Native Americans that don't rely quite as much on stereotypes or lionizing "the civilized savage", though he certainly isn't perfect on this account either. On the whole, it was an engrossing story despite some of the moralizing because it contained compelling characters and skillfully depicted setting.

This is a long tale, a very long tale that's quite descriptive and a bit wordy. The narrative is a good one, a good depiction of life on the American continent so long ago, the plot, well there's a bit of adventure and at times a bit of suspense, but nothing particularly fantastic occurs... For those who already read the Last of the Mohicans, this is just another Natty Bumppo affair so at least you would have already gotten an introduction to the atmosphere of the time...

Haaaaaaaaave you ever seen the Star Wars prequels?

Yeah. It's like that, except add 1,000,000 racism, and Jar Jar Binks is named 'Hurry Harry' and, in addition to being an idiot, is also completely morally bankrupt.

I had to read this book for a grad class. Now, with a book like this, that normally means I "read" the book--in other words, skimmed it for the main ideas. However, I drew the short straw back in August 2018 and got stuck giving the stupid presentation on this book. So, I actually, really, truly, line by line, read this shit.

Let me be the first...or the twentieth...person to tell you to save your precious time and energy for something else. Go save the whales or something. Truly, anything but this.

What can I say that Mark Twain didn't?
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns...

"Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in "Deerslayer," and in the restricted place of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record."

And

"I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that "Deerslayer" is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of every detail that goes to the making of a work of art; in truth, it seems to me that "Deerslayer" is just simply a literary delirium tremens."

Twain's essay is so good that its almost worth reading the Deerslayer just to get all the jokes.

The Deerslayer was the last of Cooper's Leatherstocking tales, but the first chronologically. It's an origin tale, just like that last X-Men movie. We get to see Deerslayer/Pathfinder/Hawkeye on his first warpath. We see his first kill. (He literally talks the man to death), how he comes across his famous rifle Killdear (He loots it from a dead man), and his first refusal of a woman's declaration of undying love.

And just like in The Pathfinder, we get another shooting contest, and a whole bunch of really dumb, evil indians. (More Twain: "The difference between a Cooper Indian and the Indian that stands in front of the cigar-shop is not spacious.") The story goes nowhere--people get caught by Indians, people escape from Indians, then get caught again, then fight. (There are a couple of good fight scenes. When one main character is scalped alive, it's actually pretty exciting and surprising.)

There's chunky dialog like this:
"You are Hetty Hutter... Hurry Harry has told me of you, and I know you must be the child?"

"Yes, I'm Hetty Hutter...I'm Hetty; Judith Hutter's sister; and Thomas Hutter;s youngest daughter."

(And people don't "say" things, they more often than not "ejaculate.")

And this character, Hetty Hutter, is "feeble-minded." Cooper also describes her as "simple," "foolish," owning an "unsophistacted mind," or with a "mental darkness which, in a measure, obscured her intellect." Every moment this poor thing is on the page, Cooper reminds us how dumb she is.

Cooper as a writer is not nearly as bad as Twain says, but in at least this particular case, trotting out his best-selling Natty Bumpo character for a fourth sequel (the second after Bumpo's death in "The Prairie") he's at his most long-winded and least-focused. The Deerslayer is the 19th century literary equivalent of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, or Police Academy 3: Back in Training.

I came to Deerslayer with no preconceived notions, only knowing that years ago I had enjoyed Last of the Mohicans. There were some early warning signs (the bizarre throttling in the first conversation of the book?), but it was not until I was halfway through that I fully comprehended that although it was by a famous author this was truly a wretched, third-rate piece of fiction.

Mark Twain, it seems, has already said it best, so let me quote Twain on the aspects that bothered me most.

"The conversations in the Cooper books have a curious sound in our modern ears. To believe that such talk really ever came out of people’s mouths would be to believe that there was a time when time was of no value to a person who thought he had something to say; when it was the custom to spread a two-minute remark out to ten; when a man’s mouth was a rolling-mill, and busied itself all day long in turning four-foot pigs of thought into thirty-foot bars of conversational railroad iron by attenuation."

Honestly, what speechifying! Even when the subject is a need for haste or silence, on it goes.

Back to Twain:

"Rules governing literary art in the domain of romantic fiction . . . require . . . that a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the Deerslayer tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in the air."

The rules also "require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the Deerslayer tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together."

Deerslayer is neither entirely admirable--Cooper in the narrator's voice makes that quite clear--nor sympathetic. And he doesn't develop in any way. He just goes on bloviating and being imperturbable. He is no different at the end than he had been at the beginning, except a new Indian name and a new gun. Pretty weak tea for an "origins" prequel.

At 550+ pages, The Deerslayer was a commitment that I would only make for a book club. It was not a quick read either; I found myself rereading many of the lengthy passages. In particular, the eponymous protagonist, AKA Natty Bumpo, was prone to soliloquizing.
This may sound like I didn't enjoy the book. But...I liked it a lot! The action took place over one week during a time when the interactions between the Native Americans and the White settlers were becoming increasingly antagonistic. This window into the perceptions of the stakeholders in this struggle was informative, thought-provoking, and, of course, fraught, because we all know how that struggle ended.
The majority of the action took place on Glimmerglass Lake and its environs. Through Cooper's beautiful descriptions of the lake in its many guises, it became an integral character in the book.
This is a special book that would be appreciated by a certain kind of reader (with a lot of time on their hands!)
Are you up for the challenge?

This book recounts "the first warpath" of Deerslayer (also known as Natty Bumpo, Hawkeye, and many others) and his Delaware chieftain friend, Chingachgook. Deerslayer is an avid hunter, as his names suggests, but not a soldier. Chingachgook will one day become a warrior, but for now, his goal is to free his betrothed who has been captured by the Iroqois. Deerslayer, as a loyal friend, embarks on this journey. The whole of the book covers about a week as Deerslayer and Chingachgook's mission is entwined with James Hutter, his two daughters, and friend Henry March. The time period is the cusp of the French and Indian war. Hutter and March seek to scalp Indians (for a reward) who are encamping on the shore of the lake where Hutter resides and in so doing, they are captured. This action sets the plot going in a succession of back and forth between the seven protagonists and the Indians. Cooper clearly displays the flaws in all mankind, both whites and Indians (and to go further, two different tribes of Indians). He also displays the moral good that exists among members of each of these parties. Cooper endears the reader to Deerslayer, Hetty Hutter, Chingachgook, and his lover, Hist. He also brings out the flaws in the other character's lives. There is a lot of action and intensity in the plot as well. The novel is very well written and allows one to examine herself to see how she identifies with each character in the novel, both their good qualities and their bad.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the spiritual aspects of this book. They are clearly displayed in Hetty Hutter who relies upon God and is convinced that sharing the gospel with the Indians will change their hearts. Of course, other characters think this is folly, but Cooper demonstrates Hetty's influence over others in her simple character and desire for the truth. However, the other character's struggle with God and the spiritual world as well. Are there separate heavens for the red man and the pale face? Or is God the God of all. If God really does exist, why have these characters gone through the trials that they have? In the end, it is those with faith who remain firm and are able to endure trials.