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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
This book was on my TBR list for a long time. I have put off seeing the movie of this book and over the years multiple sequels have come out in books and movies have come out. Although the length of the book is intimidating, audio books and long trips make getting through the book easier. With this book in particular, the story plot keeps the reader’s interest locked in until the end. I will be continuing to the next book in the series.
If one reads it keeping in mind the referential context of the time it was written, it is a decent thriller. Today it seems but naive. I do not believe I'm saying this, but... better watch the movies.
I'm not really sure why I read this. Maybe it's because I have a gig of MOBIs and poor judgment. Anyway, thanks to the laziness of cable movie channel programmers, I've seen the film version of The Bourne Identity about 15 times now. Of course, this doesn't mean I remember anything about the plot. All I really remember is Matt Damon running around and things exploding. This paired with the fact that nothing in the book would possibly be any good on screen makes me assume the novel and movie differ quite a bit. I'm also not very good with faces, so while I was reading the book Matt Damon occasionally was replaced by Mark Wahlburg, running around with brows furrowed, mumbling to himself about his identity. This enhances the reading experience.
While Jason Bourne has to grapple with a past self that he doesn't remember, Ludlum must fight off an equally mysterious urge to sabotage his own novel. He'll do something really well, like have characters make very reasoned decisions that turn out to be completely wrong. This makes things very realistic; government intelligence is a field where people get things wrong all the time. Then he will turn around and do something monumentally stupid, such as repeat the line "Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain" ON EVERY FUCKING PAGE OF THE BOOK. Was he getting paid by the word? Also, what the hell is "multiple schizophrenia"? That's not even a thing, I googled it. Ludlum's silliness can be overlooked mainly because of the amount of tension he manages to create. Bourne never gets five minutes to relax, and that fast pace is sustained through until the end. Keeping this up is no small feat in an international espionage action novel where no one even has a cell phone. Only marginally better than watching the Matt Damon puppet say his own name over and over.
While Jason Bourne has to grapple with a past self that he doesn't remember, Ludlum must fight off an equally mysterious urge to sabotage his own novel. He'll do something really well, like have characters make very reasoned decisions that turn out to be completely wrong. This makes things very realistic; government intelligence is a field where people get things wrong all the time. Then he will turn around and do something monumentally stupid, such as repeat the line "Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain" ON EVERY FUCKING PAGE OF THE BOOK. Was he getting paid by the word? Also, what the hell is "multiple schizophrenia"? That's not even a thing, I googled it. Ludlum's silliness can be overlooked mainly because of the amount of tension he manages to create. Bourne never gets five minutes to relax, and that fast pace is sustained through until the end. Keeping this up is no small feat in an international espionage action novel where no one even has a cell phone. Only marginally better than watching the Matt Damon puppet say his own name over and over.
Always a good story but unfortunately showing it’s age and era of writing style and plot.
This book is different than the movie, wildly different. I’m going to be one of the few who responds simply with, “I preferred the movie”.
The book ends up being a convoluted mess of espionage jargon and muddy waters while the movie is clear concise and frankly more compelling in its description of who Bourne is. I like the moody Damon more than I liked the analytical cold examination of Bourne in the book. In the book Bourne is just an assassin for hire that is being pitted against some other super assassin and the story ends up being too lethargic for me to actually care.
The book ends up being a convoluted mess of espionage jargon and muddy waters while the movie is clear concise and frankly more compelling in its description of who Bourne is. I like the moody Damon more than I liked the analytical cold examination of Bourne in the book. In the book Bourne is just an assassin for hire that is being pitted against some other super assassin and the story ends up being too lethargic for me to actually care.
Never having read this series before, I thought I'd try it. I enjoyed it more than I thought. I felt it built up excitement and anticipation well in chases which can be harder to do on paper. I think I prefer Reacher and will likely continue more of that series though.
If you've read a review of this book you already know it's plot is nothing like the movie. There are names in common but that's about it.
Having said that, there is one thing they both have in common. They are fast and full of furious action. It never lets up for 600 pages which is a pretty good testament to Ludlum's skill as a writer. There are a couple weaker points in the plot but overall, it's as much fun as anything else I've read in the genre and more so than most.
I don't know that I'll read more of the series. I'm guessing that it would be more of the same. Which isn't necessarily bad, but isn't what I want. That's the biggest problem I have with a series like Ludlum's "Bourne." You know the protagonist will live through whatever happens because he appears in the next book. I also found the Bourne character borderline superhuman. He's almost too good to be believable. I think it is only Ludlum's abilities that kept me engaged even when Bourne's abilities seemed to surpass anything humanly possible. I don't care for invincible or superhuman human characters.
Overall, this is a great thriller/spy novel well worth the time its hefty length requires.
Having said that, there is one thing they both have in common. They are fast and full of furious action. It never lets up for 600 pages which is a pretty good testament to Ludlum's skill as a writer. There are a couple weaker points in the plot but overall, it's as much fun as anything else I've read in the genre and more so than most.
I don't know that I'll read more of the series. I'm guessing that it would be more of the same. Which isn't necessarily bad, but isn't what I want. That's the biggest problem I have with a series like Ludlum's "Bourne." You know the protagonist will live through whatever happens because he appears in the next book. I also found the Bourne character borderline superhuman. He's almost too good to be believable. I think it is only Ludlum's abilities that kept me engaged even when Bourne's abilities seemed to surpass anything humanly possible. I don't care for invincible or superhuman human characters.
Overall, this is a great thriller/spy novel well worth the time its hefty length requires.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
tl;dr Just re-watch the movie.
This book took me a really long time to read. And I mean, really long. I kept /not/ wanting to read it. It was so...boring. Such a massive 180 compared to the flick, which is non-stop action, movement, character, emotion, and plot all the way through. (And of course, a sex scene tossed in, I mean, what is Hollywood /without/ a sex scene.)
The first three chapters could've easily been tossed out or condensed into one. The best part of the book is chapters four to about six or so. (Basically whenever that action part ends, it's been so long, I can't remember now.) After that, it's like reading the first three chapters over and over. Nothing happens. I feel no suspense. The characters are all bland at have the same voice.
Speaking of. If anyone is doing research on how badly men typically write women characters, THIS is an excellent example. Why is the female character there? I don't know, she just is. Could the book be the same without her? Definitely. Is rape traumatizing? Nah. I mean, it's the worst thing that a woman could ever experience that no man could ever hope to understand (legit said in the book), but does it affect the survivor at all? I mean, that line said everything right? No need to address that ever again.
This woman is a robot. I don't know anything about her. I don't know how she thinks, feels, only what she does. Oh, and does she LOVE Jason. Of course. They're in love a day after meeting each other. Did I remind you that she loves Jason? Because she loves him. What does she love about him? Why does she love him? Who cares! She LOVES him. Probably because she is a woman, and women are supposed to love men, especially the main male character, obviously.
This book is more from Jason's POV, but it's not like the author doesn't give Marie any screen time. She talks and we read her thoughts. She is just literally a robot.
ATTENTION MALE SPECIES: How do you write a female character? By writing a character, and making them female. BAM. DONE! DON'T OVER THINK IT.
It read literally like a male trying to write a female character. (Has this guy ever met a woman? Like, ever? Or has he only ever read other books written by males who have no idea what the female species is like.)
Not only that, but her sole purpose, aside from female love interest, is basically the equivalent of the internet. She literally knows everything about everyone to the fine detail of Google searching. Had this book been written nowadays, Jason would've just used his phone to find out information on people. (And I am not kidding, the level of detail this robot with a vagina knows about everyone and everything is stupid.)
She wasn't the only robot, of course, just the most blatant one. Every other character was just as emotionless. It was awkward reading scenes where innocent people Jason interrogated were screaming because it was like...why? It was out of nowhere. It was like the author's intention was to showcase their fear, but it was empty and forced. Jason and more major characters were no different. The complete lack of any real emotion throughout the book made me feel so detached from everyone. I didn't care what happened to anyone. The only thing I /did/ care about was (Though if you've seen the movie, it's not a spoiler.)
Funnily enough, I felt more emotion (from the book, not my own) and character from the two inconsequential movers at the end of the book (the ones portrayed with an obvious jab at blue-collar workers) than anything else. It was so strikingly different and ironically better that it took me off guard. I was momentarily interested in the book there, ha!
All the twists and 'shocking' reveals fell flat on me. There were no hints that would've made the guessing fun, there was no emotion that made me care. The writing throughout the entire book was empty and dry. This book falls HEAVILY under the "telling not showing" issue. It took me a while to figure that out, because he blabs so much that it /felt/ like the author was 'showing' when he wasn't. Someone's hands are shaking with fear, I am told this but I don't /feel/ it.
Aside from that crap, as those annoyed me the most, (seriously, the MOVIE does it better!) the book is bloated with so much extra detail and unneeded text. Sometimes it works, but 90% of the time, it doesn't. It felt like this guy was aiming for a word count rather than trying to just write a decent book. (And I really feel like it's a word count thing. He spelled out a lot of numbers and words that normally aren't in the average novel.)
A minor complaint, compared to the rest at least, would be the inclusion of other languages, mostly French. This book is obviously directed towards an English audience. I don't mind dropping some French here and there, but sometimes those lines seem to be very important and are never translated. (Note to author, you can type in English and /say/ they're speaking French and I'll believe you, you don't actually have to type in French.)
I knew I'd be at least somewhat biased walking into this after having seen the movie many times throughout my life, but damn. I didn't expect to add this guy to the list of books that are (shockingly) worse than the movie. (Hello, Twilight! Yikes!)
The ending does pick up a bit on the ride to the conclusion. After reading so much crap, it wasn't much of a great ride since I'm so exhausted by this point. (Plus there is still the word bloated issue.) I've been wanting it over when I was less than a third of the way through. Attempting to add a cherry on top of a pile of shit doesn't help it much.
I do want to say that I find the general plot (though made out to be more stupidly complicated and bloated than its bare bones) was better than the movie. The movie really dumbed it down to standard Hollywood stuff and lost out on a lot of potential uniqueness that this book showed. That said, I don't think this book is worth reading to figure that out. Finding a synopsis is much more worth your time, if you were to spend it on this at all. Though for those wondering, the movie and book are almost entirely two different things. Really, only the first few bits of the book are the same.
Honestly, I feel like a mix of those chapters 4-6ish, parts of the ending (), and the movie are what's making me feel this book is worth 2/5 stars. While I'm glad they made the book into the movie, just so we can have a substantially better story told, I don't feel like this author deserved the success, if I'm to be an ass.
Won't be reading any of this guy's other books, that's for sure.
This book took me a really long time to read. And I mean, really long. I kept /not/ wanting to read it. It was so...boring. Such a massive 180 compared to the flick, which is non-stop action, movement, character, emotion, and plot all the way through. (And of course, a sex scene tossed in, I mean, what is Hollywood /without/ a sex scene.)
The first three chapters could've easily been tossed out or condensed into one. The best part of the book is chapters four to about six or so. (Basically whenever that action part ends, it's been so long, I can't remember now.) After that, it's like reading the first three chapters over and over. Nothing happens. I feel no suspense. The characters are all bland at have the same voice.
Speaking of. If anyone is doing research on how badly men typically write women characters, THIS is an excellent example. Why is the female character there? I don't know, she just is. Could the book be the same without her? Definitely. Is rape traumatizing? Nah. I mean, it's the worst thing that a woman could ever experience that no man could ever hope to understand (legit said in the book), but does it affect the survivor at all? I mean, that line said everything right? No need to address that ever again.
This woman is a robot. I don't know anything about her. I don't know how she thinks, feels, only what she does. Oh, and does she LOVE Jason. Of course. They're in love a day after meeting each other. Did I remind you that she loves Jason? Because she loves him. What does she love about him? Why does she love him? Who cares! She LOVES him. Probably because she is a woman, and women are supposed to love men, especially the main male character, obviously.
This book is more from Jason's POV, but it's not like the author doesn't give Marie any screen time. She talks and we read her thoughts. She is just literally a robot.
ATTENTION MALE SPECIES: How do you write a female character? By writing a character, and making them female. BAM. DONE! DON'T OVER THINK IT.
It read literally like a male trying to write a female character. (Has this guy ever met a woman? Like, ever? Or has he only ever read other books written by males who have no idea what the female species is like.)
Not only that, but her sole purpose, aside from female love interest, is basically the equivalent of the internet. She literally knows everything about everyone to the fine detail of Google searching. Had this book been written nowadays, Jason would've just used his phone to find out information on people. (And I am not kidding, the level of detail this robot with a vagina knows about everyone and everything is stupid.)
She wasn't the only robot, of course, just the most blatant one. Every other character was just as emotionless. It was awkward reading scenes where innocent people Jason interrogated were screaming because it was like...why? It was out of nowhere. It was like the author's intention was to showcase their fear, but it was empty and forced. Jason and more major characters were no different. The complete lack of any real emotion throughout the book made me feel so detached from everyone. I didn't care what happened to anyone. The only thing I /did/ care about was
Spoiler
the misunderstanding between Jason's amnesia and the Americans.Funnily enough, I felt more emotion (from the book, not my own) and character from the two inconsequential movers at the end of the book (the ones portrayed with an obvious jab at blue-collar workers) than anything else. It was so strikingly different and ironically better that it took me off guard. I was momentarily interested in the book there, ha!
All the twists and 'shocking' reveals fell flat on me. There were no hints that would've made the guessing fun, there was no emotion that made me care. The writing throughout the entire book was empty and dry. This book falls HEAVILY under the "telling not showing" issue. It took me a while to figure that out, because he blabs so much that it /felt/ like the author was 'showing' when he wasn't. Someone's hands are shaking with fear, I am told this but I don't /feel/ it.
Aside from that crap, as those annoyed me the most, (seriously, the MOVIE does it better!) the book is bloated with so much extra detail and unneeded text. Sometimes it works, but 90% of the time, it doesn't. It felt like this guy was aiming for a word count rather than trying to just write a decent book. (And I really feel like it's a word count thing. He spelled out a lot of numbers and words that normally aren't in the average novel.)
A minor complaint, compared to the rest at least, would be the inclusion of other languages, mostly French. This book is obviously directed towards an English audience. I don't mind dropping some French here and there, but sometimes those lines seem to be very important and are never translated. (Note to author, you can type in English and /say/ they're speaking French and I'll believe you, you don't actually have to type in French.)
I knew I'd be at least somewhat biased walking into this after having seen the movie many times throughout my life, but damn. I didn't expect to add this guy to the list of books that are (shockingly) worse than the movie. (Hello, Twilight! Yikes!)
The ending does pick up a bit on the ride to the conclusion. After reading so much crap, it wasn't much of a great ride since I'm so exhausted by this point. (Plus there is still the word bloated issue.) I've been wanting it over when I was less than a third of the way through. Attempting to add a cherry on top of a pile of shit doesn't help it much.
Spoiler
And even then, it ends with a cliffhanger. Yay. //sarcasm if it wasn't obvious.I do want to say that I find the general plot (though made out to be more stupidly complicated and bloated than its bare bones) was better than the movie. The movie really dumbed it down to standard Hollywood stuff and lost out on a lot of potential uniqueness that this book showed. That said, I don't think this book is worth reading to figure that out. Finding a synopsis is much more worth your time, if you were to spend it on this at all. Though for those wondering, the movie and book are almost entirely two different things. Really, only the first few bits of the book are the same.
Honestly, I feel like a mix of those chapters 4-6ish, parts of the ending (
Spoiler
the David scene of the last few lines was cuteWon't be reading any of this guy's other books, that's for sure.