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Summary: SPOILER ALERT (not that there's much to spoil in this novel)
Review: "Casablanca" is my favorite film, but I still tried to approach this novel with an open mind. Maybe the author found a way to expand the characters and extend the world of the film.I managed to read 8 pages before my worst fears were confirmed: "Ilsa Lund! Had it been only two days ago that she had walked back into his life? It seemed like a year. How could a woman change a man's fate so fast? Now his duty was to follow that fate, no matter where it might lead him." The novel continues at this level, with amateurish plotting, excruciating dialogue, and an ending that kills off Louis Renault and Victor Laszlo for no other reason than to allow Rick and Ilsa to marry. (Did the author feel that the original film's ending was a mistake that he could correct?) Reading this novel, the voices of whatever executives thought they could make an easy buck by exploiting "Casablanca" are far louder than the voices of the characters we love. A terrible idea, executed terribly.
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Summary: An amature effort, to say the least.
Review: I found it very disappointing, being a fan of the film. The story was more appropriate for a pulp magazine or comic book, full of cliche's and generally lightweight. Dialogue is corny, the character development shallow. don't bother.
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Summary: Does Rick Blaine really speak Swedish?
Review: Being an old Casablanca fan it was great to listen to the taped version of this prequel/sequal to see what happened to everyone. For me, however, the book was a disappointment. Can we really believe Rick could check into a Prague hotel and pass for a Swede? What possible reason would British Intelligence have for sending him on the mission in the first place? Was Bullwinkle's Natasha the best European accent Lynn Redgrave could muster? And a daylight ( !) plane pickup ! You really have to suspend disbelief.
Rating:
Summary: As bad as it gets
Review: I loved the movie and thought a sequel could at the very least be a fun read. This however is one of the worst books I've seen in a lifetime of reading. It reads as if it were written in a day or two and never edited. Cliches run amok. Ilsa declares "He makes me feel like a woman!" (As opposed to a gerbil?) Painful mixed metaphors, anachronisms, and just dumb writing abound. Rick is described as enjoying having a wad of cash from which he peeled off 20's "as if they were candy." Huh? Renault is described as a "dapper little Frenchman" about forty times. The immigrant gangster Solly Horowitz suddenly declares "I like the cut of his jib"! Awful, awful, awful.
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Summary: A finish most ill. . .
Review: A professor of critical skillPreparing a literal thrillNovelized a movie most classicAdded changes most drastic(Made the characters plastic!)And conjured a finish most ill.(Worse things happen in print and they will).
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Summary: Dashiell Hammet never slept here.
Review: The movie Casablanca would make a great novel but this one ain't it. Some of the dialogue is actually quite good but too much of it is dishwater dull. The author shows us how clever he is by sprinkling his pages with annoyingly obtuse Jewish expressions (at least to us non New Yorkers) and incomprehensible gangster lingo rarely found even in the pages of Hammet and Spillane, who own this genre for all time. Worse, the novel's reason for being borders on the flimsy, as its historical premise -- showcasing resistance activity in Scandinavia and France during WW II-- is ludicrous and absurd and just plain wrong since these nations were all noted for slavish collaboration with Nazi Germany and in fact received special treatment from the Third Reich in return for their cooperation. Perhaps this is what we must expect when a classical music critic turns his idle hand to fiction. As to the characters, they are one-note beings and so thinly developed that if they turn sideways they completely disappear, with the possible exception of Sam the piano man. Ilse is a confused bimbo, Victor is even more unbelievably boring and dense than he was in the movie and Renault is the worst cliche of every skirt-chasing French cop in moviedom. Only Bogie's aura saves this nothingburger of a novel; his illusory presence manfully carries this entire work on his shoulders--no lesser actor could have done it. Here's looking at you, kid.
Rating:
Summary: Ghastly
Review: Even considering that a book like this is supposed to be mind candy, it's awful. Every cliche imaginable. "He makes me feel like a woman!" Action sequences are primitive but endurable. Internal dialogues -- especially Ilsa's -- are painfully unconvincing. This author was GIVEN three memorable characters caught up in one of the great dramas of all time with backgrounds in London, Paris, New York -- and the best he could do was this? Pathetic.
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Summary: THE BIGGEST PIECE OF CHOCOLATE FOR THE CHOCOHOLIC
Review: I just finished reading this book and I can tell you that Michael Walsh has created a masterpiece. All the original characters from CASABLANCA came alive for me...what a wonderful idea to write a sequel from the days of that foggy good-bye be- tween Ilsa and Rick! Michael is definitely in touch with his feminine and masculine sides as the book for me, was truly balanced; I love mysteries but I also love when they are solved and Mr. Walsh has done this for me. Thank you!!! Carole Hemingway
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Summary: Walsh takes the fundamental things -- and applies them well.
Review: Daring, daring is the only way to describe it. Take an icon of a movie (CASABLANCA) with one of Hollywood's most memorable casts (Bogart, Bergman, Wilson, Rains et al)-- and see if you can find its second incarnation on paper. Walsh succeeds, not the least because he loves the film as much as we do. Walsh has done his homework with a plausible backstory and obvious reseach, seamlessly weaving historical fact into what-if fiction. He's true to the voices of Rick, Ilsa, Sam and Louie, and has the characters grow in imaginative yet believable ways. And, plain and simple, he's a fine storyweaver. Of all the gin joints in all the world, you'll want to walk into this one more than once. Here's lookin' at YOU, Michael Walsh. Thanks...
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Summary: All the answers to the question, how did...
Review: The book is an easy read and if you are a Bogart fan, or a Casablanca fan, you'll enjoy it. If you've ever wondered how Rick got there, or what happens after the plane leaves, you need to read this book. It is great for a winters day, curl up with some hot cocoa and enjoy yourself!
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