David's review
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth
David's review
rating:
recommended for: Any writers circle wanting an illustration of how not to write a thriller
status: Read in August, 2007
rating:
recommended for: Any writers circle wanting an illustration of how not to write a thriller
status: Read in August, 2007
You don't read Forsyth for the dialogue or the narrative style - you read him for twisty, page-turning plot and for know-how. This one, I have to admit, kept me turning the pages, but I found precious little new in the know-how.
Forysth's dialogue is wooden at best. In this one, he handles dialogue by mostly omitting it altogether. When he does break his long, grey, heavy paragraphs for a line of dialogue, it's not wooden any more - it's like lead.
Much the same goes for the narrative style. This is an adventure story that makes a thrilling sequence read like the legal column in a heavyweight broadsheet newspaper.
It looks like one he was reluctantly arm-twisted by his publisher into writing - a book that he didn't want to bother with but which would make a bob or two for the publisher. Steal it if you must, but for pity's sake don't spend money on it.
Forysth's dialogue is wooden at best. In this one, he handles dialogue by mostly omitting it altogether. When he does break his long, grey, heavy paragraphs for a line of dialogue, it's not wooden any more - it's like lead.
Much the same goes for the narrative style. This is an adventure story that makes a thrilling sequence read like the legal column in a heavyweight broadsheet newspaper.
It looks like one he was reluctantly arm-twisted by his publisher into writing - a book that he didn't want to bother with but which would make a bob or two for the publisher. Steal it if you must, but for pity's sake don't spend money on it.
