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A review by jlansner
Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst
3.0
I started writing a longer review, but Goodreads didn't save it, so here's the short version:
I've read every Alan Furst WWII novel, but after the last two, I'm probably done. I didn't care about the Cristian or Max, and didn't think anything they were doing mattered -- to me or to them. The supporting characters were completely forgettable -- which at least made it tolerable that Furst no longer seems to trust his readers to be able to remember what is happening or to understand anything that's going on. Furst's new "more is always better" writing philosophy (the opposite of what made his early books so good) reaches it's nadir when he tries to write about sex.
Furst hits all his usual beats -- cameos from Count Polanyi and S. Kolb, dinner at Brasserie Heininger -- but even he seems bored by them. At this point, I am too.
I've read every Alan Furst WWII novel, but after the last two, I'm probably done. I didn't care about the Cristian or Max, and didn't think anything they were doing mattered -- to me or to them. The supporting characters were completely forgettable -- which at least made it tolerable that Furst no longer seems to trust his readers to be able to remember what is happening or to understand anything that's going on. Furst's new "more is always better" writing philosophy (the opposite of what made his early books so good) reaches it's nadir when he tries to write about sex.
Furst hits all his usual beats -- cameos from Count Polanyi and S. Kolb, dinner at Brasserie Heininger -- but even he seems bored by them. At this point, I am too.