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Carregando... Istanbul Passagede Joseph Kanon
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. The NYT reviewer was speaking of me when he wrote "Some readers may find that Kanon’s thriller-ish style takes some getting used to, especially his telegrammatic dialogue reduced. To such. Staccato bursts that. It risks becoming. Unintelligible." However, I did like this story; it was fast paced and a quick read even though a bit confusing as I tried to figure out who worked for whom...but I guess that's par for the course with suspense fiction. ( ) Foreshadowing the upcoming Cold War, expatriate American businessman Leon Bauer is doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs in support of the Allied war effort; however, things go horribly wrong with the transfer of a Romanian refugee and alleged war criminal. Set in scenic Istanbul, the cross-roads of the West and East, Leon has to decide what he stands for in the midst of both political and police intrigue. This is a fun, engaging espionage thriller about a low-level U.S. operative trying to navigate all sorts of mayhem in 1945 Istanbul to try to save a high-level escapee from the Soviets because the American government thinks this fellow has information they can use about those darn Ruskies. The war is over and all the spies are leaving Turkey. Well, not quite all the spies, of course. Anyway, the plot is pretty good and the various twists and turns enjoyable, with just enough history worked in to add spice. Just a smidge of character development, but, how much do you need in a "entertainment" like this one? I read Kanon's The Good German a while back, and enjoyed it a bit more than this book, but still I would recommend Istanbul Passage to fans of the genre. Kanon does employ a narrative tic I can do without, the cobbling together, by comma, of phrase smash-ups meant to approximate train of thought breathlessness. Occasionally, annoying, but not so much as to ruin the fun. Anytime that you're looking for a thoughtful WWII-era character-driven thriller, you just can't go wrong with Joseph Kanon, who's right up there with Alan Furst in my book, with everyone else (alive, at least) pretty much wishing that they could write as well as these two. And this outing is no exception. The plot is decent, the narrative is outstanding, and the reader is left with a proper mix of resolved issues and matters left to interpretation. And not everyone gets a happy ending, which is only appropriate for the subject matter. The characters are three-dimensional and come with wonderful levels of moral ambiguity. The challenges that they face are not trivial and the questions that they have to ask -- of themselves and others -- don't lend themselves to easy black-and-white answers. And as for the setting, Kanon doesn't just set his story in Istanbul; he also pretty much transports the reader to that city and that time period. The guy can write a book.
"Kanon pulls us into his noir world, where men’s motives may be as shabby as the dilapidated city that surrounds them, and no one is quite all he seems. " "Some readers may find that Kanon’s thriller-ish style takes some getting used to, especially his telegrammatic dialogue... But “Istanbul Passage” is enlivened by intelligent plotting and its vivid evocation of the city itself, a setting rich in centuries of intrigue." Distinctions
"From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Stardust, The Good German, and Los Alamos--a gripping tale of an American undercover agent in 1945 Istanbul who descends into the murky cat-and-mouse world of compromise and betrayal that will come to define the entire post-war era. A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul has spent the war as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even American businessman Leon Bauer has been drawn into this shadow world, doing undercover odd jobs and courier runs for the Allied war effort. Now as the espionage community begins to pack up and an apprehensive city prepares for the grim realities of post-war life, he is given one more assignment, a routine job that goes fatally wrong, plunging him into a tangle of intrigue and moral confusion. Played out against the bazaars and mosques and faded mansions of this knowing, ancient Ottoman city, Leon's attempt to save one life leads to a desperate manhunt and a maze of shifting loyalties that threatens his own. How do you do the right thing when there are only bad choices to make? Istanbul Passage is the story of a man swept up in the aftermath of war, an unexpected love affair, and a city as deceptive as the calm surface waters of the Bosphorus that divides it. Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Joseph Kanon's latest novel flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller about the dawn of the Cold War, once again proving why Kanon has been hailed as the 'heir apparent to Graham Greene' (The Boston Globe)"-- Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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