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 | The Spies of Warsaw: A Novel
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 2008-09-05 - Interesting reading, but....
I would add only that A. Furst tried to match realities of Poland but did not meet the expectations. Some names are not even taken from a real Warsaw telephone book. I do not dare to mention his stylization of Polish in some phrases; just terrible. Same with names of some real European cities and streets in Warsaw. There are still maps easy available as a reference tool. Not mentioning a common cliche: Soviet agents prosecuted by Stalin because of their Jewish roots. There were many Communist activist of Jewish origin in Stalinist Russia who collaborated actively with NKVD during the Great Purges and later on. In general, it is an entertaining reading with some historical facts. It is not Graham Greene, for sure.
2008-09-02 - Not one of Furst's best
While I enjoyed "The Spies of Warsaw", I don't believe it is as good as the two other Furst novels I have read: "Dark Star" and "Kingdom of Shadows". Once again the hero is a man of action, courage and steely character, when he needs to be. At the same time he is reflective, and very human. Once again I learned some history: the French general staff was divided, with one faction very aware of the threat of a German tank attack through the Ardennes forest; this faction included then Colonel Charles de Gaulle. Marshall Petain was the leader of the other faction which believed that the Maginot line provided safety. This is the same Marshall Petain who accepted leadership of the Vichy government 3 days after the capitulation of France.
Furst several times has his hero express sympathy for the people who would likely be victimized by the looming war. In the other novels the ominous future was there more as an undercurrent. I also believe the women in the other two novels were better developed. "Dark Star" was a more complex, harrowing novel, while "Kingdom of Shadows" had a better plot and pre-war atmosphere.
 2008-08-29 - A Great Read
Alan Furst's "The Spies of Warsaw" lacks some of the depth and complexity of his early work, but I still enjoyed it. I think I could read anything he wrote--a phone book, a computer instruction manual, a life insurance policy--and appreciate it for Furst's intelligence, his impressionistic prose, and his evocation of atmosphere. He is simply a wonderful writer.
 2008-08-26 - My first but not last Furst
The Spies of Warsaw is a wonderful and entertaining read. It hooked me very quickly, and I finished it in nothing flat. Alan Furst is a craftsman of the highest order. I've been analyzing novels rather seriously for almost two decades and this one is constructed as well as any I've read.
I'm not a great fan of spy stories as they're usually full of tricks to fool the reader or far too convoluted for my taste. As you can tell, I don't indulge in solving crossword puzzles. But Furst creates the atmosphere of spying with an air of sadness and resignation rather than the usual trickery.
The story moves along from point to point without much need for rereading previous sections to see where you missed a clue. He is a master of creating suspense and tension, and I suspended disbelief on the first page and looked forward with dread to what I thought - not always incorrectly - was about to happen to the protagonist, Jean-Francois Mercier, or one of the minor characters with whom I had developed empathy.
I'm prejudiced toward books about the rise and fall of the Third Reich and Furst is clearly a scholar of the period. His spot on assessment that the various fascist regimes in the Europe of the twenties and thirties rising in response to the success of the Russian Revolution and its threat to metastasize westward was spot on and could not have been stated more economically.
Mercier, Furst's hero, is just right in his balance between cynicism and idealism and comes across as a fully rounded character. The other actors, most of whom we meet only briefly, are well drawn and believable for their few moments at center stage.
For a plot driven novel The Spies of Warsaw does very well at exploring the depths of the characters. I liked it a lot and recommend it highly. I intend to read more of the works of Alan Furst.
2008-08-24 - Outstanding historical fiction
This is the first Furst novel I've read, and boy was I impressed. I had all the symptoms of being hooked on a good book- staying up past my bedtime, skipping ahead for a sneak peek, etc. Jean-Francois is not a perfect man by any means but makes a compelling hero, struggling against the conventional wisdom that holds that Germany won't dare attack France. The coming Armageddon looms over the novel like a shadow. Furst does such a great job of describing ordinary scenes; I was particularly struck by one passage about an embassy dinner- I don't know if they really served those exact dishes in the late 1930's, but if they didn't, Furst sure had me fooled. His writing just draws the reader into the era.
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