Kane & Abel

William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of Millionaire , the other a penniless Polish immigrant. A story spanning 60 years, brought together by fate to save - and finally destroy - each other.

Best Therapy

One of the best story-tellers i have ever come across. The 8 words of the closing sentence made me relive the book. Ouch!!
Never knew closure could be portrayed as simply and painfully.

Story of 2 men driven by ideals, crossing each others path multiple times over the span of 60+ years, if only ......

Failed bechdel test but damn, recalibrated the reading experience in itself for me.

Nice book and it shows the story of power between two persons and how they are so stuborn

Great storytelling, but his books always leave me feeling somewhat besmirched. Such love of capitalism and monarchy etc.

(4.5, rounded down to 4)
‘Kane and Abel' is a very clear cut novel - follows the life journeys of two people, Abel Rosnovski and William Kane, born on the same date - whose circumstances cause them to grow up drastically different, but later they clash with each other heavily - causing them to disregard everything around them for revenge.
This is a marvellous piece of fiction, but as much as I want to sing this novel's praises, it lets you down at several points - for example, the character motivations of Kane and Abel, the titular characters.
Even though the book describes the odysseys of Kane and Abel in excruciating detail, I still got the feeling that both could be further developed. This complaint was repeated with several characters, all of whom are described (and developed) in zero detail. The plot also slows down heavily in the last quarter of the book - the part where ideally, I should have been the most excited.
Barring that, the first two parts of the novel, and the ending - are one of the best in modern dramatized fiction I've encountered so far. Will definitely be returning to Jeffrey Archer in the future.

What a great change of pace! This was a wonderfully written book that had me invested from beginning to end. I did not see the ending coming and was saddened by it. All the hatred and feuding found out at the end was unnecessary. I will be reading more by this author.

A lovely written book. Strong characters and interesting storyline. A well rounded book with a satisfying ending.

More or less a modern classic, read it for the first time in thirty years and it still holds up.