poetman
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 357
- Location
- Vintage State of Mind
Has anyone read his work? I'm thinking of starting one of his novels: what would you recommend and why?
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Alan Furst
- Thread starter poetman
- Start date
Joe_Frances
New in Town
- Messages
- 41
- Location
- The Connecticut Gold Coast
The Kingdom of Shadows...Disappointing
I tried to read Furst's the "Kingdom of Shadows" but found it very hard going, and ultimately I gave up. It started off very promisingly, as I recall. The narrator recounts that on a certain date in 1937, the night train from Budapest to Gard de Nord was four hours late; and that there were heavy storms in the Ruhr Valley, etc... I really could see that, and I liked the way it started off. But it all went down hill from there. The details of the story dragged on without much of interest happening for the first hundred pages; the characters were not compelling and the few dramatic moments did not grab me at all. This was no page turner. What disappointed me most was that it did not live up to the suggestion, from some corner, that the Furst books had the tone and atmosphere of late 1930s black and white films. This one didn't. I gave it to a friend who happened to also be named Furst. He finished it, and thought it was good, but did allow that it was a hard slog. When I read a pre-WWII spy novel I want to be captivated, and feel the atmosphere of that incredible era. This was harder to read that a grad school textbook on industrial relations.
Are there better options for a starter?
I tried to read Furst's the "Kingdom of Shadows" but found it very hard going, and ultimately I gave up. It started off very promisingly, as I recall. The narrator recounts that on a certain date in 1937, the night train from Budapest to Gard de Nord was four hours late; and that there were heavy storms in the Ruhr Valley, etc... I really could see that, and I liked the way it started off. But it all went down hill from there. The details of the story dragged on without much of interest happening for the first hundred pages; the characters were not compelling and the few dramatic moments did not grab me at all. This was no page turner. What disappointed me most was that it did not live up to the suggestion, from some corner, that the Furst books had the tone and atmosphere of late 1930s black and white films. This one didn't. I gave it to a friend who happened to also be named Furst. He finished it, and thought it was good, but did allow that it was a hard slog. When I read a pre-WWII spy novel I want to be captivated, and feel the atmosphere of that incredible era. This was harder to read that a grad school textbook on industrial relations.
Are there better options for a starter?
