|
Post by bazfaz on Mar 11, 2009 16:56:40 GMT
Of course this may not be news for K but for some unknown reason I had never come across Alan Furst until a few months ago. Then a friend introduced me to one of his books. At the moment I am engrossed in The World at Night.
Furst has marked out his territory as Europe just before and during WW2. So The World at Night is set in Paris, 1940/1. It is quite extraordinarily evocative. To say it is a thriller about spying is so meaningless as to be misleading. It is about a small time film producer, and what he does to survive, and the loves he has, and how he is pressed to work first for the Resistance and then for the Nazis. But he is just an amteur caught up in the intrigues, who had read Eric Ambler so "had a general idea of how it was all supposed to work, but this wasn't it."
Wonderful stuff.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2009 18:02:37 GMT
I will certainly go about getting a copy.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 11, 2009 18:31:14 GMT
A few years ago Furst was being read avidly by the English-speaking community here. I never read it because I thought it was spy stuff.
Do you happen to know in what sequence the books should be read?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2009 18:38:44 GMT
Errr.... chronological? Would that be a good guess?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Mar 11, 2009 20:01:23 GMT
I was hoping for a title list.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Mar 11, 2009 21:22:13 GMT
For what it's worth, the book I am reading at present lists the titles at the front in this order:
Night soldiers Dark Star The Polish Officer The World at Night Red Gold
The last two have the same central character so Red Gold should be read second. The others... as you wish.
I haven't read Dark Star yet but here is a quote from a review by Walter Shapiro:
"Imagine discovering an unscreened espionage thriller from the late 1930s, a classic black-and-white movie that captures the murky allegiances and moral ambiguity of Europe on the brink of war...Nothing can be like watching Casablanca for the first time. but Furst comes closer than anyone has in years."
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2009 15:45:37 GMT
I have almost all the Alan Furst books -- they're great. I even managed to find a couple of autographed copies in a bookstore in Paris. Right now I'm waiting for the latest one to come out in paperback.
He creates a really interesting atmosphere, and the book covers often evokes it because they are sepia photographs.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Mar 12, 2009 21:22:02 GMT
How very strange. I looked in to this thread thinking it was another one on Alan Furst. What a disappointment.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2009 21:26:03 GMT
No need to be disappointed. I'm sure that wizard realized that a post entitled 'Alan Furst' would be far more popular than a post mentioning 'Kerouac' (not even the real one).
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Mar 13, 2009 8:34:15 GMT
That Norman, she is a bossy one.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2009 2:33:35 GMT
Began The Polish Officer last p.m. Am entrenched in it.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2009 10:35:25 GMT
Re: The Polish Soldier,a really,really good read. Thank you Baz!
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 12, 2009 15:28:41 GMT
I have just finished Blood Of Victory. I am disappointed for the first time. It does not really have a story.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2009 0:52:38 GMT
A neighbor gave me Blood Of Victory and The Foreign Correspondent,I have just started TFC,must have good instincts.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2009 12:09:25 GMT
I love how he has all these "minor" characters woven in and out of the story. His descriptions of them and their "story" is brilliant.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 13, 2009 15:10:26 GMT
I am having another look at Blood of Victory. Maybe I have been too harsh a critic.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2009 12:08:16 GMT
Finished The Foreign Correspondent. A tad disappointed as it was somewhat predictable and the romantic interest was a bit contrived. The descriptions of the many different sections of Paris very interesting. I'm assuming the guy did his homework on this. I'm onto Blood Of Victory so we can compare notes Baz.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 17, 2009 13:27:19 GMT
Furst has lived a long time in Paris. Obviously he has done his research on what it was like 70 years ago.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2009 14:33:32 GMT
Oh I know Baz,but a native Parisian could probably find some inaccuracy somewhere. The other evening Terri Gros was interviewing Drew Barrymore about her new role playing Little Edie Beale of Grey Gardens fame.(Yes,ANOTHER Grey Gardens...). Having grown up down the road from said gardens I am intimately familiar with the environs,native legends,accents etc. and although DB clearly researched her role the inaccuracies to me were simply maddening. Driving down the road talking to the radio screaming No,No,No. Perceptions are one thing but she had alot all wrong. Curiously,Alan Furst now lives in the same area as Grey Gardens.I would love to hear he's done a book about that region. There was lots of spy activity off Long Island (submarines).
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 17, 2009 15:56:48 GMT
I went to stay with Adam Hall/Elleston Trevor when passing through Phoenix (we shared a publisher). I gave him one of my books set mainly in Berlin. He wanted to know if I had visited (never mind lived in) the city. Yes, of course I said. Well, he told me, when he wrote The Quiller Memorandum (which seemed to put him on the road to commercial success), set entirely in Berlin, he had never set foot there.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2009 17:15:55 GMT
I must look into this Alan Furst business.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Apr 20, 2009 18:22:18 GMT
I wasn't around at the time Alan Furst's books are set, but the only discrepancy that struck me once was his mentioning a shower curtain in a bathroom in Paris during WW2.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2009 12:36:59 GMT
Ok,finished Blood Of Victory. Fascinating with all the history but plot did not move along as the previous two did. So far,The Polish Officer I would highly recommend.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 23, 2009 17:15:26 GMT
I agree, Casimira. There wasn't really much of a story at all.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2009 21:42:15 GMT
I'm going to try one more,maybe Dark Star. I really got into the other two and he is a good writer.
|
|
|
Post by Jazz on Apr 24, 2009 19:11:04 GMT
What a great writer. Thanks, Baz! I had never heard of Alan Furst and decided to begin with The World at Night and RedGold. Last night I read on into the night and finished the World at Night. As with books that I am totally enjoying, I couldn't bear to parcel it into seperate readings. When I am immersed in a story, I love to stay 'in it' until the author ends it. He is good and certainly not simply a spy thriller writer. His experience of living in Paris and his awareness of its history in this period is there in every perfectly chosen word.
Tonight, on to RedGold. I am fortunate in that my small bookstore has all of Furst's work in paperback and one of the clerk's is an avid fan. I'm not sure, but I think that The Polish Officer will be next. Or, maybe I'll read them in the order Furst chose to write them?....hmmm...This thread was valuable for shaping the sequence of reading. I may just go to the library for Foreign Correspndent. Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Apr 25, 2009 10:16:47 GMT
I am endebted to an American friend here who introduced me to Alan Furst. He has a huge library of thrillers and a print-out of everything he has got so I can choose. I was glad to see he even had some of mine.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2009 11:35:43 GMT
Same here Jazz,once I started I read right through,enthralled. I'm anxious to hear how you like The Foreign Correspondent and so far my favorite The Polish Officer.Knowing Paris you will really enjoy I believe.
|
|
|
Post by Jazz on Apr 30, 2009 13:03:30 GMT
Red Gold, the sequel to the World at Night, was a disappointment. It didn't draw me in, but I reluctently finished it...why, I don't know. In the next few days, Casimira, I will read The Polish Officer and Foreign Correspondent.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 2, 2009 3:41:32 GMT
Just finished Dark Voyage and was blown away. Took a bit to get all the nautical terms straight in my head. Most of it takes place in between various ports or at sea. Again,the minor characters woven in and out are just brilliant. I love his characters. The ending is quite beautiful in it's own tragic way. I'm onto Dark Star next. The local library which sucks here only has about 6 of the 21 or so he's written or did the librarian have that wrong. Will need to check.
|
|