I’ve heard good things about
Alan Furst’s spy novels. They’re set
almost exclusively in the pre-WWII “rise of fascism” era or during WWII itself
and contain immersive detail about the events, politics, and general life of
the time period. I like spy novels. I like WWII history. From the sounds of things, it should be just
the type of thing to float my boat. Or
trip my trigger. Or tickle my
pickle. Take your pick. So when I selected The Foreign Correspondent (Furst’s 2006 entry in his Night Soliders series, now 11 books
strong) as one of my audio book reads for my trip down to Orlando last month, I expected to be treated
to a riveting tale of WWII espionage, intrigue, and danger.
But I wasn’t.
Oh, there was espionage,
intrigue, and danger—just not enough of it to make the tale riveting. Actually, it was kind of boring. The historical aspect was well done and quite
interesting, but the plot moved sluggishly, and I kept waiting for a rise in
action that never came. Guess it was a
good thing I wasn’t holding my breath. Let
me tell you a little bit about the plot so you can see what I mean.
The protagonist is one Carlo
Weisz, a foreign correspondent for the Reuters news agency during the Spring of
1939. He’s also an Italian émigré living in Paris, one of the many artists,
professors, and intellectuals that were forced to flee Italy when
Mussolini and his blackshirts took power.
He and his émigré friends operate one of the many émigré newspapers in Paris , writing propaganda against the Fascisti regime and covertly distributing it back within Italy . When the editor of the magazine is killed by
the Italian secret police, Carlo agrees to take on the editorial duties. In the meantime, he makes several trips to
reporting assignments around the region for Reuters—hot button locales like Spain , Prague ,
and even Germany
itself. War is looming, the Germans and
the Italians have allied themselves in war, and the only question is which
spark is going to set off the European powder keg—stuff that makes for entertaining
newsprint if nothing else.
The whole time I kept
expecting the slowly mounting tension to explode, to finally get to the high point of the novel
where the shit hits the fan, everyone’s running for their lives, and feats of
derring-do save the day. Well, maybe not
derring-do. This ain’t a James Bond
flick. But something, y’know? In the end Carlo goes to Italy for a
while, has a few tense moments when he believes he’s being followed by the
secret police (but isn’t), and then hitches a ride home with some Swedes. When he gets to Paris his lady love is waiting for him, and
it’s happily ever after—except for that whole impending war thing.
That was my problem
with the book overall. Nothing really
happens. Oh, there’s enough subtle intrigue
and foreboding to give an old lady a heart attack, but nothing ever comes of
it. It’s just… kind of boring. Then again, maybe that’s the point. Spycraft isn’t all excitement and shootouts
and naked chicks. Real spycraft is long
periods of tedious boredom punctuated by heart-racing fear. Given his attention to historical detail, I
guess it’s not surprising that Furst’s novel was more realistic than most—even if
it made for a less entertaining book. And
really, how much derring-do can you expect from a journalist whose idea of “fighting
back” against fascist oppression is writing some whiny articles?
What The Foreign Correspondent lacks in excitement, though, it makes up for
with nearly everything else. The novel
is amazingly-well researched. Furst
crafts realistic (if somewhat boring) characters and an immersive historical
setting using style and language that are measured, understated, and elegant. I could almost imagine I was back in Paris with Carlo and the
rest of the gang. It was a lot like
being thrown into the DeLorean and burning rubber back in time to punch
Mussolini in the face. Or write nasty
articles about him. Same thing.
The Foreign Correspondent wasn’t the most exciting book I’ve ever read, but it
had enough of a silver lining to make me glad that I read it nonetheless. That’s why I give it three stars.
I enjoyed your review, Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteMike
Thanks, Mike. It's great to hear from you again. Thanks for stopping by the blog.
ReplyDeleteThe general idea sounds good but it looks like it could have been made more interesting with a few (just two or three) gun shots at the end, like in old black and white movies.
ReplyDeleteFurst has written several novels, so maybe one of them has more action whithout ignoring the realistic part.
There are a lot of people who have really enjoyed Furst's work, so I'm starting to think that maybe I just picked up one of his lesser novels. I'm not ruling out reading another book from Furst.
DeleteI've never heard of this series but it certainly seems like something I'd like. Have you read any of Philip Kerr's books?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ManOfLaBook.com
No, I haven't read anything by Philip Kerr, but I remember reading a review of one of his Bernie Gunther books. Was that yours? I remember thinking that I had to read some of Kerr's work.
DeleteAnd yes, I'd say this is something you would like very much, even considering the slow moving plot. The historical detail alone is worth the read.
Thanks for stopping by, Z!
That's frustrating, when a book is plodding along but seems to be building to something and then... It never happens. That's how I felt about "The Solitude of Prime Number", which is not a spy novel but had a similar lack of climax or catharsis.
ReplyDeleteAlso, have you read "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle"? I think you would like it.
ReplyDeleteit I haven't, but it does sound like something I'd like (thank you wikipedia). It's got it all--classical literature references, muder, mute teenagers, dogs... I'll make sure to pick it up if I ever run across it. Thanks, Erin. Did you read this book recently or something? What made you think of it?
DeleteI was just talking with someone about it the other day. It is one of the best examples of what you described above- slowly mounting tension until shit hits the fan & everyone is running for their lives. It takes a little while to get into but it is worth it.
DeleteGood review :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Trevor!
DeleteThank you for your honest review of this book. You did an excellent job.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Donna!
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