Wednesday 14 March 2012

Kane and Abel : Novel and TV mini-series

One more of my posts on an adaptation of my favorite novel. Jeffrey Archer is one of the best authors the world has ever seen. The stories he writes are something which are only exclusive to him. There is no one in the world to match his unique style. One of my favorite books by him is Kane and Abel.
The novel revolves around the life of two men, William Kane and Abel Rosnovski.

The two men have nothing in common except that they are born on the same day in the early 19th century and they both want to succeed. William is born in the United States while Abel is born as Wladek Koskiewicz in Poland under great poverty and hardships. William is inspired by his father, chairman of Kane and Cabot Bank and plans to be a great banker someday. Whereas Abel under poverty struggles to find a living and education.

The First World War changes Abel's life and after an invasion of Germans and Russians into Poland, Abel has no option but to flee. He goes to a numerous places before getting an opportunity to go in the United States. There he starts his struggle to survive taking up odd jobs before becoming a waiter. His journey from being a waiter to manager of a hotel and being an owner of large chain of hotels is depicted in a great and inspiring way.

While Abel makes his life in Poland and escapes to United States, William is no less. He is extraordinarily intelligent in mathematics and has deep rooted sense of right business tactics. He grows up enduring his father tragic death in The Titanic, studies hard to get into Harvard. Life is not easy for him too, his mother remarries another man, Henry Osborne(David Osborne in the TV series) who turns out to be a gold digger and just exploits his mother's wealth. His mother too dies shortly after period of tensions and mental frustrations. William after completing his education gets on the board of his father's great bank with his genius and plans one day to be the chairman just like his father was.

The stories of these two great men go parallel until one day when Abel, the manager of a big group of hotels has to deal with Kane, one of the directors of bank regarding the loans of Abel's employer, David Leroy. Kane appears as expected of him(in a professional way) which angers Abel. Also during this Leroy commits suicide which triggers Abel's anger towards Kane to a great extent. Abel wows to destroy Kane and thus a great rivalry starts. Each one leaves no stone unturned in destroying each other and fight for the next three decades of their lives.

The book and the TV miniseries (of 3 episodes) based on the book shows us this great story well. A story spanning for 6 decades(right from birth till the end of the men) is something everyone should see, enjoy and feel.

18 comments:

  1. Thanks for your post. One of my favorite books too, didn't know about the TV-series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not many are aware of it, even I came to know about the TV series last week only.
      After about twenty minutes ka google search and 11 hrs of waiting while it downloaded, I got to see it. ;)

      Delete
  2. I do not know about this Novel and not possible also as i keep on moving from one remote place to another. This is a great novel as i can feel andread this whenever i may get a chance.
    Thanks for educating me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting.
      Do read it. It will be among the best ones you have ever read. :)

      Delete
  3. never heard of it :D
    new info for a day :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohh...Thanks for calling it 'info' which people at my home call 'crap'. ;D

      Delete
  4. I thought this was Archer's best work!

    A TV series would have been very good to watch. Why do we not get such good ones here in India, I wonder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it is indeed one of his best works......
      It was not a complete TV series, instead it was a 3 part adaption of the novel...That made it a mini-series.

      Delete
  5. i remember reading this long long long ago but have only a faint recollection of it now.

    time for a re-read i guess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think yes, its time for a re-read. :)

      Delete
  6. Its one of my fav books! Am not a Archer fan but this book was a exception.The tv series was remade in India as well on Sony tv.I don't remember the name!

    My world, my thoughts, my musings..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohh yes, never connected the novel to that Sony TV series. :P
      Yes it was in someway an Indian adaptation of the book.
      I think it was named Kismat..not sure but something like that and the protagonists were born on the day of Independence? Had almost forgotten it now you have mentioned I'll check if find some episodes. Thanks. :) :)

      Delete
  7. I think I read this book when I was in school..Maybe I should read it again, I couldn't even remember it a bit while reading your post :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its good..you'll again have the same experience and excitement now while reading it. :)

      Delete
  8. This used to be one of my favourite novels...read it ages back, thanks for the refresher...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never really read Jeff Archer's books! Maybe I should try this one!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep try this one, you'll like his style which stands distinct among others of his kind....
      Just got one more of his books an hour ago. :)

      Delete