Important novel in American history/literature. Good story, with empathy for both the Native American and European characters. That said, it is a Romantic novel, stuck in the style and biases of the time and of the genre. The writing is over-wrought, sometimes turgid, and often frustrating in its nineteenth century formalisms. I'm glad to have read it, but won't be reading any of the rest of the Leatherstocking series. ( )

James Fenimore Cooper's sweeping tale of the American frontier tells the romantic and tragic story of Hawkeye, Uncas, Magua and the Munroe sisters. These seemingly disparate lives become intertwined to create an American opera both tragic and vast in scale and emotion.

Set in 1757 during the fierce French and Indian War, this adventure follows an adroit scout and his companion as they weave through the lush and spectacular wilderness of upstate New York, fighting to save the beautiful daughters of a fort commander from a treacherous Huron renegade.

The story is a mix of adventure, romance, and historical drama, highlighting themes of cultural conflict and friendship. ( )

The principal character of The Last of the Mohicans is Natty Bumppo, also called Hawkeye, now in middle life and at the height of his powers. The story tells of brutal battles with the Iroquois and their French allies, cruel captures, narrow escapes, and revenge. The beauty of the unspoiled wilderness and sorrow at its disappearance, symbolized in Hawkeye’s Mohican friends, the last of their tribe, are important themes of the novel.

The pivotal set piece of The Last of the Mohicans is the massacre at Fort William Henry during the internecine French and Indian War, as the North American portion of the worldwide Seven Years’ War was known. This is the “factual” event around which Cooper, the first internationally renowned American novelist, builds a compelling tale of wilderness adventure.

Drawing heavily on the American genre of the Native American captivity narrative, he created a template for much American popular fiction, particularly the western. Frontiersman Natty Bumppo, whom the French call La Longue Carabine (the long rifle), had already been introduced as an old man in Cooper’s The Pioneers (1823); here he appears in middle age, as Hawkeye, a scout working for the British, along with Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, two respected members of the Mohican tribe of the Hudson River valley in the British colony of New York who become his companions. Having crossed paths with Cora and Alice Munro, the daughters of a British colonel who are betrayed by their Huron guide, a wily warrior named Magua, Bumppo and friends spend the rest of the novel rescuing them from captivity, escorting them to safety, or pursuing them through the wilderness.

Cooper’s racial politics are conservative; though the novel raises the possibility of interracial romance between Uncas and the genteel Cora (who has a Black mother), the prospect is quashed. Cooper laments the destruction of the wilderness, and of the Native peoples who inhabit it, but all are shown to succumb inevitably to progress, typical of the ideology of 19th-century America. ( )

In 1757, during the French and Indian War, Cora and Alice Munro are traveling to meet their father, who is currently in command of Fort William Henry. Major Duncan Heyward is escorting them, along with their Native American guide, Magua. The deeper the group journeys into the wilderness, the more they begin to suspect that Magua is steering them wrong. Fortunately, they stumble upon Hawkeye, a scout, and his Mohican companions, Chingachgook and Uncas. When the new group points out that Magua has indeed betrayed the ladies, Magua escapes into the woods, rounds up reinforcements, and persistently hunts his erstwhile companions.

I added this to a list of classics that I'd like to read someday because the movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis was filmed around Western North Carolina, where I live, and parts were even filmed within a few miles of my parents' house. My husband and I are currently traveling around the country with his job, so when I realized the book actually takes place around Lake George, New York, only about an hour away from where we are this summer, I knew the time had come to tackle it.

The book was a little bit of a slog but that's partly on me. I can only remember one scene from the movie and it's a sad one. I don't particularly like sad books so I kept avoiding it. The writing is also an odd mix of a lot of action buried under very dense sentence structure. I had to take my time wading through each sentence to figure out what exactly was going on. I'm generally a fast reader and have a hard time slowing myself down for this kind of book. I start to get resentful that it's taking me so long to read the darn thing!

My husband and I finally went up to visit Lake George about the time I was reaching the last few chapters and it's a beautiful place. Fort William Henry, where some pivotal action takes place, was rebuilt in the 1950s so we toured it. I enjoyed seeing the real life place where the fictional book was set. It really added to my experience.

The book was written in 1826 and the language and treatment of the Native American characters reflects that. It wasn't as bad as I expected but as a White woman, I don't know if I'm the best judge. Among the occasional derogatory remarks and stereotypical "silly superstitions," there is some true depth to the Native American characters. Their dwindling populations and lands are treated with a degree of poignancy, in my opinion. For what that's worth.

The edition I checked out of the library is beautifully illustrated with watercolors by Patrick Prugne. It's a gorgeous book.

I liked reading about America in the pre-Revolutionary years, a time I know little about. If the historical period interests you, this is definitely worth a read. ( )

If you're interested in reading this book thinking you'll be getting the same hustle and bustle as the audacious Michael Mann film accompanied by a rousing soundtrack, think again. Though the descriptions are pictorial and painstaking (if that's what you're looking for), they are too long-winded and tedious to the point that they lose their effect and fail to enchant the reader. The plot is a bit silly at times, though it pretends to be serious, with all the captures, recaptures, back-stabbings and melodramatic death sequences that seem to happen at random and just don't seem to satisfy the way the film does (though it be just as exaggerated, it does so knowing it's being cheesy). This book may have been considered "adventuresome" in the early 1800s, but it just doesn't hold well today. ( )

This is Cooper's second entry in the five volume Leatherstocking series. Hawkeye, the fearless warrior, trapper and guide along with his Mohican friend, Chingachgook, fights bad Indians represented in this novel by the Hurons and their chief, Magua. The tile comes from the fact that Chingachgook's son, Uncas, is the last Mohican if he or his father is killed.

While the descriptions of terrain and people are lengthy and in some instances of action, I had to read some paragraphs several times to be sure I understood what actually had taken place. The famous massacre at Fort William Henry was graphically described and Cooper lays the blame at the feet of General Montcalm for not controlling his native allies. ( )

I read this one so long ago that I don't recall any details. ( )

Watch the movie! For once, I think the film versions (none of which are completely true to the book) are better than the original novel. Cooper has written an exciting adventure story in such a way that it is a struggle to read. It is tempting to blame that on the early date it was written (1826) except that Jane Austen wrote even earlier and in a much easier style!

This audiobook edition also has some problems. This digital audiobook from Recorded Books has chapter markers but they bear no relation to the chapters in the text! I suspect that they represent the sides of cassette tapes -- but at least there wasn't any "This is the end of..." bits. The narrator was okay. Unfortunately, his voice, instead of compelling my attention, caused my mind to wander. For some sections, I had to resort to reading my Kindle edition after repeated attempts to listen left me unable to comprehend what was happening. ( )

Sal�n

a thrilling story till the end ( )

Yep! Five stars! Amazing story. At first, the writing style was hard for me to understand, but shortly into the book, I was so absorbed into the story that the style made it that more wonderful. ( )

Here's what I wrote after reading in 1986: 'A tale of seven or so individuals caught in the politic and physical gun fire between the French, English, and Native Americans during the mid 1700's in the lands of New York around Horican Lake. Book gave extensive insights into the ways of native people as they adjusted to the takeover of their lands. Most memorable character: Uncas, the last of the chiefs and bold warriors of the Mohicans." Note: Horican Lake was the name assigned by Cooper for Lake George, which was called "Andia-ta-roc-te" by native people. ( )

So listened using Librivox. Some underwhelming readers for this book. (In future I may try to avoid multiple readers for sane book). Thought plot as laid out in the movie (based on the 1936 movie) was better than Cooper's plot. ( )

There were intriguing moments followed by overlong descriptions. Not my jam, overall. ( )

A bit wordy but expected with the age of the book. I got into the rhythm and enjoyed it. ( )

An exciting story but so ponderously told. And if he mentioned either of the Munro women's "weakness of their sex" one more time, I was going to scream. The antiquated language made this a difficult and not entirely enjoyable read. ( )

My best friend and I decided to read this book after watching (and instantly falling in love) with an italian cartoon version of The Last of the Mohicans. We were both really sad to see that there were only few similarities between the two works like names etc. I was really dissapointed because i expected something more. I thought it dragged a lot in some points. But still I want to recommend the italian cartoon to everyone, it's one of my favourite shows ever. It's an awesome adaption of the book and I can say I liked it even more than the movie. Look it up guys! ( )

bez přebalu, slepovaná

While reading this book I thus far must admit, that I like the movie much better than the book. Maybe it'll get better, I hope so, but have not much hope.

And it didn't get much better. Yesterday, during quite a long car drive, I finished listening to this book. Despite that I usually like stories about native people, their struggles, their ways of life.

This book felt heavily outdated. The use of language, the way people treat one another. Usually I can look past that and say 'this was the way to do things then and the way to describe things when the book was written', but in this case it just didn't work.
So.... I'm very happy I'm done with this one. ( )

I am totally in agreement with Mark Twain about James Fenimore Cooper's literary "offenses" ... why describe a man as tall and thin when you can spend pages describing every feature from their eyebrows to their toes. Nary a drop of water nor a tree gets by without a vivid, unneeded description.

This book has a lot of action (though some problematic as a product of the time it was written in...) but it was hard to get past Cooper's writing style to really get into the story. This is one case where I could see how a movie version would be an improvement over the book. ( )

This is another classic that I will never read again. In fact, after the first 10-12%, I gave up on this book.

No offense to JFC fans, but he just doesn't cut it for me. I usually like authors to be descriptive in their writings, but I think Mr. Cooper got too carried away with it.

The next time I pick up a classic novel, I want to fall in love with it, not throw it in the fire. ( )

This is a tragedy. and a love story, very close to Romeo & Juliet, outcome is the same but the path is different. ( )

This novel is set in 1757 during the Seven Years War when Britain and France battled for control of North America. It is very well written, with evocative descriptions of the landscape, and portrays the multi-faceted life of the various tribes of North American "Red Indians", depicting Native American characters in way in a way that no significant American had done before. There are, of course, still examples of the language of the time (published in 1826) that we wouldn't use today ("savages" vs. "civilised men"), but he portrays a rich variety of characters, including the central character, the young and heroic Uncas and his dignified father Chingachgook, and the villainous Magua; compared to these, the white European-American characters are much blander, particularly the sisters Cora and Alice, who are depicted as beautiful bland ciphers, as young female characters so often were in 19th century literature on both sides of the Atlantic. Between them is the figure of Hawkeye/Natty Bumppo, a white man raised by Delaware Indians, able to act as a bridge between the two cultures. The action of the novel revolves around the rescue of Cora and Alice from the clutches of the Hurons who have kidnapped them, and contains some impressive and violent set pieces, involving much scalping. There were passages where my interest waned, nevertheless this is deservedly an early classic of American literature. ( )