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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
For those familiar with the movie adaptation, the 1915 novel by John Buchan is substantially different -- there is no romantic partnership and no Mr. Memory. Richard Hannay remains, though, an early all-action hero with an uncanny ability for getting himself out of the most difficult situations just in the nick of time. As Buchan himself has suggested, the action and events of this type of novel are not so much meant to be completely believable as they are to be slightly possible. The writing is fine, especially descriptions of the countryside but the novel does have a dated quality; the book is a book of its time, and the antisemitic and other stereotypes are cringe-worthy. Still, a quick read of an important early novel in the Thriller genre and one of the UK's "best-loved novels".
3.5/5
This was a quick read, and quite fun.
I can see why this book is on lists of books to read. I'm not sure if it's the first spy-genre book, but it could very well be. I found it quite interesting to read, though I'm not generally a reader of this kind of fiction.
I quite liked Scudder and Hannay's ingenuity, with their disguises and tricks to get out of trouble. That was fun to read.
The mystery itself, or the reason for Hannay's exploits, I felt could have been more fleshed out. It just seemed a bit shadowy to me, like Buchan wanted an excuse to send Hannay off on an adventure in the wilds of Scotland, but didn't really put enough detail into why. I get that it was about spies, but I wanted more about why.
I did notice the absence of women in the plot. There was one, I think: maybe two, but most of the people who help Hannay are men. I suppose spy stories were written mostly for men back then, but it really dates the book. The one woman named as part of the plot never actually appears. Still, it's better that than the femme fatale trope, which was overused later.
I was surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. The sense of espionage was fun, and Buchan wrote some clever, wily characters.
This was a quick read, and quite fun.
I can see why this book is on lists of books to read. I'm not sure if it's the first spy-genre book, but it could very well be. I found it quite interesting to read, though I'm not generally a reader of this kind of fiction.
I quite liked Scudder and Hannay's ingenuity, with their disguises and tricks to get out of trouble. That was fun to read.
The mystery itself, or the reason for Hannay's exploits, I felt could have been more fleshed out. It just seemed a bit shadowy to me, like Buchan wanted an excuse to send Hannay off on an adventure in the wilds of Scotland, but didn't really put enough detail into why. I get that it was about spies, but I wanted more about why.
I did notice the absence of women in the plot. There was one, I think: maybe two, but most of the people who help Hannay are men. I suppose spy stories were written mostly for men back then, but it really dates the book. The one woman named as part of the plot never actually appears. Still, it's better that than the femme fatale trope, which was overused later.
I was surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. The sense of espionage was fun, and Buchan wrote some clever, wily characters.
Listened to the audiobook read by actor Kenny Blyth… I did read the novel years ago. Excellently read… great story of its time. Loved it
39 Steps
It was with some horror that I read, a few pages into The Thirty-Nine Steps, that Europe is being manipulated into going to war through the machinations of the German Jewry:
This book is from a different time. Fortunately we find out much, much later that this anti-semitism is an "odd bias" of the character who expresses it. But then the narrator himself treats us to this:
There's nothing we can do to excuse this. Apart from the incredibly dated social mores, including a passage about how the upper and lower class know and understand each other but the middle class make no sense (and still manage to employ three house staff), this 1915 "shocker" is fairly entertaining, if incredibly light.
This was, of course, Buchan's intent; he says as much in the introductory letter to his friend. When one is sick and has run out of penny novellas, he of course writes one on his own steam. It's only natural.
Our hero, the bored self-made man and all around genius Richard Hannay, runs from one situation to the next, always getting the better of his teutonic foes by narrow margins. Buchan manages to make the situations not too incredible simply as a matter of distance; one could believe that all of these things could have happened in 1914, but nothing in this book could happen in the modern day.
It's interesting as a cultural relic, and also as the recount of a man ridiculously sure of himself and his heroism. A very quick read, and one to boggle at.
It was with some horror that I read, a few pages into The Thirty-Nine Steps, that Europe is being manipulated into going to war through the machinations of the German Jewry:
...[I]f you're on the biggest kind of job and are bound to get to the real boss, ten to one you are brought up against a little white-faced Jew in a bath-chair with an eye like a rattlesnake. Yes, sir, he is the man who is ruling the world just now, and he has his knife in the Empire of the Tzar, because his aunt was outraged and his father flogged in some one-horse location on the Volga.
This book is from a different time. Fortunately we find out much, much later that this anti-semitism is an "odd bias" of the character who expresses it. But then the narrator himself treats us to this:
The fifteenth day of June was going to be a day of destiny, a bigger destiny than the killing of a Dago.
There's nothing we can do to excuse this. Apart from the incredibly dated social mores, including a passage about how the upper and lower class know and understand each other but the middle class make no sense (and still manage to employ three house staff), this 1915 "shocker" is fairly entertaining, if incredibly light.
This was, of course, Buchan's intent; he says as much in the introductory letter to his friend. When one is sick and has run out of penny novellas, he of course writes one on his own steam. It's only natural.
Our hero, the bored self-made man and all around genius Richard Hannay, runs from one situation to the next, always getting the better of his teutonic foes by narrow margins. Buchan manages to make the situations not too incredible simply as a matter of distance; one could believe that all of these things could have happened in 1914, but nothing in this book could happen in the modern day.
It's interesting as a cultural relic, and also as the recount of a man ridiculously sure of himself and his heroism. A very quick read, and one to boggle at.
adventurous
A fun, if somewhat silly, book written in 1915. It's a great period piece of the spy/espionage genre.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I read this because it fulfilled the "espionage thriller" category of the reading challenge. Also, it was short. I really did not get into this one. A big problem was that I completely didn't understand the core conflict of the story - like what the main character was trying to prevent from happening, who the bad guys were, etc. Also, there were no female characters in this story -except maybe one woman who was in a house the main character was stopping at. But I don't think she even had any lines of dialogue. Anyway - category fulfilled!
adventurous
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“A fool tries to look different; a clever man looks the same and is different.”
A decent mystery, but not one you should expect to be blown away by. The elements of disguise were by far the most interesting thing; the plot was just fine.
A decent mystery, but not one you should expect to be blown away by. The elements of disguise were by far the most interesting thing; the plot was just fine.