(This is a thread that I've not been reading (even though it's in my New Replies To Your Posts list, fairly permanently) because I've generally got half a dozen books on the go at any time and I've not felt like being guilt-tripped into merely reporting on the latest one or two that I (eventually) actually finished, most recently. But a mis-click upon the mild necro above broke my self-imposed inhibition, so nice to see someone discussing Making Money, and Moby Dick, etc, and I thought... Oh, go on, you can mention something with a bit of a likeness to both.
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To quote the internal title page: "Getaway" "The eighth volume in the Saint saga". i.e. the books by Leslie Charteris. This particular copy a 16th-edition of this story, which was first published in 1932 (however much later it attained its 16th printing, an inscription says this copy was owned by my father by no later than 1942). And, being inter-bellum and "of an age" it is of course a product of its time (wannabe-repentent anti-hero Simon Templar is very much a "Self-assured, richly-living[1] and man-of-the-world" version of the self-entitled 'Brit Abroad' who is not above speaking in slow English to foreigners, expecting them to kowtow to his force-of-will. Except when he actually makes calculated use of his near flawless local accents to blend in or generally deceive those he meets, often as part of a necessary gambit due to him being in - for anyone less bold - would be considered a bit of a pickle... Such as escaping from the local(/international) police, or a criminal enemy. Or, because S.T. doesn't do things by halves, both at the same time!
The language (terminology, especially) is also a little unreconstructed, by today's standards. I'm sure some things said (or thought) never made their way into Roger Moore's version of any TV adaptations (even in the black-and-white era, which may be ironic. But it's very high-falluting vocabulary. For example "The empurpled lady lifted her yapping paladin tenderly into the last coach, and was in turn assisted steatopygously upwards."[2]. Now you definitely can't deny that modern fiction has been dumbed down somewhat, in the 90 years since this particular concoction had been assembled from the choicest of words..!
Plot-wise, it is of course a felicitous and highly luck-dependent stumble through the machinations of a very clear candidate for Evil Mastermind (with a few caveats, but definitely a chessmaster-antagonist, a well prepared and resourced villain of the peace). Hard to say if Templar is unluckier for falling blindly into the situation, or the counterpart is unluckier for having The Saint fall into the situation he was previously handling quite well, thank you very much... Well, except that The Saint (as of the book's/imprint's publication) has a further 13 more volumes in him, so no surprise that enough luck is manufactured to ensure a future for our definitely-not-luckless champion of the series. Whatever fate befalls his allies, enemies and (transiently, at least) his reputation for good or ill.
I only have a handful more of these books available to me (no idea if my father collected more than I was in turn allowed to receive, I also got an incomplete set of John Buchans (includes both famous and more obscure/unpopular Richard Hannay stories, but not the whole lot) and certainly in '42 there was a war on, so maybe if the collection was actually being assembled around that time then the effective paper-rationing (and his own wartime experiences) might have limited the opportunities.
But I chose to read this one as the first, by publication date, of its set. And I have the others (that I have) ready and lined up to delve back into when I find a further gap identified in my multi-reading schedule.[3] To see what other scrapes the unexpurgated adventures of the lovable(?) rogue creates to be endured, only to barely impact his full headlong dash through one headonistic adventure and like-as-not straight into the next.
(As a comodity, I very much doubt the physical book itself has much worth. It is foxed (and a little badgered too) and has the appearance of a mass-market (for the time) product, plus nowhere near 1
st-Ed. attractiveness.)
[1] Whether it is his own riches or not seems not to be much of an issue to the character...
[2] i.e., the out-of-breath rotund lady with a pekinese lap-dog needed to get back into the train, after an unscheduled stop mid-transit and an entertaining trackside argument with the railway staff over several separate fusses caused entirely by either Simon, his allies or his enemies!
[3] It was so much simpler when I could just stock up with a week's supply of books from.the library and, undistracted by anything as irresistable as the Internet - let alone the
Web! - I could plough through them in strict order and return them half-a-week later for another (nominal) week's-worth of fiction and non-fiction.
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Topic: What are you reading? (Read 88834 times)