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A review by kim_e_d
The Man From St Petersburg by Ken Follett
adventurous
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Plot :
As the First World War looms closer, the English and the Russians try to make an alliance, but an anarchist triest to twart it by assassinating the Russian envoy. All the while, the English representative's daughter comes of age and discovers the real world.
Impressions :
In spite of some improbabilities (an 18-year-old not knowing how babies are made? Really?), Follet's talent for non-manichean characters shines in this historical thriller. The would-be assassin is almost a sociopath who does not have feelings, and yet he makes some excellent points.
Two examples: Page 258, after policemen and members of the public SA'd suffragettes (which actually was Friday 18 November 1910, a.k.a Black Friday):
" 'You see, we put women on a pedestal and pretend they are pure in mind and helpless in body. So, in polite society at least, men must tell themselves that they feel no hostility toward women, ever, nor do they feel lust for women's bodies. Now, here come some women - the suffragettes - who plainly are not helpless and need not be worshipped. What is more, they break the law. They deny the myths that men have made themselves believe, and they can be assaulted with impunity. The men feel cheated, and they give expression to all the lust and anger which they have been pretending not to feel. This is a great release to tension, and they enjoy it.' "
This opens the eyes of the young debutante, who in trun sees a conservative Duchess for who she is:
Page 323: "Meanwhile the Duchess was getting into her stride. The lower classes were idle, she said; and Charlotte thought: You who have never done a day's work in your life! Why, the Duchess said, she understood that now adays each workman had a lad to carry his tools around: surely a man could carry his own tools, she said as a footman held out for her a silver salver of boiled potatoes. Beginning her third glass of sweet wine, she said that they drank so much beer in the middle of the day that they were incapable of working in the after- noon. People today wanted to be mollycoddled, she said as three footmen and two maids cleared away the third course and served the fourth; it was no business of the Government's to provide Poor Relief and medical insurance and pensions. Poverty would encourage the lower orders to be thrifty, and that was a virtue, she said, at the end of a meal which would have fed a working-class family of ten for a fortnight. People must be self-reliant, she said, as the butler helped her rise from the table and walk into the drawing-room."
The ambiguity of all the characters is masterfully constructed, and the plot is tense until the very end. Excellent.
As the First World War looms closer, the English and the Russians try to make an alliance, but an anarchist triest to twart it by assassinating the Russian envoy. All the while, the English representative's daughter comes of age and discovers the real world.
Impressions :
In spite of some improbabilities (an 18-year-old not knowing how babies are made? Really?), Follet's talent for non-manichean characters shines in this historical thriller. The would-be assassin is almost a sociopath who does not have feelings, and yet he makes some excellent points.
Two examples: Page 258, after policemen and members of the public SA'd suffragettes (which actually was Friday 18 November 1910, a.k.a Black Friday):
" 'You see, we put women on a pedestal and pretend they are pure in mind and helpless in body. So, in polite society at least, men must tell themselves that they feel no hostility toward women, ever, nor do they feel lust for women's bodies. Now, here come some women - the suffragettes - who plainly are not helpless and need not be worshipped. What is more, they break the law. They deny the myths that men have made themselves believe, and they can be assaulted with impunity. The men feel cheated, and they give expression to all the lust and anger which they have been pretending not to feel. This is a great release to tension, and they enjoy it.' "
This opens the eyes of the young debutante, who in trun sees a conservative Duchess for who she is:
Page 323: "Meanwhile the Duchess was getting into her stride. The lower classes were idle, she said; and Charlotte thought: You who have never done a day's work in your life! Why, the Duchess said, she understood that now adays each workman had a lad to carry his tools around: surely a man could carry his own tools, she said as a footman held out for her a silver salver of boiled potatoes. Beginning her third glass of sweet wine, she said that they drank so much beer in the middle of the day that they were incapable of working in the after- noon. People today wanted to be mollycoddled, she said as three footmen and two maids cleared away the third course and served the fourth; it was no business of the Government's to provide Poor Relief and medical insurance and pensions. Poverty would encourage the lower orders to be thrifty, and that was a virtue, she said, at the end of a meal which would have fed a working-class family of ten for a fortnight. People must be self-reliant, she said, as the butler helped her rise from the table and walk into the drawing-room."
The ambiguity of all the characters is masterfully constructed, and the plot is tense until the very end. Excellent.