Kingdom of Shadows
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List Price:
$13.95
Hungary Hotels Travel Price:
$11.16
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Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780375758263
ISBN: 0375758267
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2001-10-09
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: 2001-10-09
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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In spymaster Alan Furst's most electrifying thriller to date, Hungarian aristocrat Nicholas Morath—a hugely charismatic hero—becomes embroiled in a daring and perilous effort to halt the Nazi war machine in eastern Europe.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: gripping peri-war drama
Comment: I am eagerly looking forward to reading more books by Furst. Set in Europe at the start of WW2, this is a well-fashioned story of bravery and idealism.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Light in the Kingdom
Comment: This is my favorite Alan Furst novel. I think what makes this book stand out from his others is that Morath is, if not willing, an accepting spy. There is some ideological moivation behind what he does. Overall he feels to be a more generous person, but his status as part of the Hungarian aristocracy plays into that. He has the means to be more generous.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Kingdom of Shadows
Comment: Kingdom of Shadows is the second Alan Furst novel I've read. This one follows the opening days of the war with Hitler's rise to power but from the point of view of the owner of an advertising agency in Paris who is balancing his time between work, his mistress and some espionage for his Hungarian uncle.
Nicholas Morath and his small group of friends remind me of the idle and bored characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's, with Tender is the Night coming specifically to mind. The only difference is that their parties are set against the backdrop of the early days of WWII. Family duty forces Morath to attempt heroic acts at a time when he (and most of the rest of Paris) is having trouble believing what is on the horizon.
As with Dark Voyage, the middle section of the book drags a bit as Hurst pauses to let the historical events play out. The characters step aside and the book becomes more of a book report than a novel. While it's good to get things in context, these interludes are best when skimmed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Didactic
Comment: Sorry -- a quick judgment. I only read a bit. The author seems very inent, and heavy-handedly so, on filling us in on details of Hungarian culture. This gave every sign of weighing the plot down so that it could barely move. Two of the principals are having lunch in a seedy cafe. They talk about a friend who died and they take the opportunity to review Hungarian customs and beliefs surrounding dealing with the dead. Of course, we will pay close attention to their eating habits, too -- equally well researched. If I were very particularly interested in or attached to things Hungarian, I might like this, and I can imagine sensible people who would enjoy it, but it isn't what I was after.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not my Furst book by this author
Comment: Once I discover an author I like, my life-long habit is to read almost everything that author has written. (This took several years in the case of Patrick O'Brian.) This practice is particularly rewarding with Alan Furst's books, since they provide different perspectives of the same period of time (1933-1943).
I claim to have "read" most of Furst's books but honesty compels me to admit that I had George Guidall read them to me. (Did you know that George has narrated over 800 audiobooks?) I think if I had read the Furst novels the old-fashioned way instead of listening while I drive I might have been more impatient with some of the minor weaknesses pointed out by other reviewers (plot, characters, motivation, abrupt endings etc.)
Furst's books have helped me better understand the events that lead up to the Second World War. This is partly due to his detailed research and partly due to my own research - I always hit the books and the Internet immediately after finishing each Furst novel. After finishing the "Kingdom of Shadows", for example, I read numerous articles on the Sudetenland which made me more sympathetic to its German inhabitants than Furst's pro-Czech point of view. This is not to criticize Furst's research but to compliment him for inspiring me to read more on this subject.
If you "read" the Guidall audiobook version of "Kingdom", you'll enjoy the bonus interview of the author. Guidall asks Furst about the interesting quote "life is like licking honey from a thorn" which Furst attributes to someone else. I poked around on the web and found several versions of this - nothing too definitive - including "Hungarian proverb" "Welsh proverb"(!), and "quotation from the Slovenian-American author Louis Adamic."
Anyway, "Kingdom of Shadows" was a good read and if in fact Furst mangled some Hungarian poetry as a more erudite reviewer pointed out it certainly didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book!
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