braynard 's review for:

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

3.0

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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Lupin is basically an anti-Sherlock. Both characters were written around the same time period and often take place in similar upper class settings. But while Sherlock devotes his time and intellect to solving crimes, Lupin devotes his to committing them. However, I can easily see why the Lupin stories have not maintained the same level of pop culture significance as the Sherlock canon. The Sherlock stories have a distinct and notable cast of characters that readers come to care for. This collection did not have that. Most of the characters are one-dimensional side characters, meant to be robbed and cry wolf. The only one I distinctly remember is Lupin’s police nemesis, and even that is only because his character is a genre convention. 

The character of Arsène Lupin himself is not much better. He exists more as a mysterious criminal archetype than a full character in his own right. Which would work in a detective narrative, but is harder to care about as a main character. 

It’s not a bad collection by any means. The stories are fun and easy to read. And this is only the first nine stories ever published, so perhaps the later stories help to remedy my issues with this particular collection. But I never found myself particularly attached to the character of Lupin in any way. 

(Fun fact for readers: I am not the only way to make comparisons between Lupin and Sherlock. Maurice LeBlanc himself wrote an crossover between the greatest detective and greatest thief. However, Doyle never approved of this crossover, so it was edited to Herlock Sholmes instead of Sherlock Holmes. Now that Sherlock is in the public domain, modern reprintings will use the correct name, but older editions may still feature Herlock.)