Book Review - Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

3.5/5 stars

"I started my new life in an atmosphere of protest against authority. I reminded myself that a week ago I had been finding the world dull."

I had never heard about this book or the author before. Though a book fair, this book managed to get itself a new home - my bookshelf, on which it has been sitting for the past year and a half. This year I've really developed this newfound love for classics. That made me scan through all the classics on my shelf and I came across this one. Then, I did a little googling about the book and the author and came to know that it made its way to the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. Of course, I immediately started reading.
Once I started reading I got engrossed in Richard Hannay's story. Richard Hannay, a mining Engineer is bored and fed up with his life. One day he makes himself a vow to give the Old Country a day to make him fit into it else he'll leave the country for good. The next day he meets with an adventure for himself. However, this adventure looks like bringing danger to his life.

"The secret of playing a part was to think yourself into it. You could never keep it up, he said, unless you could manage to convince yourself that you were it."

Yes, you got it right. Thriller. Mystery. If you're on the hunt for a great thriller mystery to read, Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan should not escape your sight. Also, it's a pretty short book to read in a sitting.

What I didn't know was that Thirty-Nine Steps is a part of a series. It has 5 more installments to complete the series and these are not short reads like Thirty-Nine Steps. In the future, if I get my hands on the other copies, I might read and finish the series. Just to see what the other installments have in the package for me because Thirty-Nine Steps, in my belief, can be read as a standalone.

The story reminded me of other thriller stories I'd read so far or the suspense movies I've watched so far. What makes Thirty-Nine Steps different from the rest is that it introduced the world to the Spy genre. This has resulted in many attempted imitations over the years that followed.

The reason why it is getting 3.5 stars is that I read the book this late whereas read and watched its imitations earlier. It didn't feel like I'm reading something new. It's not the author's fault. Had I read the book earlier, I'd have given the book 5 stars. The impact that Thirty-Nine Steps is creating now in my mind is -not new. That's all.

 

Book Review - Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

With this, completing 11 of 339 from The Rory Gilmore Reading List.

2/5 stars

"No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot."

This is the only book among the eleven books I've read that disappointed me the most. The first few chapters came with a bang, especially the first chapter and set my hopes really high not to mention the fact that I must be in for something good because I was reading a book by Dickens. Wasn't I? It really didn't feel like. Alright, I've to give it to Dickens for the first few chapters, but rest of book was trash. Let's just say I'm glad I'm done with the book so that I can now tick it off my tbr list and move on to the next one.

I've read only three books by him including Our Mutual Friend. I loved reading A Christmas Carol as well as Great Expectations and you know about Our Mutual Friend. Although, I'm not giving up on Dickens. Actually, I've plans of reading all of his works. I know, some will be good, some will be bad but you have to read Dickens, don't you think? After all, he has given so much to the field of literature. Also, are you even a reader if you haven't read a book by Dickens?


I opened the book to this beautiful illustrated first page of my copy of Our Mutual Friend, the last complete novels by Charles Dickens. Reading the first chapter, I knew I was in for another five star read. But, everything ended up going in the opposite direction.

"In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark Bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in."

Had you opened a book to these opening lines, would you not feel : Wow! I'm going to have a great time with the book? The first chapter was one of the best opening chapters I've read so far. It was simply PERFECT.

A man and his daughter rowing a boat and discussing about something that was making me feel uncomfortable. I was like, I want to know them. I want to know what happened to them. Why that happened to them and how is that going to change things for them. The next few chapters were introduction to new characters that made me feel it will be interesting untangling the knots. As the chapters kept moving, I realized it was going into depth of these new side characters which, frankly speaking, I wasn't paying much head into. I wanted to know about Lizzie. I wanted to learn more about her. Alas, that didn't happen. Then, I made peace with it expecting at least a satisfying ending. But, No. Why Charles Dickens?

It wasn't only the huge number of unnecessary side characters that destroyed the story for me, it was also the numerous irrelevant subplots that made my reading experience pathetic. Those were my two main problems reading the novel. Overall, the experience was confusing, difficult to follow and majorly boring. I could have held with the bad experience had the ending been worth the pain. The ending was so disappointing. The way the story ended, from my point of view, it was impossible to feel satisfied, especially after reading 820 pages. The only reason I read Our Mutual Friend is because of Dickens and I will still continue to read his other novels.

I might also count Our Mutual Friend among my worst reads of 2022. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the day when I can say - 'This is why I read Dickens'. Till then, happy reading y'all.

Review Posted: 01 September 2022.