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elizabethbocock's review
2.0
I thought it was really boring, to be honest. I spent a lot of time thinking that I was missing something because of the way events are explained in the book. If I hadn't been required to read it for one of my classes, I would have dropped it after, like, Chapter 10.
maddie_lewis28's review
4.0
Oh my gosh this book was good. I red it for my college Crime Fiction Freshman Seminar English class and wow. This book was really good. Was I confused? Yes. But I am a sucker for mystery and crime and all that jazz. AND WE DIDNT HAVE TO ANNOTATE!!!! So I am a fan. This makes me think of when in middle school we read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and I just loved it. Basically just give me a book about crime and murder and mystery that isn't too crazy hard to read and I will love it.
lekakis's review
2.0
even the best books of the genre are mediocre, not sure why I was thinking this could be good.
mcf's review against another edition
4.0
If I'm honest, this book is causing something of a personal crisis, b/c of all the years I've spent thinking I didn't like Hammett much.
rgmattson's review
5.0
The Continental Op shows up in Poisonville for a job, but when things go wrong he stays out of spite to take down a corrupt town. The story twists and turns, but never confuses. A fantastic read, well worth your time.
jcmochnick's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
dee9401's review
2.0
I turned to Dashiell Hammet since he was one of the first authors to popularize the hardboiled genre. This style is one of my favorites, and I've read examples of it from American and Japanese authors. I really love Raymond Chandler, who is sometimes called Hammet's successor. On a meta-level, I was also excited that Hammet was born in my adopted state of Maryland (in St. Mary's County) and grew up in Philly (my hometown) and Baltimore (my new hometown and where I worked for many years). Alas, the stars didn't align to make this a great book for me.
The hardboiled style of fast-paced, staccato writing is absolutely there. Hammet has mastered the art of story telling and I wanted to finish the book almost from the very first page. However, unlike Chandler, there was no social context or message. I have called Chandler a hardboiled Steinbeck: dealing with social issues while still telling a great detective story. Hammet's characters are two-dimensional cut outs who lack any nuanced behaviors or redeeming factors. They have no backstory or clear motivation. There's no discussion of the overall social situation, how things got the way they were, why it should be fixed and how that might not work anyway.
In Red Harvest, one has a very utilitarian story of bad guys getting taken down by the scheming of an unnamed and shady detective. This feels ore like the script for a late 20th/early 21st century Hollywood film. Lots of "shoot 'em up", sexiness and drinking, rather than a well-honed novel from the early 20th. Alas, I probably won't read any more Hammet.
The hardboiled style of fast-paced, staccato writing is absolutely there. Hammet has mastered the art of story telling and I wanted to finish the book almost from the very first page. However, unlike Chandler, there was no social context or message. I have called Chandler a hardboiled Steinbeck: dealing with social issues while still telling a great detective story. Hammet's characters are two-dimensional cut outs who lack any nuanced behaviors or redeeming factors. They have no backstory or clear motivation. There's no discussion of the overall social situation, how things got the way they were, why it should be fixed and how that might not work anyway.
In Red Harvest, one has a very utilitarian story of bad guys getting taken down by the scheming of an unnamed and shady detective. This feels ore like the script for a late 20th/early 21st century Hollywood film. Lots of "shoot 'em up", sexiness and drinking, rather than a well-honed novel from the early 20th. Alas, I probably won't read any more Hammet.