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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the white room concept for a while and it was done well here. The book did drag in the middle and some things were a bit of a reach, but everything picked back up at the end. If anything, I think this should have been a bit shorter, but I still mostly had a good time.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's been so long since I've seen the movie that I couldn't remember too much beyond the basic plot. The book did a pretty decent job of keeping you interested without getting too ridiculous except the main character getting shot all the time and not dying. Definitely liked it enough to pick up the next in the series.
This might me the first/last time I say this. I think I might just stick with the movies.
Fun from the first page! Jumping right into book 2.
I feel like this book needs a smarter person to read it in order to understand it. Which, first off, isn't a great feeling to have as a reader, and secondly, is completely off-base since my IQ is high enough to be of a level where most people go :O. So being left with this impression doesn't do much for the book's likability in my eyes.
I think I enjoyed the end the most of this novel. The rest of the book wasn't bad, it just moved so fast and jumped to all these conclusions... like Bourne would be doing something, thinking something and then the next line he'd be on a phone call with someone, asking key questions and I have no idea how he got there.
Coincidently enough, this book wasn't worse or better than the movie. It was, though, very different. The two share a main character name, a few key plot elements and a few settings. After that, they are like two different stories. The movie is great, and the book is great.
I am reading the second in the series already.
I think I enjoyed the end the most of this novel. The rest of the book wasn't bad, it just moved so fast and jumped to all these conclusions... like Bourne would be doing something, thinking something and then the next line he'd be on a phone call with someone, asking key questions and I have no idea how he got there.
Coincidently enough, this book wasn't worse or better than the movie. It was, though, very different. The two share a main character name, a few key plot elements and a few settings. After that, they are like two different stories. The movie is great, and the book is great.
I am reading the second in the series already.
You know when you've hit the climax after a twisty-turny thrilling story and IT JUST KEEPS GOING? Yeah? That's what Jason Bourne is. Climax after climax after mystery after memory after action!
Ludlum's writing is too the point and describes action, yes, making this thriller captivating and always in motion, but Ludlum also gives us insight into the chaotic and often confused and impassioned mind of Jason Bourne as he struggles to uncover his identity before he is killed by his enemies... or his former allies. There's no way to describe the plot that diminishes how absorbing and impactful it is! The characters are likable and hatable at different times– you're led through these mazes of action and thought and are even given these brief flashes of impassioned prose when Jason gets overwhelmed by ghosts of his past and past pain... it's masterful, the way Ludlum writes.
Besides having authentic and unique characters whose conflicts draw the story along like a dynamic movie, Ludlum also has effective imagery– describing little interactions and sights and happenings that show just how well he can create a scene, draw us in, and make us pay attention to little details that give us insight to the story and characters in a way I haven't seen another author do. It almost reminds me of Agatha Christie- the brief flashes of feeling.
The ultimate part of this book is the sheer number of twists and turns the climax takes. Memory! Madness! Stop the terrorists! You never know when it's going to end, and it kept me riveted until the very last word as to what was going to happen. I found myself caring deeply about characters unlike any that I've ever seen in books and movies– the tortured yet violent and proud old man, cold yet confused yet impassioned amnesiac, etc... I loved the characters and I loved their interactions, and I feel like the whole last quarter of the book was a long, fascinating string of climaxes of the MC's mind and the plot– like everything was up in the air and I had no idea what was going to happen next.
That said, the book is nothing like the movie past... I don't know... the first dozen pages, and that's a good thing because although I am a sane person who loves Matt Damon as much as the next person, the movie doesn't do this amazing book justice. It doesn't do the intrigue justice. I recently read Wicked, and I feel like Ludlum did a similar thing to Maguire when it came to separating up the story by where the MC's were at the time. The book is completely different depending on where the action is taking place, and Bourne is traveling around Europe– and the plot travels and changes with him. The movie doesn't half give you that sense of a network of crime and strategy and political thisthat– it just a constant "who's chasing Matt now? How's Matt gonna beat him up?" The story is so much more than a series of confrontations with martial arts masters and men with guns; the plot itself is about a plot and, dare I say it, a man's quest to find himself.
That quest is particularly impactful because it kind of mirrors how we think of ourselves, I think– don't we all cringe to think about possible mistakes we've made– things that tell us we might be bad people? Jason Bourne has the added trouble of having no memory, so the ghosts of his past and past self haunt him because he might have been he never wanted to become. It's that conflict– of what he might have been and what he is– that moves the story forward. Yet through it all, this MC is inspiring in that he powers through and keeps his goal in mind– trying to solve the mystery, trying to complete that goal at the same time. And in the process, you get insight into the struggles of not just Jason but of those in charge of secret operations, of those in hiding, of those with terrible agendas. And not only that, but you gain this scattered yet telling understanding of who he was through these flashes of memory and sound and light (and dark!), and you feel like you've gone back and time and can see a man forming through the pieces of the puzzle that you can comprehend.
It's thrilling, it's fantastic, and the book is so very very long, but like Lord of the Rings, once you get through the first half, you're in the clear.
There's violence and blood but it's not gory. Some romance as well– scenes kids should not read. And some political themes that will be lost on younger readers. I'd recommend for early 20s or late teens.
Ludlum's writing is too the point and describes action, yes, making this thriller captivating and always in motion, but Ludlum also gives us insight into the chaotic and often confused and impassioned mind of Jason Bourne as he struggles to uncover his identity before he is killed by his enemies... or his former allies. There's no way to describe the plot that diminishes how absorbing and impactful it is! The characters are likable and hatable at different times– you're led through these mazes of action and thought and are even given these brief flashes of impassioned prose when Jason gets overwhelmed by ghosts of his past and past pain... it's masterful, the way Ludlum writes.
Besides having authentic and unique characters whose conflicts draw the story along like a dynamic movie, Ludlum also has effective imagery– describing little interactions and sights and happenings that show just how well he can create a scene, draw us in, and make us pay attention to little details that give us insight to the story and characters in a way I haven't seen another author do. It almost reminds me of Agatha Christie- the brief flashes of feeling.
The ultimate part of this book is the sheer number of twists and turns the climax takes. Memory! Madness! Stop the terrorists! You never know when it's going to end, and it kept me riveted until the very last word as to what was going to happen. I found myself caring deeply about characters unlike any that I've ever seen in books and movies– the tortured yet violent and proud old man, cold yet confused yet impassioned amnesiac, etc... I loved the characters and I loved their interactions, and I feel like the whole last quarter of the book was a long, fascinating string of climaxes of the MC's mind and the plot– like everything was up in the air and I had no idea what was going to happen next.
That said, the book is nothing like the movie past... I don't know... the first dozen pages, and that's a good thing because although I am a sane person who loves Matt Damon as much as the next person, the movie doesn't do this amazing book justice. It doesn't do the intrigue justice. I recently read Wicked, and I feel like Ludlum did a similar thing to Maguire when it came to separating up the story by where the MC's were at the time. The book is completely different depending on where the action is taking place, and Bourne is traveling around Europe– and the plot travels and changes with him. The movie doesn't half give you that sense of a network of crime and strategy and political thisthat– it just a constant "who's chasing Matt now? How's Matt gonna beat him up?" The story is so much more than a series of confrontations with martial arts masters and men with guns; the plot itself is about a plot and, dare I say it, a man's quest to find himself.
That quest is particularly impactful because it kind of mirrors how we think of ourselves, I think– don't we all cringe to think about possible mistakes we've made– things that tell us we might be bad people? Jason Bourne has the added trouble of having no memory, so the ghosts of his past and past self haunt him because he might have been he never wanted to become. It's that conflict– of what he might have been and what he is– that moves the story forward. Yet through it all, this MC is inspiring in that he powers through and keeps his goal in mind– trying to solve the mystery, trying to complete that goal at the same time. And in the process, you get insight into the struggles of not just Jason but of those in charge of secret operations, of those in hiding, of those with terrible agendas. And not only that, but you gain this scattered yet telling understanding of who he was through these flashes of memory and sound and light (and dark!), and you feel like you've gone back and time and can see a man forming through the pieces of the puzzle that you can comprehend.
It's thrilling, it's fantastic, and the book is so very very long, but like Lord of the Rings, once you get through the first half, you're in the clear.
There's violence and blood but it's not gory. Some romance as well– scenes kids should not read. And some political themes that will be lost on younger readers. I'd recommend for early 20s or late teens.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Weird pacing
Marie and Jason actually deserve 4 stars (they really are an incrediable lovable power couple). But the rest of the lot - including the rather confusing plot which is very different from the movie - drags the whole thing down to 3 stars only (maybe more like 2,5 but I'm feeling kind today).
PS Action scenes work a lot better in movies than they do in print, by the way: "The taxi approached the sedan’s trunk, the driver spinning the wheel again. They were parallel. Jason thrust his head and his gun into view. He aimed for the gray sedan’s right rear window and fired"? Nah...
PS Action scenes work a lot better in movies than they do in print, by the way: "The taxi approached the sedan’s trunk, the driver spinning the wheel again. They were parallel. Jason thrust his head and his gun into view. He aimed for the gray sedan’s right rear window and fired"? Nah...