Ambler is wonderful: 1940s/50s stuff probably the best, but he doesn't ever lose the magic.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 30 June 2017 03:51 (six years ago) link
Finished Funeral in Berlin - sad to say I found it a bit of a slog, but I'm guessing the things I disliked are the exact things that Deighton's fans love about him: the stop/start plotting, the endless banter, the sense of never really knowing what's happening - it's like the spy version of Turn of the Screw.
Perhaps if all that had been tied to a more enjoyable sentence-writing style, I would've liked it more - but generally I found the prose a bit purple, and the jokey dialogue - although fun at first - sort of relentlessly hits the same larky note throughout. (As everyone else is as much of a wiseass as Harry, he stops standing out.)
THAT SAID I will try another one - first couple of chapters of Berlin Game are promising.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 3 July 2017 12:39 (six years ago) link
Good writeup here: https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/funeral-in-berlin-len-deighton/
What gives the novel its peculiarly Deightonesque quality, is that the narrator – who holds all the cards ie has his suspicions and is calculating the angles on all the scenarios mentioned above – does not share this knowledge with the reader. In this novel, as in Ipcress, it is only at the very, very end that any kind of order or pattern emerges from the events described, and then only in laconic conversations with his secretary or boss – and even this ‘final roundup’ still leaves holes in the narrative and motivation.
It's those "Deightonesque" qualities that lost me - but I can see why they'd be appealing to another reader.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 3 July 2017 12:50 (six years ago) link
God help me I kinda want to watch ITV get The Ipcress File wrong
― Reader, I buried him (Noodle Vague), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:02 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT0yc_6J3FA
― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:24 (two years ago) link
They should have remade it with Dennis Pennis as Palmer.
― Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:25 (two years ago) link
Who's the little twerp playing Harry Palmer?
― Bastards of Fish (Tom D.), Monday, 7 February 2022 21:47 (two years ago) link
The Michael Caine cosplay is a groaner
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 7 February 2022 22:09 (two years ago) link
Didn't realise until now that Deighton drew and designed the cover for the first UK edition of On the Road
https://rarebooksleuth.com/collections/beats/products/on-the-road-jack-kerouac-first-u-k-edition-first-printing
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 20 June 2022 14:18 (one year ago) link
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0417/06/jack-kerouac-road-first-uk-edition_1_4b1589fe4aa5686349661b9aa45a3b85.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 20 June 2022 14:27 (one year ago) link
ffs
https://i.imgur.com/f3Yzqvw.png
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 20 June 2022 14:42 (one year ago) link
hahaha
:-)
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 20 June 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0515/8846/4815/products/kerouac_1296x.jpg?v=1611863986
― Doodles Diamond (Tom D.), Monday, 20 June 2022 15:26 (one year ago) link
... signed too!