Particularize Out Of Books The Riddle of the Sands
| Title | : | The Riddle of the Sands |
| Author | : | Erskine Childers |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 336 pages |
| Published | : | December 10th 2002 by Modern Library (first published 1903) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Mystery. Adventure. Historical. Historical Fiction. Spy Thriller. Espionage. Thriller |
Erskine Childers
Paperback | Pages: 336 pages Rating: 3.63 | 5263 Users | 528 Reviews
Commentary To Books The Riddle of the Sands
While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot to invade England. Written by Childers—who served in the Royal Navy during World War I—as a wake-up call to the British government to attend to its North Sea defenses, The Riddle of the Sands accomplished that task and has been considered a classic of espionage literature ever since, praised as much for its nautical action as for its suspenseful spycraft.Identify Books As The Riddle of the Sands
| Original Title: | The Riddle of the Sands |
| ISBN: | 0812966147 (ISBN13: 9780812966145) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Carruthers, Arthur Davies, Bartels, Dollmann, Clara Dollmann, von Brüning, Böhme |
| Setting: | Germany Kiel (Hauptstadt)(Germany) |
Rating Out Of Books The Riddle of the Sands
Ratings: 3.63 From 5263 Users | 528 ReviewsAssess Out Of Books The Riddle of the Sands
What makes The Riddle of the Sands special is the superb drollery of the opening chapters where the effete Carruthers describes his reluctant decision to join his socially inept school acquaintance, Davies, on a yacht cruise to shoot ducks ("to bury myself in the Baltic at this unearthly time of year had at least a smack of tragic thoroughness about it"). Mutual uneasiness and embarrassment metamorphose into a moving camaraderie with their "gay pursuit of a perilous quest." Their friendship is,Britannia rules the waves?Our narrator, Carruthers, finds himself having to stay on at his job in the Foreign Office while all his fashionable friends depart for country house parties, apparently managing to cope with his absence with less difficulty than hed have liked. Released at last for his annual holiday, he finds himself with nowhere in particular to go, so when an old friend writes inviting him to spend some time on his yacht duck-shooting in the Baltic, he decides to take him up on the
Erskine Childers' The Riddle of the Sands (not to be confused with Geoffrey Knight's The Riddle of the Sands ) is an odd Edwardian book that can't really be classified as non-fiction, but doesn't read much like novel, either. Childers himself wanted it that way; had it not been for the publisher, even the weak love plot would have been stripped away entirely, and the book mostly would have consisted of maps of the German coastline and log entries such as "wind WNW, steered ENE, fifty knots."
A slow burn that gradually builds to an engrossing finale. It's easy to see why it is often listed as one of the all-time classic spy novelsFor ten years after its publication in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands was extremely influential as it highlighted Britain's lack of preparedness in the event of an invasion. Erskine Childers made a similar sailing voyage, to the one depicted in this book, to the East Frisia coast in Germany, and this experience informs the book's authentic feel. Perhaps the
This is a great model for the kind of fiction I love to read: a mostly forgotten novel that evokes a very different place and time. It is billed as one of the first spy novels ever written (1903), a template for the modern thriller, but that's not what I like about it. It's the way it transports us to a time that is now forgotten.You see, the future always updates the past. We know the end of the story, and we interpret the beginning through the lens of the end. So we know all about WWI and the
This book was given to me with the enticement of its being the first spy novel. This may be true, but just as the first submarine was clunky and didnt submerge much, The Riddle of the Sands is heavy, outmoded and pretty much no fun to read. Like some of the John Buchan novels (Buchan was a fan of Childers), it is part propaganda, meant to spur on the Brits to prepare themselves against a German attack. Published in 1903, it was later seen as prescient so, historically, it has interest. It is
Published in 1903, this is both an old-fashioned (in a good way) adventure and a warning to Englands government of the dangers of Germanys naval plans in the event of war against England. It captures a historical moment marvellously: when young men with no training or formal status could turn into spies and foil a dastardly plan during their summer holiday ;)While noted as an early espionage thriller, this is markedly better written than many in the genre (honourable exclusions, of course, to
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