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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
It's hard to say too much about this book since it has a lot of twists and turns. Goldman calls it his "thriller" - there are Nazis, and spies, and double agents, and love interests, and fights, and gunfights, and more. Most of it is enjoyable, if very much of the 70s and very much of Goldman. Not as funny as The Princess Bride, but you can see that humor occasionally. The second half was better than the first, so if you're on the fence, I'd keep going until the end.
I think I'd give it more of a 3.5. Kept me on my toes and had clever turns of phrase in it. However, I felt like it didn't hold me completely toward the middle and the end, which should be when I'm feverishly turning pages to see how it all wraps up, and I didn't have that. The protagonist, Babe Levy, I also didn't particularly care for, so that also might be why it slowed down for me. It changed from weird, mysterious stuff that was going on with Scylla to seeing if Levy would make it out of his predicament, and I didn't care. Any good characters just didn't end up being a huge part of the plot, unfortunately.
Overall, it was an alright read. It was short and I got through it pretty quickly.
Spoiler
I really liked Scylla and his introspection, and I enjoyed the weird prologue at the beginning that didn't really end up mattering to the plot again, but again, they were short-lived in terms of importance.Spoiler
Particularly in this book, I didn't see why Scylla would have a reason to double-cross Szell, or why Scylla would essentially lead his adversaries to his brother's house. What was the point of it? Supposedly, Scylla didn't say anything important to Babe, so there's not even a little bit of mystery to it. It just seemed like there was all of a sudden a plot that wasn't explained. This continued with the hint that the father might have been involved in the same type of work that Scylla was in, which was then never talked about again.Overall, it was an alright read. It was short and I got through it pretty quickly.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Many thrillers forsake character development for plot. Not so in William Goldman's case. He gives you pretty much whatever you want to know on characters and just kind of jams the plot in there. The twist in the middle is good and the action builds but near the end, I'm wondering when I'm supposed to start caring and when that happens I'm too close to being finished to get re-invested.
I was honestly surprised at how terrible this book is.
Goldman surely absorbed his Stanley Elkin at some point, it's like Elkin without the discipline LOL.
Goldman surely absorbed his Stanley Elkin at some point, it's like Elkin without the discipline LOL.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
One of my favorite books now. I practically read the whole thing in one day. It's so good! I cannot recommend this book enough. There are twists and turns and heart stopping moments and perhaps the greatest running scene in all of literature. There, I said it.
This book was painfully slow probably like a marathon. But once this thing started going there was no stopping. Once you get through the first half you can’t put it down. If you’re able to touch it out I definitely recommend just know it’s a marathon, not a sprint!
Pleasurable enough for me to overlook the flaws and the plot holes. Great twists.
William Goldman’s Marathon Man wasn’t half bad. Unfortunately, the other half was. I picked this book up because I remember enjoying the film version, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Sir Laurence Olivier. (Also, I’m a sucker for stories about tracking down Nazis who escaped Europe after the war.) I fell into the trap of expecting the book to be better than the movie because there would be more background and plot. The original novel did have more of both, but it didn’t make for a better tale...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.