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lunaseassecondaccount 's review for:
The Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan
I will say, one of the best things about this book is how short it is.
Okay, okay, that's not exactly right.
The first half of this book, I actually genuinely enjoyed. It's a jaunty little tale, told in that typically very early-20th century style, where there's minimal characterisation and it's more a series of humourous events happening to a gent who sort of goes along with it all because he's bored. The chapters here are short and self-contained, the sort of thing you'd expect to read in local magazines of the time.
And then it escalates... but the stakes never feel quite high. See, the problem with stories that evolve over events and not characterisation is that I never feel drawn into the narrative. How can I trust the stakes are high when it never feels that way?
I'll say this, however: part of the longevity of this book, I believe, is that it ushered in the spy genre. Though I may not enjoy this book as fully as others, I can appreciate it for that reason... even if I personally don't like spy novels.
Okay, okay, that's not exactly right.
The first half of this book, I actually genuinely enjoyed. It's a jaunty little tale, told in that typically very early-20th century style, where there's minimal characterisation and it's more a series of humourous events happening to a gent who sort of goes along with it all because he's bored. The chapters here are short and self-contained, the sort of thing you'd expect to read in local magazines of the time.
And then it escalates... but the stakes never feel quite high. See, the problem with stories that evolve over events and not characterisation is that I never feel drawn into the narrative. How can I trust the stakes are high when it never feels that way?
I'll say this, however: part of the longevity of this book, I believe, is that it ushered in the spy genre. Though I may not enjoy this book as fully as others, I can appreciate it for that reason... even if I personally don't like spy novels.