veryone knows (should know) Plato’s allegory of The Cave. People are in a cave, never having been outside it. They are chained so they can only see the far wall. Behind them, other people with torches make shadows and sounds, defining the limited reality of those so placed. Their only reality is what they experience directly. Their thinking is stunted.

This came to me while reading Rafael Sabatini’s Scaramouche, the first few chapters. See, I’d bought an Audible copy of a friend who is rather well read but hasn’t tried this one. Also, his life is so hectic that he can only fill in drive-time with books. So as I read the opening (“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.“) I realized how few people had heard or were even aware of this trumpeting tale of cleverness in the French Revolution. It was foundational in a way, because, and spoilers ahead, this is the novel where Lukas got the idea for the villain to also  be, gasp, the hero’s father. As I read about Andre-Louis Moreau and the villainy committed on his young friend, I found myself dangerously close to reading the novel all over again. It is, alas, for another time. But it pains me, nearly physically, how forgotten this great book is.

 And hence the mention of The Cave. While our culture cocoons in their living rooms, watching their Netflix wall and thinking whatever Americanized gun-vengeance drivel is great stuff, the maneuverings of Scaramouche goes unnoticed in their awareness. Really, stop watching stupid stories of one man killing an entire mob in gory detail. That sort of stuff is cartoonish and, frankly, explains our current political situations. Step out of the cave, go to a library and check out a real book.

I’ll suggest anything by Rafael Sabatini. Dumas is good, too. Anything is better than Jack Reacher.

>>>MY REVIEW OF SCARAMOUCHE HERE<<<

>>>MY OWN EXCELLENT NOVELS HERE<<<