50books: another satisfying journey

[winterbadger]

11/50: Dark Voyage by Alan Furst. I've commented before on Furst's spy novels. Whenever I'm in Borders and looking for a good read but not sure where to turn, I look for Alan Furst. He's an excellent novelist, capable of writing what seems like effortless prose with briefly introduced but very evocative characters. It's not just the subject matter (the world of espionage, covert operations, and diplomacy just before or during World War Two) that gives his stories their film noir flavour; he has the knack that noir directors do of conveying atmospherics sparely and movingly. While his stories don't generally feature whodunits or complex, revolving plots, they do tell the story of one or two ordinary people finding themselves in the most difficult and dangerous places--life right in the midst of war--and somehow coming to terms with what they find they must do. Furst studies his period and its details exactingly and conveys a whole world in a few brief pages. I'd say I love his writing, but that seems to overblown, too expansive for his understated, quietly dramatic tales.

If you like period pieces, if you enjoy a good adventure story told without unbelieveable heroics or improbable luck, where regular people (a alittle good, a little bad) have to make tough decisions about principles and survival, try Alan Furst.

Comments

[ethanninis-mom.livejournal.com]

Have you read any of the Jasper Fforde books? Peter is devouring them right now. They are classified as "sci fi" but I think are a combo of that and mystery. I keep wanting to get to them myself, but between well, life and my book club, my reading has been limited (and directed).

[winterbadger]

I haven't yet, though a number of people I know like them.