The Prince of Central Park

by Evan H. Rhodes

Book Overview

1975: by Evan H. Rhodes- A modern day Robinson Crusoe who runs away from home, escapes to N. Y.'s Central Park and that first day stops being a kid. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0698106431
• ISBN13: 9780698106437
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Surprisingly Relevant Book from 1974

The title of this book probably rings a bell -- I know I've read or heard the title at least once a year since it was published in 1974.I won't go into the traditional merits of the book (taut plotting, vivid imagery, character arcs, etc.) -- rest assured, it's got everything in the right places. What I found most striking was how relevant this 30-year old book feels today. Now, nothing dates as quickly as one generation's notion of adolescent angst. However, this book manages to evade that problem with much grace. Its hero's concerns and situations are fresh and modern. The book seems to invent the current crop of "bleak fiction" novels in young adult lit. several decades early. There are some unflinching looks at darknesses faced by children in the book.Further, there's a wonderful primalness to its imagery. Modern characters and recognizable urban settings and concerns are cast in terms suggesting street urchins and wildernesses and wolves and witches and trolls. The book again seems to predict many current ways of reimagining urban life in primal terms -- e.g. "modern tribalism" and its tattoos and piercings, New-Age/Wiccan writings on the rhythms of nature reflected in urban living, and, more popularly, films such as Terry Gilliam's "The Fisher King". Also, the period detail is restrained enough that the book isn't burdended by it. We can all think of books from the era that have aged poorly and that wear their unintentional period detail as subtly as a polyester jumpsuit, but Rhodes, to the contrary, saves his detail work for thoughts, gestures, and the vivid sensations of Central Park that trascend period.This is actually one of the books that several generations in one family can read and relate to. The relevance of the young hero's concerns to young readers; the observations on and reimagining of urban life for those of us who live and work in cities but dream of rural lives; and the fundamental sentimentality of the story (and I mean in the most honest sense, not in the saccharine sense) would seem to appeal to those who have some life experience under the belt.I have also read Rhodes' excellent "An Army of Children" and look forward to reading more of his work.

French literature

I'm an American living in France and this book has been used in various French classes of my children. It's always a big success because in French literature there are so few real "heroes" - normal people who take their lives into their own hands, overcome difficult circumstances, succeed because they didn't submit to all the rules. It's a pity it's out of print.

A completely compelling, well-written book for teens & adult

This is one of those "sleeper" books that was so enjoyable, I've re-read it several times! The subject matter is, at the same time, both factual and make-believe; it is the ultimate dark fairy-tale! JJ, the orphan "prince" is a wonderfully courageous and self-reliant character--any pre-teen-to-early teen boy will find himself held in the grip of danger along with JJ as he fends for himself in the "wilds" of Central Park. My son and I enjoyed reading this book together. But, beware--there are subjects in the book not suitable for young children (i.e., JJ's foster mom is a prostitute). Altogether a wonderful, fun read!

Fun read

Back when I was in junior high school (that's "middle school" for you Easterners) in California, I picked up this book out of curiosity, and read it. It's an extremely fun read. Since there's no synopsis, I'll give you a quick one: J.J., the protaginist, is an orphan who decides to live in Central Park when he runs away from his foster mother. The book is mainly an adventure story along the lines of "The White Mountains" or "Huck Finn." The book brought my imagination to New York for the first time, and never did I dream that years later I would be living just a few blocks from J.J.