Rating: 
Summary: The Classic Foreign Legion Novel
Review: After all these years this book is still a classic of its kind. A bit slow in the beginning, Wren's writting rewards persistence as the characters begin to grow on the reader. The novel really starts to pick up somewhere after page 100 when John leaves the whodonnit atmosphere of Brandan Abbas and johns the Legion after his brothers. The reader will find a how-to manual here in how to join the Legion and what to expect with training. No doubt this is auto-biographical in nature from Wren's own expereinces with the Legion. He paints a somewhat mixed picture of the kinds of people one must serve with and it seems that one is devoted more to the Ideal of the Legion as opposed to its rather harsh reality. Those who have seen 1939 movie will find most of the books plot is sustained. There are a few minor differences. In the book the evil sarjeant is named Lajeaune as opposed to Markov in the movie. I suppose the latter name sounds more evil! There are a couple of other subtle changes like this. Also, at the end of the book the movie does not show the extent that John and Digby wandered for years in the desert with their two American friends in Arab mufti. In the battle scenes at the fort the book has the Arabs charging on foot as opposed to charging the walls on horseback as is shown in the movie. The book describes the fort's walls as lower which would explain some rationale for this, but the movie just makes it look rather foolish. The book gets better as you go along, so keep at it and you will be rewarded.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thrilling Yarn
Review: Beau Geste must rank very high with other all time great adventure novels. It has everything! Roamance, adventure,French foreign legionares, sadistic Sargeants, cut throat mutineers, arabs, escape on camels in Sahara, incedible frienships, brotherly love, sacrifices, and above all the Blue Water, the actual leitmotif. Blue water,a very rare saphire, belonged to Aunt Patricia,and is stolen from her mansion and the obvious culprit is one of the eight prersent when the lights went out and the jewel disappears. Among eight are the Geste brothers, Mike (Beau), Digby and the narrator, John. It is fascinating how Wren puts the jigsaw puzzle together, when two seperate versions of the same tale merge in the end. All good guys are
English/Americans, bad guys Italians, French or Germans. It is made for hollywood, hence so many versions. I could not put it down. Great read. Aunt Patricia pulls it off!
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as its reputation
Review: I don't share most reviewers' enthusiasm for Percival Wren's book. The framework story unfolds at a painfully slow pace and the adventurous part of recruitment, training and life of the Geste brothers in the Foreign Legion is not broad enough. Too bad, because the French Foreign Legion, shrouded in the myth of secrecy and adventure, fascinates many to this day (including myself) and deserves to be object of a more suspenseful novel. The Foreign Legion garrison heroically defending Fort Zinderneuf against the Arabic attacks is undoubtedly the most memorable image of Wren's story. It is at the heart of the adventure for which the book is famous and Wren deserves the credit for the idea. But he spends too much time on minor characters and inconsequential dialogue. The characters are awfully stereotypical (the cunning and deceitful Italians, the brutal and primitive Germans, the noble and chivalrous English, the lighthearted and naïve Americans and the greedy and egotistical French - oh brother). Maybe many book reviewers are influenced by the great movie from 1939 (with Gary Cooper and Ray Milland). It is pretty true to the novel but focuses on the part of the story I was looking for and is well paced. In Wren's book, you have to read through more than 100 pages of turgid story telling before the Geste brothers even get to the Foreign Legion. Its longwinded explanations and speculations on the characters' motivation and the possible outcome of the inherent intrigues seem terribly old fashioned for the 21st century reader. This shortcoming of Wren's story telling ability diminishes the enjoyment of the book. Wren is no Alexandre Dumas who can write a novel of 1400 pages ("The Count of Monte Cristo") and still make it easy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as its reputation
Review: I don't share most reviewers' enthusiasm for Percival Wren's book. The framework story unfolds at a painfully slow pace and the adventurous part of recruitment, training and life of the Geste brothers in the Foreign Legion is not broad enough. Too bad, because the French Foreign Legion, shrouded in the myth of secrecy and adventure, fascinates many to this day (including myself) and deserves to be object of a more suspenseful novel. The Foreign Legion garrison heroically defending Fort Zinderneuf against the Arabic attacks is undoubtedly the most memorable image of Wren's story. It is at the heart of the adventure for which the book is famous and Wren deserves the credit for the idea. But he spends too much time on minor characters and inconsequential dialogue. The characters are awfully stereotypical (the cunning and deceitful Italians, the brutal and primitive Germans, the noble and chivalrous English, the lighthearted and naïve Americans and the greedy and egotistical French - oh brother). Maybe many book reviewers are influenced by the great movie from 1939 (with Gary Cooper and Ray Milland). It is pretty true to the novel but focuses on the part of the story I was looking for and is well paced. In Wren's book, you have to read through more than 100 pages of turgid story telling before the Geste brothers even get to the Foreign Legion. Its longwinded explanations and speculations on the characters' motivation and the possible outcome of the inherent intrigues seem terribly old fashioned for the 21st century reader. This shortcoming of Wren's story telling ability diminishes the enjoyment of the book. Wren is no Alexandre Dumas who can write a novel of 1400 pages ("The Count of Monte Cristo") and still make it easy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Action adventure at its best
Review: I had seen many of the movies as a kid, so I thought I should get the rest of the story by reading the book. Well, I was delightfully surprised by the book. The book was much more mysterious and intriguing then the movies. I liked the way the plot developed but the brothers seemed to age a lot more or maybe just matured more as the book went on. When you first meet them in Beau Geste and his band everyone comes across as if they were teenagers but within a couple of days after the disapearance of the blue water when the brothers join the legend you find out that they are all in their early 20s. The time in the legend seems longer too like almost 4 years but at the end of the story it's about half as long as that. The one thing about the version of the book I was reading which was the one with the pictures from the 1926 film was that there were no maps. So what I did was as I followed the brothers I would go on mapquest and print a map of the area and trace their route. Then I would fold it and keep it at that point in the book. I like the fact that they kept many of the terms in the native tongue. I have word and there are these downloads free from Microsoft that you can download so that you can translate in to many different languages. Between making the maps and figuring out the translations it made the book much more adventurous for me. I did not know much about the history of Algeria and I did not realize that the French had fought with the Arabs in Northern Africa for many generations. The Arabs are pretty stereotyped but there is the fact that the brothers learn Arabic to keep their minds sharp and this helps them down the road. I did not realize that Arabic languages were spoken all along North Africa and that it is mostly dessert. I thought that was more of the Middle East. You will notice that all the bad guys seem to be of the same nationality either being French like Legume or Italian like Bondini as opposed to the good guys being the English and the Americans. I like the fact that the American's were Texas Rangers because I think that is how the rest of the world perceives us. Buddy and Duke might have been caricatures but they were always honest and true just like the English characters of John, Digby and Michael were proper and honorable. The best part of the book was after the Fort at Zindernuf because you really don't see that part in the movies and you see how John, Digby, Buddy and Duke try to help each other to get to the English city of Kano in Nigeria. I really wanted to know what happened to one of the Americans but I won't give that away. At the end of the book I thought that I had everything figured out and I would know what Michael's letter was going to say but I was pretty surprise and it made me enjoy the overall theme of the novel. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure novels about far away places.
Rating:
Summary: Action adventure at its best
Review: I had seen many of the movies as a kid, so I thought I should get the rest of the story by reading the book. Well, I was delightfully surprised by the book. The book was much more mysterious and intriguing then the movies.
I liked the way the plot developed but the brothers seemed to age a lot more or maybe just matured more as the book went on. When you first meet them in Beau Geste and his band everyone comes across as if they were teenagers but within a couple of days after the disappearance of the blue water when the brothers join the legend you find out that they are all in their early 20s. The time in the legend seems longer too like almost 4 years but at the end of the story it's about half as long as that.
The one thing about the version of the book I was reading which was the one with the pictures from the 1926 film was that there were no maps. So what I did was as I followed the brothers I would go on mapquest and print a map of the area and trace their route. Then I would fold it and keep it at that point in the book. I like the fact that they kept many of the terms in the native tongue. I have word and there are these downloads free from Microsoft that you can download so that you can translate in to many different languages. Between making the maps and figuring out the translations it made the book much more adventurous for me.
I did not know much about the history of Algeria and I did not realize that the French had fought with the Arabs in Northern Africa for many generations. The Arabs are pretty stereotyped but there is the fact that the brothers learn Arabic to keep their minds sharp and this helps them down the road. I did not realize that Arabic languages were spoken all along North Africa and that it is mostly dessert. I thought that was more of the Middle East.
You will notice that all the bad guys seem to be of the same nationality either being French like Legume or Italian like Bondini as opposed to the good guys being the English and the Americans. I like the fact that the American's were Texas Rangers because I think that is how the rest of the world perceives us. Buddy and Hank might have been caricatures but they were always honest and true just like the English characters of John, Digby and Michael were proper and honorable.
The best part of the book was after the Fort at Zindernuf because you really don't see that part in the movies and you see how John, Digby, Buddy and Hank try to help each other to get to the English city of Kano in Nigeria. I really wanted to know what happened to one of the Americans but I won't give that away.
At the end of the book I thought that I had everything figured out and I would know what Michael's letter was going to say but I was pretty surprise and it made me enjoy the overall theme of the novel.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure novels about far away places.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite adventure book from all time!
Review: My favourite adventure book from all time... 8 November, 2003
Let's be fair, I am very biased in favor of it, so you are in for a very one-sided opinion... If you have seen the film (wathever the one, either the one with Ronald Colman (seems is good but very hard to find), the one with Gary Cooper&Ray Milland is I think the best known... and do not miss the excellent miniseries by the BBC...)OK, enough about films!
The films are good but tend to miss the point completly, I acknowledge is very difficult to adapt a novel to film, but in this special case (even if it has been done brilliantly) THEY DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO THE BOOK...
So, I must recommend to you to read the book and judge for yourself... if delighted follow on with "Beau sabreur", "Beau Ideal", "Good Gestes" and "Spanish Maine"...
Actually the prejudice shown by P.C.Wren to italians, spaniards and specially germans HAS TO BE READ IN CONTEXT, it has not in the least provoked the book to be a flop in those countries (but sure it has not help it to be a success either...).
P.C.Wren did not like very much other races (see his works set in India and you'll understand the comment...) and his prose tends to be a little "British race superior" infected, well if you are british probably THAT will no bother you at all mind... but even if not british at all YOU WILL DELIGHT IN THE DEFENSE OF THE VALUES OF BROTHERLY LOVE; HONOR, DUTY, FRIENDSHIP ETC, wich are quite international do not forget...
I am against revealing plots, there are a lot of other reviewer who do, I am just satisfied to tell you I have read this book countless times and still remains in my top one for all times...
A huge P.C.Wren fan since childhood (I think I read "Beau Geste" for the first time when I was nine years old... if not sooner, I can recall...), I have chased in secondhand bookshops and specialized dealers for the rest of his production, and happy to say I've read them all!, probably the novels set in India and his tales about the merchant navy aren't as good (or SO MUCH good) as the one's dealing with the french foreign legion but still above average.
A part from the books mentioned I found "Soldiers of misfortune" and "The Uniform of Glory" the best from the rest.
Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: My favourite adventure book from all time!
Review: My favourite adventure book from all time... 8 November, 2003
Let's be fair, I am very biased in favor of it, so you are in for a very one-sided opinion... If you have seen the film (wathever the one, either the one with Ronald Colman (seems is good but very hard to find), the one with Gary Cooper&Ray Milland is I think the best known... and do not miss the excellent miniseries by the BBC...)OK, enough about films!
The films are good but tend to miss the point completly, I acknowledge is very difficult to adapt a novel to film, but in this special case (even if it has been done brilliantly) THEY DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO THE BOOK...
So, I must recommend to you to read the book and judge for yourself... if delighted follow on with "Beau sabreur", "Beau Ideal", "Good Gestes" and "Spanish Maine"...
Actually the prejudice shown by P.C.Wren to italians, spaniards and specially germans HAS TO BE READ IN CONTEXT, it has not in the least provoked the book to be a flop in those countries (but sure it has not help it to be a success either...).
P.C.Wren did not like very much other races (see his works set in India and you'll understand the comment...) and his prose tends to be a little "British race superior" infected, well if you are british probably THAT will no bother you at all mind... but even if not british at all YOU WILL DELIGHT IN THE DEFENSE OF THE VALUES OF BROTHERLY LOVE; HONOR, DUTY, FRIENDSHIP ETC, wich are quite international do not forget...
I am against revealing plots, there are a lot of other reviewer who do, I am just satisfied to tell you I have read this book countless times and still remains in my top one for all times...
A huge P.C.Wren fan since childhood (I think I read "Beau Geste" for the first time when I was nine years old... if not sooner, I can recall...), I have chased in secondhand bookshops and specialized dealers for the rest of his production, and happy to say I've read them all!, probably the novels set in India and his tales about the merchant navy aren't as good (or SO MUCH good) as the one's dealing with the french foreign legion but still above average.
A part from the books mentioned I found "Soldiers of misfortune" and "The Uniform of Glory" the best from the rest.
Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: one of the ulitimates in adventure stories
Review: Seems like every few years I sit down and read this book again. There is enough adventure to keep me interested in each re-reading and each time I pick up more little clues in "the mystery" that I missed in the last reading. The first time I read it (some years ago) I thought the characters were a little too stereotyped--the americans for example, spoke with too many expressions like "you shore said a mouthful Bo." The British, too, are always correct and formal.
Yet the story is so delightful that, on subsequent readings, one notices that the americans, with all their cowboy talk, are the ones who can be trusted and have the know-how to save the day.
The British, for all their coolness, stick to their honour and their duty. The book assumes some recognition of French, as it includes lots of expressions and phrases in French without translation.
Some like "Monsieur l'Adjutant" one can figure out. Some like "medaille militaire" take a second's thought. There are several others, though, sprinkled throughout the book that one has to infer from the context or look up. A great many are fairly clear from the context and really did not detract from the story.
I had to hunt the used book stores to find my own copy, but I thought it was worth it!
Rating:
Summary: a throwback
Review: Somehow I doubt that the generation of kids growing up today, whelped on Doom and Lara Croft, have the same romantic love of the French Foreign Legion that we did when we were kids. The concept of this fighting force made up of desperate men of all nations, given a new lease on life because they did not have to give their real name or background when they signed up, lent itself easily to fiction and to childhood fantasy. I don't remember all of the Foreign Legion movies we watched but Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950) and March or Die (1977) [bad movie, great tagline: "In the French Foreign Legion, you march or you die!"] spring to mind, and of course the greatest of them all was Beau Geste (1939). Directed by William Wellman and starring Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy and Susan Hayward, it was one of those movies you had to watch every time it was on. Happily, the original novel is nearly its equal. The three Geste brothers, orphaned early in life, are raised by an Aunt. Their raucous youths are filled with the literature of adventure and ritualized horseplay centered around these myths and legends. So when the family's prized Blue Water sapphire turns up missing, each of the young men confesses to being the thief in order to protect the others and one by one they head off to join the French Foreign Legion. As luck would have it, they meet up in the deserts of Africa where they fall under the command of the malevolent Sergeant Lejaune. Not content to merely be a martinet, Lejaune sets his sights on stealing the jewel, which rumor holds to be in their possession. Meanwhile, the unruly troops he commands are planning a mutiny and the marauding Tauregs pin this badly outnumbered and bitterly divided unit of Legionnaires at Fort Zinderneuf. The ensuing drama plays itself out as the French forces battle overwhelming odds. Ultimately, only a handful of men survive to discover the truth behind the Blue Water's disappearance. It just doesn't get any better than that central story. Wren combines a classic mystery and a desert adventure. The Gestes are living embodiments of the tales on which they were weaned--generous, noble, brave and loyal. My only real complaint is with the framing device which surrounds the story. The novel opens with a major who lead the relief column sent to Zinderneuf describing what he found there and concludes with an overlong dénouement getting the story back to England and the jewel mystery. But these are minor quibbles when set against the truly thrilling story at the heart of the novel. Read the book, but be sure to see the movie. GRADE: A-
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