Okay it's the mid-seventies and times aren't so great in the United States. Watergate, Vietnam, recession, inflation, energy crises, oil embargo, dramatic increase in crime, Richard Nixon and Disco.
People were tired, wearing double-knit polyester leisure suits, angry, afraid (of everything) paranoid, and feeling spiritually bankrupt. So along comes William Goldman with Marathon Man. A grim, violent, paranoid thriller. People ate it up.
Looking at it forty years later it's apparent that Goldman wrote a novel that was tapping various ills and fears of the time. Old Nazis in South America, uncontrolled government agents engaged in nefarious activities that might not be for our own good, McCarthy and a feeling that the whole system was running out of steam and falling apart. It's actually fairly calculating. It was a huge seller and a very popular movie. I'm not ashamed to say that I like it. Perhaps because in 2015 we're right back to the same situation (with a few new twists).
Are there aspects that have aged? Yes. We now expect our thrillers/espionage novels to be loaded with tons of technical details. Almost pornographic in the attention to detail. Everything from weapons to electronic devices. Thank you James Bond and Tom Clancy.
Well there is neither in this story. People have to use their wits, physical skills and also rely on that most unreliable of things - luck.
Cars are just called cars and firearms are referred to as pistols and revolvers. Nothing more and nothing less. Of course there are no cell phones, iPhone, Apps, iPods, and so on. The characters use plain old fashioned phones.It's very refreshing in a retro way. Of course it wasn't retro at the time was it.
In closing this is a cynical, dark, violent novel. It's also intelligent, witty in spots and a fast read. I read it over a week. A chapter or two every night before turning out my light. I never dozed off while reading it - which in my opinion is a compliment.
People were tired, wearing double-knit polyester leisure suits, angry, afraid (of everything) paranoid, and feeling spiritually bankrupt. So along comes William Goldman with Marathon Man. A grim, violent, paranoid thriller. People ate it up.
Looking at it forty years later it's apparent that Goldman wrote a novel that was tapping various ills and fears of the time. Old Nazis in South America, uncontrolled government agents engaged in nefarious activities that might not be for our own good, McCarthy and a feeling that the whole system was running out of steam and falling apart. It's actually fairly calculating. It was a huge seller and a very popular movie. I'm not ashamed to say that I like it. Perhaps because in 2015 we're right back to the same situation (with a few new twists).
Are there aspects that have aged? Yes. We now expect our thrillers/espionage novels to be loaded with tons of technical details. Almost pornographic in the attention to detail. Everything from weapons to electronic devices. Thank you James Bond and Tom Clancy.
Well there is neither in this story. People have to use their wits, physical skills and also rely on that most unreliable of things - luck.
Cars are just called cars and firearms are referred to as pistols and revolvers. Nothing more and nothing less. Of course there are no cell phones, iPhone, Apps, iPods, and so on. The characters use plain old fashioned phones.It's very refreshing in a retro way. Of course it wasn't retro at the time was it.
In closing this is a cynical, dark, violent novel. It's also intelligent, witty in spots and a fast read. I read it over a week. A chapter or two every night before turning out my light. I never dozed off while reading it - which in my opinion is a compliment.
