John Buchan

The 39 steps.

The 39 Steps

jess

I was feeling excitement at its beginning chapters. On how it ascended into a pretty interesting storyline and I had already had lots of expectations on this book. However as the story goes, I'd noticed that the book started on being very repetitive and the ending was just. Damn disappointing. Expectations crushed and also not exactly a worthwhile read, but nonetheless a normal book. 2.5 out of 5 for me.

Jonathan Tysick

I'm a sucker for a "man-on-the-run" story and so it's interesting to read one of the original stories of that genre from 1915. As a Canadian it was fascinating to read a book written by a future governor general as well as knowing that men in the trenches of WW1 read this. The story itself had its moments, although the ending was rather abrupt.

Eloise

I considered Hannay and the other main characters to be somewhat generic, which is not unexpected in an action novel of this scope. I believe Buchan's intended audience was not looking for depth and sensitivity; they were looking for simple characters and plenty of action.

I particularly liked the depictions of country life in Galloway, which would have been a world away from city life in England. Yes, it may seem a little thin and dated, but remember the thousands of spy thrillers written in the intervening century that adopt the same style before you dismiss it as a Classic book.

Cams Campbell

Harriet Moar-Smith

Unfortunately, this is one of those instances where the film is better than the book. 

I was looking for the romance in this and it never came. He also mentioned his coat quite a lot. Overall I actually really enjoyed this book but it lacked a lot of detail and cleverness that I enjoy from books like this

Bryan Alexander

A fun romp, important in the history of spy fiction, and a fascinating glimpse into the way people imagined WWI during the war. 

A few notes:

39 Steps is nearly dreamlike in its implausibilities. Wild coincidences drive most of the plot. There are a good amount of "amazing chance[s]". This leads to some very entertaining scenes, like the impromptu speech and improv road repair routine.

Much of the novel is a love letter to the Scots countryside. 

Action is elegantly written, very fast, understated, giving the narrative extra drive. The whole book races along - a fine thing, given the descriptive passages describing the countryside.

The writing is very focused, stripped down, evocative, and often entertaining.
For example,
Then I got a corpse—you can always get a body in London if you know where to go for it.
He was a whining fellow with a churchyard face, and half-a-crown went far to console him.

WWI: the deepest fear held by the narrator (and, likely, Buchan) is (view spoiler)[the German navy and the possibility that its U-boats could wipe out Britain's capital ships. It's fascinating to read this as written and published in mid/late 1915, less than a year before the war's greatest naval fight, the battle of Jutland. Possibly the British would feel less nervous about Berlin's naval might after that match, since London cast it as a victory. (hide spoiler)] 
Also, (view spoiler)[one plot is an assassination scheme that would throw Europe into war, almost exactly what occurred. (hide spoiler)]. Note that the last page of the book sees Hannay into the Western front.
It's also neat to see the French as humble and competent allies - not their usual role in British lit.

Many echoes to Riddle of the Sands (1903), an earlier, foundational work of spy fiction: an ordinary, bored man stumbles into espionage; many acts of competence and non-urban adventure. See the spoiler section above.

I loved the Milton reference in chapter 3. It casts the events as capital-c Chaos, the secrets as gold, the villains as scary, and Hannay as both heroic and somewhat baffled.

Interesting class dynamic, where Hannay mentions being comfortable with upper- and lower-class folks, but not the middle. Since he's an engineer, shouldn't that be his people?

The 39 steps.

Reviews