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I just finished the book--I'd never read it or any of the other ERB works. I don't even know that I'd ever seen any of the movie versions, except in bits and pieces, until the Disney adaptation.
So it was mostly new to me, except in the broadest outline. I enjoyed it in the beginning--the writing seemed lively and exciting, and I liked the story of how the family came to be in the African jungle. Then it bogged down; I did not like all the gratuitous violence and the endless tales of jungle life and killing. I was waiting for Jane to arrive, and for the "romance." Which was a disappointment.
There was so little interaction between Tarzan and Jane; heck, if I'm supposed to believe that some murderous ape man is her secret fantasy, the writer needs to do a more convincing job of it. But, okay, I'll go along with it. Then suddenly she's gone, and it takes forever (mostly boring again) for them to reunite--and after all that, boom, it's over for the star-crossed pair. Say what? No payoff, just Tarzan being all civilized and noble, and Jane being all proper and prim? What kind of ending to an adventure tale is that?
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