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twilliamson's review
4.0
First published in April 1931, The Living Shadow details the first literary production of The Shadow, heroic archetype for numerous pulp- and super-hero characters to come throughout the next century.
The story, though, centers not explicitly on The Shadow's exploits so much as it does on the involvement of Harry Vincent with The Shadow's affairs. Harry, a down-on-his-luck young man living in New York, attempts suicide before his life is saved by a mysterious stranger. Given new purpose, and tremendous resources, Harry becomes one of The Shadow's principle agents in the discovery of a jewel fence involved in moving goods beneath the noses of the police of New York.
Police are baffled by the affairs, which come to a head in the murder of a millionaire from Long Island, whose death goes unsolved. Vincent becomes embroiled with the investigation of the murder, eventually discovering that the murder is tied to a scheme to move a payload of jewels across the country as a means to fence the items. Harry faces off against Wang Foo, a Chinese tea shop owner whose secret business is the fencing of expensive jewels; English Johnny, a lunch-wagon crook who uses his business as a front to criminal dealings and shipments; Steve Cronin, assassin; and Ezekial Bingham, criminal defense lawyer moonlighting as crime boss.
What makes the story most interesting, though, are its strange politics and novel approach to storytelling. The Shadow is rarely seen throughout the novel, and while he does act occasionally as the deus-ex-machina to save Harry Vincent from any number of troubles--including a few fist fights and one scene with a swinging guillotine--The Shadow is hardly the focus of the narrative's action. Indeed, much of the tension is plot-driven, and interpreted through the narrative lens of Harry Vincent's experiences.
Nevertheless, the surprising finale, involving an unmasking of the criminal Wang Foo and revelation that he is not a Chinese businessman, but instead a white criminal mastermind dressing in yellowface to avoid police suspicion, opens up some interesting conversations about the treatment of race in similar stories, and even about the genre of literature The Shadow seemed to have a hand in creating.
All in all, while the novel may not hold up to the standards of good prose, it still seems to work as a blend of hard-boiled pulp detection and newly-minted (super)heroics, and lays down a lot of the groundwork for genre expansion in the later decade.
The story, though, centers not explicitly on The Shadow's exploits so much as it does on the involvement of Harry Vincent with The Shadow's affairs. Harry, a down-on-his-luck young man living in New York, attempts suicide before his life is saved by a mysterious stranger. Given new purpose, and tremendous resources, Harry becomes one of The Shadow's principle agents in the discovery of a jewel fence involved in moving goods beneath the noses of the police of New York.
Police are baffled by the affairs, which come to a head in the murder of a millionaire from Long Island, whose death goes unsolved. Vincent becomes embroiled with the investigation of the murder, eventually discovering that the murder is tied to a scheme to move a payload of jewels across the country as a means to fence the items. Harry faces off against Wang Foo, a Chinese tea shop owner whose secret business is the fencing of expensive jewels; English Johnny, a lunch-wagon crook who uses his business as a front to criminal dealings and shipments; Steve Cronin, assassin; and Ezekial Bingham, criminal defense lawyer moonlighting as crime boss.
What makes the story most interesting, though, are its strange politics and novel approach to storytelling. The Shadow is rarely seen throughout the novel, and while he does act occasionally as the deus-ex-machina to save Harry Vincent from any number of troubles--including a few fist fights and one scene with a swinging guillotine--The Shadow is hardly the focus of the narrative's action. Indeed, much of the tension is plot-driven, and interpreted through the narrative lens of Harry Vincent's experiences.
Nevertheless, the surprising finale, involving an unmasking of the criminal Wang Foo and revelation that he is not a Chinese businessman, but instead a white criminal mastermind dressing in yellowface to avoid police suspicion, opens up some interesting conversations about the treatment of race in similar stories, and even about the genre of literature The Shadow seemed to have a hand in creating.
All in all, while the novel may not hold up to the standards of good prose, it still seems to work as a blend of hard-boiled pulp detection and newly-minted (super)heroics, and lays down a lot of the groundwork for genre expansion in the later decade.
ethanlaborde's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This short story is pretty good, with more twists than I thought there'd be going in. The one at the end regarding Wang Foo is especially memorable, and the action (when it happens) is awesome as well. I was surprised at the relatively slow pace of the story (at least when compared to some other pulps I've read, such as The Spider), but the mystery was compelling, so I didn't really mind. I was somewhat surprised at how frequently racial slurs were used by some characters, but I guess that just comes with the territory when reading stories this old. The illustrations in the scanned copy I read (courtesy of the Internet Archive) are good, and definitely helped me picture the events in my mind more accurately. Overall, it's a very good story, and I'll definitely be reading more Shadow pulps in the future!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racial slurs
joshuafr's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
craigmaxwell's review
2.0
Started out great, more than great actually I was so invested, only a short book really, but wow after about a quarter of the way in, it dragged, and dragged until I got fed up.
man_of_letters's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This pulp adventure from 1931 is the first in a series of 334 novels, and is a great introduction to the Shadow series as well as pulp novels in general.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
count_zero's review
3.0
The ending was a little anti-climactic, and the plot for the first half really didn't go anywhere, but otherwise the story was enjoyable.
seano's review
2.0
For a short book, it took forever to read. This is the first Shadow story, and unlike the first Tarzan story, or the first Zorro story, it’s crap. There are some good bits, but the juice is not worth the squeeze.
Recommended to Shadow enthusiasts only.
Recommended to Shadow enthusiasts only.