Book description
Lamar Jimmersan, an American doughboy in 1917 France, learns that his life's purpose is to administer the brotherhood of the Gnomons, preservers of the wisdom of the lost city of Atlantis, and Gnomonism risesand eventually fades awayin America. Reprint.
Why read it?
2 authors picked Masters of Atlantis as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
After reading a profile of Portis (1933-2020), I decided to pick up one of his novels and kept reading until I had finished three of them. Although he is most famous for True Grit, I found Masters of Atlantis the most engaging and imaginative.
It tells the story of a small group of dreamers, grifters, and general oddballs who establish a fraternal order similar to the Freemasons in the early twentieth century. Then, it follows their fortunes as they wax and wane over the next several decades.
It reminds me of the short-lived television show Lodge 49 from a…
Remember how disappointed you were when you first tried to read Tolkien's The Silmarillion? You'd just devoured The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and you needed more Middle Earth, and you asked for The Silmarillian for your birthday and you received it! And it was just a bunch of half-baked fleshless ideas! Well, there's nothing half-baked about Masters of Atlantis! Masters of Atlantis is my least favorite book by my most favorite author! Why did I choose it for this list over Portis's other four novels? Because, for the vast majority of its 300-plus pages,…
From Gregory's list on that care not a whit about traditional plotting.
If you love Masters of Atlantis...
The High House
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
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