FAIR BLOWS THE WIND: A Novel (1981) - Plot & Excerpts
Date Read: 12-September-2010I read this book – Fair Blows the Wind” by Louis L’Amour - for a book discussion group. I liked the story and the fact that it was not a western novel typically done by L’Amour but one that takes place mostly in Europe before the population of North America. A few things that I learned from this book: (1) The influence that a father can have on a son; especially a father, who tries to provide a good education and example. (2) The kindness of strangers can make a difference in one’s life.(3) Hard training is required to develop great skill such as swordsmanship(4) The pen is a powerful friend and a horrible foe.(5) In Louis L’Amour books the good guy always wins in the end.I have read several Louis L’Amour books and they seem to have a similar story line. The story is developed along this format:•tBoy has a rough childhood and has to grow up earlier than other boys. •tBoy learns through studying books and the help of kind strangers. •tBoy becomes a man. •tMan ends up developing a hated enemy. •tMan meets attractive women. •tMan and women fall in love but never actually let each other know. •tEventually, the man ends up killing the hated enemy. •tMan and women marry and live happily ever after. I would recommend this book to those who like Louis L’Amour or those who enjoy a good action packed story. Quotes from Fair Blows the WindTatton Chantry and Robert Vypont – Topic: Father teaching Tatton - pg 62“I have never been to school. My father was my teacher.”“Ah? A man of rare education, no doubt.”“He was that. He read me from the writings of Homer when I was young, and from Virgil, too. He taught me much of history, and not of our country only, but others as well.”“We walked much together, and he instructed me then. We also talked with vistors -“Tatton Chantry and Robert Vypont – Topic: Books - pg 70“… What is the book?” I asked.“Maimonides”“You are a Jew?”“I am English, but one finds wisdom in all languages. I read him often, for he has much to tell.” He looked at me. “How do you know of Maimonides?”“My father read him also. We had many, many books and my father would often read to me. Sometimes we talked of them.”“I have few books now, but they are old friends to me.”Robert Vypont to Tatton Chantry – Topic: Wealth – pg 71“Wealth? Well … perhaps. It has its benefits, but is an empty thing in itself.”Robert Vypont to Tatton Chantry – Topic: Happiness – pg 71“… I have education and once I had position. Now I am nobody, but I am happy.”Tatton Chantry – topic: Teaching – pg 73“Only you could teach me that,” I said, “for cannot the teacher always teach more than he knows?”Tatton Chantry – topic: Preparedness and Fighting – pg 92“… but my father warned me I would have enemies, and to survive I must be prepared. I hope never to fight,” I added, in all sincerity, “but experience has taught me that wishing to avoid a fight will not always be enough.”Fergis MacAskill to Tatton Chantry – Topic: Savagery – pg 120“… No part of the world, I’m thinking, has a sole claim on savagery. There’s a bit of it in us all, given the time and place and circumstances.”Tatton Chantry – topic: Learning – pg 134 and 135“He taught me … some things. He said there much more to come, but that is true always. The well of learning is one that never ceases to flow and we have only to drink of its waters.”…”There are races and nations of men, but the land of learning has no boundaries, neither here nor in the heavens. We are guided by the lamp of curiosity, the light of desiring to know. Follow it. …”Tosti Padget – topic: Difficulties in Writing – pg 154… “I have not the will to persist. I tell myself I shall change, but I do not. I try to hold myself to a schedule, but I am diverted by the flights and fancy in my own mind. I dream of it, want it, talk of it, think of it, but I do not do it. Writing is a lonely business and must be forever so, and I am a social being. I want and need others about me and the loneliness of my room is a hateful thing.”Richard Field – topic: character and persistence – pg 156 and 157.. “He would say writing was not only talent, but it was character, the character of the writer. Many are called, he would say, but few are chosen, and it is character that chooses them. In the last analysis it is persistence that matters.”Tatton Chantry – topic: Evil – pg 185If men of goodwill would not step forward to war against evil, then who would?Tatton Chantry – topic: Luck – pg 192How often it is that a whim may alter the course of our existence! How often the simple decision whether to go right of left when one leaves a doorway can change so much! A man may turn to the right and walk straightway into all manner of evil, and to the left in all manner of good. Tatton Chantry – topic: Possesions – pg 249… a man cannot be free until he has possessions – and then he is no longer free but bound by them.
Louis L'Amour can be argued as one of the greatest storytellers of all time and I would gladly pull my log up closer to the campfire and agree. There is always something simple and wholesome about his stories that keeps a person reading, even if they are not a western lover, as I am not!Always with a moral, always with a lesson, if you read his stories for nothing more then the descriptive word and simple storyline you miss out on the deeper meaning within his pages. I have yet to put down a Louis L'Amour novel thinking that I am the best I can be. His characters, women and men, are strong and honest. Willful and loyal. Even the villians in his stories seem to have a dedication that can't be ignored. Of course, their dedication is, well...evil...but they pursue it whole heartedly.What Louis taught me with this story:Spend time with your children. Teach them of your past as well as your ideas of the future. Teach them grace and good manners. Teach them the stories of old and the branches from your family tree (even if the apple falls a bit further then liked). Give your kids a wetted taste for learning, philosophy, and the importance of proper speaking and manners. Don't depend on school to teach them all they know, they want to know how you see the world, as an adult. Give them a sense of history of the things and of yourself.Travel the world looking everyone in the eye. See the world as the smallest child or the grandest duke all in one sitting. Take what opportunities arise and turn them to your favor. Always look for a way to make the best of your situation. Whereever you are in life, there is someone who struggles more then yourself so take pity. By taking pity you may spare your life down the road.Yes, yes, a tad bit dramatic....but in all honesty, those were the things going through my mind as this story unfolded. My thoughts of telling my kids the old Black Irish stories my grandmother told me, as I have that blood in my veins as well. My thoughts of how much more sincere and graceful it sounds to change a simple "Thanks" to "Thank You". That simple change bring with it politeness and formality. I was amazed while reading this novel at how I noticed myself wanting to stand a little taller, speak a bit softer, and use complete sentences instead of today's easy slang. Tomorrow I may be back to my loud-mouth slanged way of speaking but tonight my thoughts rang in proper English, and honestly, carried a tiny bit of Irish lilt. Ha!Obviously, it can be said that I like this story, but....I felt as though I could have done without the first seven chapters and the final five chapters. The plot moved along fine but once I started reading the flashback and how Tatton was molded into the man he was, I was lost within the pages. I found myself completely entranced with the passage from boy to man, traveling from place to place and taking up friends and foes along the way. I found myself longing to be that free, that brave, that innocent and jaded all in one young package. I followed along the roads and taverns, streets and ships, urchin and royalty having completely forgotten that this was not the current storyline. I was jerked back to reality in chapter 29 and found myself, for lack of a better word, disappointed. I could have followed Tatton Chantry to hell and back four seperate ways and never have needed to step foot back onto America. I wanted him to go back asleep because I found his memories for more interesting then the plot and characters that emerged with his waking.The ending, was of course, predictable. The beginning was a little choppy. Overall, it was the middle that kept me entertained. In true Louis L'Amour style you felt like you could pull a bench near the fire and break bread with the characters because you've come to know and love them so well. He does an eloquent job of describing surroundings and objects but it is always his great detail for people that keeps me picking up another one of his books when I see it lying around the sales.Thrashdthoughts.com
What do You think about FAIR BLOWS THE WIND: A Novel (1981)?
This book is a definite 4 out of 5 stars. It starts off when captain Tatton Chantry who went to go find water on the shoreline of the coast of Carolina where he was attacked by Indians and left by his crew. Throughout his struggle in the wilderness he finds help amongst spanish fortune seekers who abandoned there ship after it was "sinking." In the wilderness he has dreams about his childhood where his father was killed and his house burned. He wanted to be the best swordsman in the world. Now pirates take the spanish fortune seekers. This is where he finds their "sunken" ship and has all the wealth he dreamed about as a child but...he has to save his new friends by fighting the pirates...will he make it out alive? You have to read it to find out.
—Brandon Hall
Louis L'Amour has almost outdone himself in this one! It is capturing, and adds interesting, new perspectives from flashbacks. The main character, Tatton Chantry, is a gallant Irish gentleman with a rogues skill set. The book places him on the shores of wild America, where he is marooned accidentally, and thrust into a whirlpool of conflicting interests involving treasures, maidens and political betrothals, all the while recouning his earlier exploits in flashbacks.having been burned from his home by the English, he sets out to make a fortune to buy back his homeland and rebuild his once prestigious home. The book takes turns as he makes enemies, friends, and alliances, continually travelling broad, without a definite course, but with a final destination. He ranges all over the world, in London, Ireland, Scotland, a collection of Islands off Scotlands caost, including the hebrides as a soldier, a trader, sailor and even a vagabond.Finally he ends up in America where he must confront his oldest enemies and use all of his skills and abilities to escape the hornets nest he's in. Filled with great desprictions and depictions of battles,scenes and conversations, thought provoking without being too complicated,and a truly captivating book, Fair Blows The Wind would be a good book for nearly anyone to read.
—Mackenzie Bakker
