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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A reasonable mystery, too easy to figure out.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Antisemitism
This was not exactly what I expected (more spy novel than mystery) but not knowing anything about the plot in advance made it more fun to read. I need to watch the movie now to compare.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
the entire book is basically "he runs for it, and he continues to run for it, and he commits crime and keeps running for it, and eventually does something at the end of the book"
fine. boring tho.
fine. boring tho.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’ve been trying to read more classics and thought this would be a good option as it isn’t very long. Interesting story with mystery. I’m happy I read it but won’t likely reread. Listened to the audiobook from Audible’s Plus catalogue.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism
Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: Death, Fire/Fire injury, War
The Thirty-Nine Steps is short, fast-paced and readable. That's what it has going for it.
But it also has a few things going against it. Firstly, a huge majority of the book is the main character stumbling around the Scottish moors. That's it. He just wanders about, trying to hide from his pursuers, realises that the Scottish moors were a terrible place to try to hide, gets spotted, escapes ingeniously, wanders around, realises the Scottish moors are a terrible place to hide and gets spotted again. At least four or five chapters of this novel follow this trend, out of ten altogether. A little repetitive for such a short book.
Secondly, the actual stakes and the whole catalyst and MacGuffin etc are extremely vague. Some guy tells Hannay of a plot against some other guy's life that has something to do with the oncoming war. Hannay finds out fairly quickly that this foul plot to which he was only half listening is mostly a lie and he reads some cryptic notes on what the real plot is, but not only does he not fully understand, he never tells the audience properly, so it's hard to really know what the hell is going on. Something about England's defences, I think, but it's hard to see how one piece of information or whatever could tip the balance of the whole war before it has even started.
Thirdly, it's not a very character-driven book. Despite the first person-narration, we don't really get much of a handle on Hannay other than he's easily bored and good at escaping. No one else at all is fleshed out, and the damn narration summarises way too much of what is done or said, so that you get the impression of the narrator simply telling you about a bunch of stuff he did once, rather than feeling as if it is really happening and experiencing it with him, which would have made for a more thrilling ride. There's really no need for this book to be so short.
Fourthly, and this is the main one, the whole story is powered by coincidence. Hannay is from Africa, recently moved to England where he doesn't really know anyone. He's bored and about to move back to Africa when a neighbour he doesn't know decides to randomly trust him with a top secret plot. Random neighbour gets murdered and Hannay goes on the run. He chooses Scotland as a hiding place because he figures it is similar to Africa (?!) so he'll be able to hide there. Then, everyone he meets in Scotland is either after him (how do they keep finding him so easily?) or happens to be a super trustworthy person who he tells his plot to or otherwise wishes to randomly help him. He's extraordinarily lucky all the time. The three worst coincidences happen pretty much in a row, one he meets a guy who just happens to be the godson of the one man in England who knows about the secret spy stuff and will believe Hannay and can help him with the finale, two he meets someone he actually knows - in Scotland, where he's never been, and remember he already said he doesn't know anyone in London, three, by complete chance he walks into the house of the villain - even though he had no idea the villains were in Scotland, he just chose this country at random. It's just stupid. He happens to get locked in a room full of explosives and he happens to be an explosives expert. Etc etc. The whole narrative moves either by complete luck or sheer dumb coincidence to the point where it is ridiculously unbelievable.
Meanwhile, the narrator gets his finale for pretty much no reason at all, and continues to blunder around trusting to luck. It's an entertaining read, but it comes across as if it was written by someone who had no idea how to construct a story and received no feedback. It's all vague nothingness and stupid coincidence and no particular emotion involved. But you know, it's a quick read.
But it also has a few things going against it. Firstly, a huge majority of the book is the main character stumbling around the Scottish moors. That's it. He just wanders about, trying to hide from his pursuers, realises that the Scottish moors were a terrible place to try to hide, gets spotted, escapes ingeniously, wanders around, realises the Scottish moors are a terrible place to hide and gets spotted again. At least four or five chapters of this novel follow this trend, out of ten altogether. A little repetitive for such a short book.
Secondly, the actual stakes and the whole catalyst and MacGuffin etc are extremely vague. Some guy tells Hannay of a plot against some other guy's life that has something to do with the oncoming war. Hannay finds out fairly quickly that this foul plot to which he was only half listening is mostly a lie and he reads some cryptic notes on what the real plot is, but not only does he not fully understand, he never tells the audience properly, so it's hard to really know what the hell is going on. Something about England's defences, I think, but it's hard to see how one piece of information or whatever could tip the balance of the whole war before it has even started.
Thirdly, it's not a very character-driven book. Despite the first person-narration, we don't really get much of a handle on Hannay other than he's easily bored and good at escaping. No one else at all is fleshed out, and the damn narration summarises way too much of what is done or said, so that you get the impression of the narrator simply telling you about a bunch of stuff he did once, rather than feeling as if it is really happening and experiencing it with him, which would have made for a more thrilling ride. There's really no need for this book to be so short.
Fourthly, and this is the main one, the whole story is powered by coincidence. Hannay is from Africa, recently moved to England where he doesn't really know anyone. He's bored and about to move back to Africa when a neighbour he doesn't know decides to randomly trust him with a top secret plot. Random neighbour gets murdered and Hannay goes on the run. He chooses Scotland as a hiding place because he figures it is similar to Africa (?!) so he'll be able to hide there. Then, everyone he meets in Scotland is either after him (how do they keep finding him so easily?) or happens to be a super trustworthy person who he tells his plot to or otherwise wishes to randomly help him. He's extraordinarily lucky all the time. The three worst coincidences happen pretty much in a row, one he meets a guy who just happens to be the godson of the one man in England who knows about the secret spy stuff and will believe Hannay and can help him with the finale, two he meets someone he actually knows - in Scotland, where he's never been, and remember he already said he doesn't know anyone in London, three, by complete chance he walks into the house of the villain - even though he had no idea the villains were in Scotland, he just chose this country at random. It's just stupid. He happens to get locked in a room full of explosives and he happens to be an explosives expert. Etc etc. The whole narrative moves either by complete luck or sheer dumb coincidence to the point where it is ridiculously unbelievable.
Meanwhile, the narrator gets his finale for pretty much no reason at all, and continues to blunder around trusting to luck. It's an entertaining read, but it comes across as if it was written by someone who had no idea how to construct a story and received no feedback. It's all vague nothingness and stupid coincidence and no particular emotion involved. But you know, it's a quick read.