Forman, Justus Miles. Stumbling block. †$1.50. Harper.
7–24156.
David Rivers is wrested from his young love-making by old Robert Henley, a self-constituted guardian, and is sent away to develop a promising literary talent. The success and failure of an impersonally detached ambition become the keynote of the story. Rosemary Crewe whom David left behind is the embodiment of the strong love motif of the tale while Violet Winter, the fascinating New York woman whom he marries, is the stumbling block. Violet contemplates full reparation to David in allowing a threatening disease to go unoperated upon. How complete may have been her sacrifice is left entirely to the reader’s imagination.
“The style is distinguished, and the undercurrent of passion delicately handled. The hero, perhaps, is hardly worthy of the devotion he inspires; but the work should be successful as a study character.”
| + | Ath. 1907, 2: 362. S. 28. 280w. | |
| + − | Ind. 63: 761. S. 26, ’07. 150w. |
“Mr. Forman’s practise in writing novels is shown in his easy management of technical construction. His ideas have become mature; and his way of expressing them remains quite the most curious that is seen in any fictionist addressing the American reader. Rosemary is a dream heroine, faultless in all points. If only Mr. Forman applied the taste that chose her to his manner of writing, he would have written naturally, not corruptly, in a London patois, which is neither the King’s English nor that of William Dean Howells.”
| + − | Lit. D. 35: 451. S. 28, ’07. 520w. |
“This novel belongs to that class turned out in quantity every year, to which no possible objection should be made, if—merely this—if any one can discover the smallest reason for reading them.”
| + − | Nation. 85: 102. Ag. 1, ’07. 270w. |