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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
There are two Jason Bourne in this world, the one created by Ludlum and the one portrayed by Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity.
If you guys have seen the movie and think that the novel is a waste of time now that i have seen the movie, you are all wrong.
The movie just picks the characters from the novel and has its own story.
It should have been titled "Fuck you Ludlum", because thats what Doug Liman has done with the novel. He must have read the book, and thrown it into the trash can or rolled it up while he was writing another cliched hollywood story about a CIA spy.
In the novels, Bourne is neither a spy or an assassin. Unlike the movies, there is an antagonist, who goes by the name of Carlos, and is bent upon killing the pretender Bourne aka Cain. The novel is excellently paced and the only fault that i can come up is that somehow inexplicably, Carlos is able to send his men precisely where Bourne is, that sometimes feels a little odd.
Bourne's identity is always in drapes, his origin shrouded in a cloud of mystery. Was he an assassin, or just a CIA agent is one question that will always be on your mind.
In my opinion Ludlum might come a close second to Archer in terms of his ability to tell a story.
If you guys have seen the movie and think that the novel is a waste of time now that i have seen the movie, you are all wrong.
The movie just picks the characters from the novel and has its own story.
It should have been titled "Fuck you Ludlum", because thats what Doug Liman has done with the novel. He must have read the book, and thrown it into the trash can or rolled it up while he was writing another cliched hollywood story about a CIA spy.
In the novels, Bourne is neither a spy or an assassin. Unlike the movies, there is an antagonist, who goes by the name of Carlos, and is bent upon killing the pretender Bourne aka Cain. The novel is excellently paced and the only fault that i can come up is that somehow inexplicably, Carlos is able to send his men precisely where Bourne is, that sometimes feels a little odd.
Bourne's identity is always in drapes, his origin shrouded in a cloud of mystery. Was he an assassin, or just a CIA agent is one question that will always be on your mind.
In my opinion Ludlum might come a close second to Archer in terms of his ability to tell a story.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was just too slow after I have grown up with the movies, I am sure if I had read this first things would have been different.
Marie went from being a victim of kidnapping to falling in love with Jason real quick.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
You’ve read one action thriller, you’ve read them all, right? The character development of the love interest is a little forced and I swear if she called Bourne “darling” one more time I’d have given up entirely. The timeline is confusing with the storytelling taking place over a couple of weeks, yet the characters refer to it as months.
I also had some trouble occasionally following who was talking at the moment. The way people are referred to is all over the place. The main character is “Jason” or “Bourne” (or a couple others that are spoilers) seemingly without any reasoning. There are characters referred to as their job titles when that job has not yet been mentioned.
It definitely feels as though the author had a really fantastic idea for a story, but no concept of how to write it down coherently or tools to assist in the process.
Generally your average fare for the genre with a slightly interesting angle. The writing is messy but readable. If you like this sort of thing, go for it.
I also had some trouble occasionally following who was talking at the moment. The way people are referred to is all over the place. The main character is “Jason” or “Bourne” (or a couple others that are spoilers) seemingly without any reasoning. There are characters referred to as their job titles when that job has not yet been mentioned.
It definitely feels as though the author had a really fantastic idea for a story, but no concept of how to write it down coherently or tools to assist in the process.
Generally your average fare for the genre with a slightly interesting angle. The writing is messy but readable. If you like this sort of thing, go for it.
Exciting and a mystery! Also I didn’t know this was written in the 80s - things made more sense when I figured that out.
I was able to get through half of this book before I had enough. I swear it's almost as if one person wrote the first 1/3 of the book and then another writer took over.
The spy intrigue and twists are okay, but the characters and the unconvincing relationship between Jason and Marie ruined it for me. I realize I'm in the minority here, but their dialogue felt so trite. I want to do a search to see how many times Marie called him "darling". And am I really supposed to believe that Marie was raped and two days later she utters this ridiculous sentence, "International finance is rotten and Canada has been raped"? No. No it hasn't. You know a book is not your thing when the characters say "Stop it!" over and over (and over and over and over...seriously?) again and you start thinking that maybe it's a sign and you should listen. In the end I did what they couldn't do and I stopped it.
The spy intrigue and twists are okay, but the characters and the unconvincing relationship between Jason and Marie ruined it for me. I realize I'm in the minority here, but their dialogue felt so trite. I want to do a search to see how many times Marie called him "darling". And am I really supposed to believe that Marie was raped and two days later she utters this ridiculous sentence, "International finance is rotten and Canada has been raped"? No. No it hasn't. You know a book is not your thing when the characters say "Stop it!" over and over (and over and over and over...seriously?) again and you start thinking that maybe it's a sign and you should listen. In the end I did what they couldn't do and I stopped it.
This is one of those odd times where I liked the movie a lot more than the book.
This is probably the best action-y thriller I've read (in contrast to the very much non-action Le Carré novels which are my go to for thrillers). Plus, while some of the bare bones and specific details are the same as in the (excellent) film adaptation, there's a awful lot of variation, to the extent that one really doesn't know where it's going.
One of the few books I've read that was not as good as the movie.