Scan barcode
A review by plantbirdwoman
The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst
4.0
Alan Furst is a really good writer. I'm very glad I read this book although I would never have picked it up on my own. It covers a period of 20th century history that has been done to death and that I OD'd on long ago - the World War II period, that staple of the History Channel. But my husband, who is actually a WWII and espionage buff, read it and recommended it to me, telling me that I would like it in spite of the subject material. Once again, he was right.
The action here takes place in 1938-39 and begins with a murder in Paris while our protagonist is in Spain. Our hero, Carlo Weisz, an Italian by birth, is the foreign correspondent employed by Reuters and he is covering the dying days of resistance to the fascists.
Following the murder of the editor of the resistance newspaper in Paris, Carlo is recruited to take his place. His job as a foreign correspondent is the perfect cover as he travels to hot spots around Europe as an eyewitness to history.
It is all very complicated - plots within plots and not knowing whom to trust. It is, in short, fascinating stuff and one actually gets a feel for what it was like to live in such a period. It helps, perhaps, that in some ways the fear and the increasing loss of liberty of the time reminds me of the last eight years that we have lived through in my country. I don't mean to equate the two, of course, and yet during this time, I have felt my country slipping away from me much as the Spaniards, Italians, Slovakians, French, Germans and others must have done during this period. It is a frightening and somewhat helpless feeling.
Furst is very good at creating this atmosphere and at creating characters that one comes to identify with and care about. He is a really good writer. I look forward to reading more of his books.
The action here takes place in 1938-39 and begins with a murder in Paris while our protagonist is in Spain. Our hero, Carlo Weisz, an Italian by birth, is the foreign correspondent employed by Reuters and he is covering the dying days of resistance to the fascists.
Following the murder of the editor of the resistance newspaper in Paris, Carlo is recruited to take his place. His job as a foreign correspondent is the perfect cover as he travels to hot spots around Europe as an eyewitness to history.
It is all very complicated - plots within plots and not knowing whom to trust. It is, in short, fascinating stuff and one actually gets a feel for what it was like to live in such a period. It helps, perhaps, that in some ways the fear and the increasing loss of liberty of the time reminds me of the last eight years that we have lived through in my country. I don't mean to equate the two, of course, and yet during this time, I have felt my country slipping away from me much as the Spaniards, Italians, Slovakians, French, Germans and others must have done during this period. It is a frightening and somewhat helpless feeling.
Furst is very good at creating this atmosphere and at creating characters that one comes to identify with and care about. He is a really good writer. I look forward to reading more of his books.