Rating: 
Summary: The Adventures of a Super-Sherlock
Review: This 1915 espionage thriller will delight fans of Conon Doyle with a chain of "adventures" involving a chase, disguises, roll playing, an impossible escape, secret code, warplans, sudden promotion to the inner circle of Britain's defense establishment, mistaken identity, a trap, and clues galore. The vignettes are connected one to the next by miraculous coincidences, as in a dream, but the style is charming enough and the story short enough that you're willing to suspend disbelief long enough to see the end.The main appeal is a Wordsworthian ramble through a rural scene populated by deep and knowing pastoral types, such as the roadman and the fly fisherman, though no Lucy, nor any available women at all to signify the potential future of a British race. All the characters are either aristocrats or peasants, befitting the narrator's acknowledged anti-middle class sentiments. Curiously, the hero himself is middle class, a mining engineer, though retired at 37 years old, idle but restless, and by nature the best picture of an English sport. He is Sherlock enhanced with amazing physical prowess. Readers will notice disrespect towards police. Our hero throws a good punch right in a cop's face, and police are everywhere ineffectual. In today's prosecutorial climate, our hero would be in for a 10-year felony. Anti-semitism: It's there, it reflects the times, of course. However, I must say it's far worse than charmless. It's insistent, each time sudden, and gratuitous, violent, and associated with images of extermination. Towards the end of the book, our hero expresses mild condescension towards anti-semitism, not a satisfactory rebuke. This book offers a minimum of political background to WWI. Don't pick it up for a slice of life. It' for people who just can't get enough of Sherlock.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Plain Fun!
Review: This is one of those short novels that is just a fun read. The main character is taken on a journey that leads him away from the boredom he was experiencing in London. It is a simple first-person story with a very interesting writing style. John Buchan manages to make the "rookie-happenstance-spy being chased by everyone" story work without a hitch. I wish I had read this novel sooner. I believe it is a must read for anyone interested in good literature and storytelling. I felt like the main character, Richard Hannay, was telling me the story as he puffed on his tobacco pipe. Hannay is like a man trapped in a giant rolling snowball...cept' he's enjoying the wild ride and ignoring the eventual crash. Buchan made the suspense, the landscape, and the travel blend together in a very well-rounded adventure. I have never seen the movie adaptation, but will definitely look for it. www.therunninggirl.com
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Fun!
Review: This is one of those short novels that is just a fun read. The main character is taken on a journey that leads him away from the boredom he was experiencing in London. It is a simple first-person story with a very interesting writing style. John Buchan manages to make the "rookie-happenstance-spy being chased by everyone" story work without a hitch. I wish I had read this novel sooner. I believe it is a must read for anyone interested in good literature and storytelling. I felt like the main character, Richard Hannay, was telling me the story as he puffed on his tobacco pipe. Hannay is like a man trapped in a giant rolling snowball...cept' he's enjoying the wild ride and ignoring the eventual crash. Buchan made the suspense, the landscape, and the travel blend together in a very well-rounded adventure. I have never seen the movie adaptation, but will definitely look for it. www.therunninggirl.com
| 
