The Weight of Smoke

by George Robert Minkoff

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0929701801
• ISBN13: 9780929701806
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: McPherson
• Length: 389 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

gripping prose in a fascinating story.

In an age where all want instant gratification the reader has to suspend this need and opt for delayed gratication as this novel about John Smith is very very long but well worth the time to enjoy a great story told in magnificent prose..a rarity in todays world..I am a mystery writer with my books on this site and am quite envious of the authors verbal ability..Bruce Forester

The Weight of Smoke reads with the flourish of an odyssey, and the dark reality of grim history.

Written by antiquarian expert George Robert Minkoff, The Weight of Smoke is the first of a three-volume historical fiction epic, "In the Land of Whispers", set four hundred years ago on the shores of what would one day become the state of Virginia. Young Captain John Smith carried dedication and drive at the colony of Jamestown, yet as one disaster after another beset the colonists: intrigue, avarice, corruption, disease, starvation, and violent war with the indigenous peoples. A prophecy is spoken concerning Captain John Smith: that his acts in this untamed world will be remembered not in terms of immortal glory, but rather in degrees of desperation. And deep inside, he carries a yearning desire for Powhattan's favorite daughter, Pocahontas. The Weight of Smoke reads with the flourish of an odyssey, and the dark reality of grim history. Enthusiastically recommended.

Am extraordinary achievement

THE WEIGHT OF SMOKE is like nothing you'll read except for the great works of another era -- works by Shakespeare or Cervantes or Wu Ch'eng-en, for instance. I don't mean to put this book in their class -- only time can do that -- but Minkoff has created a mental and spiritual world quite unlike ours that exists all on its own, solid and palpable. Not surprisingly, especially since it is the Elizabethan world (who ever remembers that Capt. John Smith was an Elizabethan?), it is dense, allusive, and complex -- anyone with a short attention span should flee in terror. Its soaring and vivid descriptions of virgin American countryside on the one hand and the world of water that Sir Francis Drake ruled left me gasping and somewhat suspicious that I was in the presence of the reincarnated. In an era in which American prose writers have largely sacrificed depth of expression on a darkly glittering altar of surface, George Minkoff is to be applauded for keeping both alive.

Great novel for history buffs

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (11/06) "The Weight of Smoke" is the first book in a trilogy series titled, "In the Land of Whispers." The author, George Robert Minkoff is a very talented writer. This is not a dry historical novel. Minkoff has a gift for writing that pulls the reader into the story. He is so descriptive and his words flow in such a way that the reader is able to visualize the story to a point that it seems more like you are watching the events take place rather than reading about them. I love Minkoff's style of writing, especially when it is about history. I feel like I learned more about the people and the places that are described in his book because of his descriptive writing abilities. The title "The Weight of Smoke" refers to a challenge that Sir Walter Raleigh had with Queen Elizabeth. He told her that he knew the weight of smoke. He proved this by weighing out tobacco on a balance, lighting it in his pipe and weighing the remaining ashes. He said that the weight of the tobacco minus the weight of the ashes was the weight of smoke. "If thought be smoke evaporating in the wind, what ash is left is our estate...To weigh our failures is to weigh the smoke." "The Weight of Smoke" is a fictional historical novel written as if the information was taken from the secret diaries of Captain John Smith. It takes place from 1607 to 1609 during the founding of the Jamestown Colony. Captain Smith and his men had to interact with the Native Americans. These interactions were incredibly interesting because you didn't know if they were going to be friends or enemies. Sometimes they were both. The Englishmen traveling with Smith did not have a high opinion of the natives. They saw them as savages and did not hold a lot of respect for their beliefs and lifestyles. They also felt that as Englishmen, they were above these people. Yet when they had famine and sickness the Indians were the ones to provide them with food. Intertwined in this tale is also the story of the privateer Francis Drake. His time of renown was during the late 1500's. I highly recommend this novel to history buffs, especially to those interested in the early founding of America. I would also recommend "The Weight of Smoke" to history instructors that would like their students to know more about this time period. Students will enjoy getting caught up in the tale.