One of the most famous literary creations from the 19th century about the fight between French and indigenous people of America in the north of the state.
Story about two daughters trying to get to their father in the function of a colonel accompanied by some of his loyal men, who would give up their lives to save those two ladies. But the path into the safety of their father arms is tested and made impossible by an enemy group of Indians, who just donʼt shoot at them and fight with them, but also are able to capture both of them. And one hero by many known and feared as Hawkeye will come to rescue of his British friends.
Already in the beginning we are meeting with some drama through a good described gunfight. The book is quite brutal even though the description is not that precise, long and deep as in other novels, but you still got the impression of the heavy scenes and fights. As the example of an Indian killing a small baby and afterwards also its mother after which a fight starts and can be described as Mayhem. The older sister and also my favourite character, Kora, is a mature and courageous young lady, who could understand death and sacrifice. On the other side, her younger sister, Alice, was a naïve girl always getting in problems and doomed to be saved by all others. I had the feeling that the author tried to show a love triangle, where Kora was fascinated by the Major Duncan Heyward, loyal men of the Colonel and one of our main characters, who was fascinated by her sister Alice. Maybe I was the only one who had this feeling or it was the intention of the author. At the end I was shipping Kora with Uncas, even though I got the feeling no happy ending is awaiting us. Sadly, nothing like that happened. I suppose in the movie Kora was shipped with Hawkeye. After that information I was completely confused. Somehow, I understood all the relationships in this book wrong, or that was my feeling.
Three things to mention. First thing I could not imagine was the scene where Hawkeye was masking himself as a bear and it was believed by all witnesses. Maybe it was to be a joke understood and accepted by all, that a person is impersonating a bear. Second point was the unbelievable courage and nobility of the characters. Duncan I can understand, he was deeply in love with Alice, and after her kidnapping it was understandable that he was willing to sacrifice his live to bring her back. Kora was another character I could understand as well. She was brave and would do anything to protect her younger sister, even as it meant to marry and stay with the cunning Magua. But David? He was willing to get killed for his friends. How can any type of relationship be that fast evolving. He did not know all of the other characters before; they met throughout the plot development. Last points were the funeral rites. I found the plot to be more concentrating on that as on the final battle, where half of the main characters died. But, on the other side it showed the publicum how important were those funeral rites for Indians. Sadly, two out of three of my favourite characters died. I really did not see that coming.
Overall to say this novel from my collection of 19th century classics comes on the bottom of that list. It was a nice and easy novel, besides the complicated names of characters, but I could not bring myself to love it.