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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
What an absolutely cracking adventure!
This book, like the introduction explains, has quite a lot of very convenient "coincidences", but who cares! That last bit where he's not sure the people are actually the people? VERY unlikely, but it doesn't matter! Read with the proper grain of salt, and enjoy the escapism.
This book, like the introduction explains, has quite a lot of very convenient "coincidences", but who cares! That last bit where he's not sure the people are actually the people? VERY unlikely, but it doesn't matter! Read with the proper grain of salt, and enjoy the escapism.
The 39 Steps: Or, Hide. Run. Spy!
Poor Richard Hannay, how did he end up in this fiasco!? He was bored with life and then all of a sudden he was caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Who was the cat? Who was the mouse? What is going on and most importantly, what are the 39 steps?!
Follow along with Richard as he literally runs away from suspicious figures, finagles his way out of sticky situations, and possibly saves the world?! Read and find out in this basic straight-forward spy novel. Or, if you want to watch an old spy movie, you can check out Alfred Hitchcock's the 39 steps!
Poor Richard Hannay, how did he end up in this fiasco!? He was bored with life and then all of a sudden he was caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Who was the cat? Who was the mouse? What is going on and most importantly, what are the 39 steps?!
Follow along with Richard as he literally runs away from suspicious figures, finagles his way out of sticky situations, and possibly saves the world?! Read and find out in this basic straight-forward spy novel. Or, if you want to watch an old spy movie, you can check out Alfred Hitchcock's the 39 steps!
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I know this is a staple in the espionage thriller genre, but I don't know... Between the blasé antisemitism or the fact I couldn't understand any of the parts that were written in "Scottish", this just didn't do it for me. I also was completely uninterested in the plot until about 2/3 of the way through the book, which is never a good sign. If I wasn't reading this for a reading challenge, I probably wouldn't have finished it.
Some unconnected thoughts:
- Richard Hannay is the cleverest cloggs in all of Britain and every landed gentleman in the country is absolutely desperate to tell him how great he is.
- On maybe fifteen different occasions Hannay muses something to the effect of "I'd always had a natural talent for the precise task that will move the plot forward here". On maybe fifteen more it's "and then everyone just believed me".
- At no point had I any idea what the enemy plan was. I don't know who to blame for this.
- I have never encountered a luckier man in any media. Wherever he steps, gullible, kind-hearted, trustworthy drunkards with cousins in high office fall at his feet. Every guess he makes across the entire book is correct, even ones like "Germans always stick to their plans".
- John Buchan adores dudes. So much of this book is fellas hashing it out and commenting on how respectable each other are in the process. The words "she" and "her" appear maybe ten times apiece and never in relation to named characters.
- We're reminded as nauseum of how dastardly intelligent Hannay's enemies are, even after we've seen them lock him in a sideroom and drive off for two hours without even bothering to establish that said room doesn't, you know, contain a cupboard full of dynamite.
- Policing at the turn of the century must've been wild. At two different times in this one character tells another "Aha! I finally have you!" and the other one just lies and says "I've never met you before, I don't know what you're talking about" and it??? works???
- "Four or five of the cleverest men living" meet in a secret location during a terrorist alert to discuss government secrets in the interest of preventing international war, and don't notice that one of them is GERMAN AND ALSO A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MAN TO THE FAMOUS MILITARY HERO THEY WERE EXPECTING?!
- Chapter VIII consists almost entirely of Hannay wandering around unoccupied, bumping into a man whose car he'd stolen, breaking the man's teeth, assaulting a police officer, and running away. His motivation for all of this is boredom and not wanting to waste time explaining himself.
- The final two pages of this are remarkably terrible.
- By the end of the book, Hannay has taken charge commanding a small band of armed men to attack and capture the terrorists or whatever. This is despite the fact that two of his allies are a war minister and an army general, respectively, and Hannay is just some guy. The explanation given is that "I was used to rough jobs, and these eminent gentlemen were too clever not to see it". Right, cool, okay.
- I saw a review that described this as "as bad as it is readable". Here, here.
- Richard Hannay is the cleverest cloggs in all of Britain and every landed gentleman in the country is absolutely desperate to tell him how great he is.
- On maybe fifteen different occasions Hannay muses something to the effect of "I'd always had a natural talent for the precise task that will move the plot forward here". On maybe fifteen more it's "and then everyone just believed me".
- At no point had I any idea what the enemy plan was. I don't know who to blame for this.
- I have never encountered a luckier man in any media. Wherever he steps, gullible, kind-hearted, trustworthy drunkards with cousins in high office fall at his feet. Every guess he makes across the entire book is correct, even ones like "Germans always stick to their plans".
- John Buchan adores dudes. So much of this book is fellas hashing it out and commenting on how respectable each other are in the process. The words "she" and "her" appear maybe ten times apiece and never in relation to named characters.
- We're reminded as nauseum of how dastardly intelligent Hannay's enemies are, even after we've seen them lock him in a sideroom and drive off for two hours without even bothering to establish that said room doesn't, you know, contain a cupboard full of dynamite.
- Policing at the turn of the century must've been wild. At two different times in this one character tells another "Aha! I finally have you!" and the other one just lies and says "I've never met you before, I don't know what you're talking about" and it??? works???
- "Four or five of the cleverest men living" meet in a secret location during a terrorist alert to discuss government secrets in the interest of preventing international war, and don't notice that one of them is GERMAN AND ALSO A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MAN TO THE FAMOUS MILITARY HERO THEY WERE EXPECTING?!
- Chapter VIII consists almost entirely of Hannay wandering around unoccupied, bumping into a man whose car he'd stolen, breaking the man's teeth, assaulting a police officer, and running away. His motivation for all of this is boredom and not wanting to waste time explaining himself.
- The final two pages of this are remarkably terrible.
- By the end of the book, Hannay has taken charge commanding a small band of armed men to attack and capture the terrorists or whatever. This is despite the fact that two of his allies are a war minister and an army general, respectively, and Hannay is just some guy. The explanation given is that "I was used to rough jobs, and these eminent gentlemen were too clever not to see it". Right, cool, okay.
- I saw a review that described this as "as bad as it is readable". Here, here.
oh why bother
It's all action, with no time for plot or sense.
Michael bay does Sherlock, but with more racism and less color correction.
It's all action, with no time for plot or sense.
Michael bay does Sherlock, but with more racism and less color correction.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
fast-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