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Title: The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service by Erskine Childers, Geoffrey Household ISBN: 0-14-118165-6 Publisher: Penguin USA (Mm) Pub. Date: 03 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.31 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Always a delight
Comment: This book has been described to me both as "the best Yachting Book written" and "The book that saved Britain". Written in part as a wake-up call to the British Public at the turn of the last century -Childers (no stranger to Whitehall politics) was terrified that existing British strategy left the country wide open to an invasion from Germany- and in part as a celebration of a lifelong passion for boats and boating, the book "works" brilliantly. Even non-yachting enthusiasts will be drawn into the story, and those of us who have worked our way along a foggy coast by chart and compass will appreciate Childers' attention to detail and faithfulness to his subject. Overall I found the two principal characters well drawn, but the Germans are a bit cartoonish, and the hint of Romance towards the end was an un-needed distraction, other than that, this is a quite-un-put-downable novel of adventire & daring that MAY just have changed the course of history.
Rating: 4
Summary: Playing the Game on the Frisian Coast
Comment: I was intrigued when I came across this unassuming little book at a used bookstore. The plot revolves around the dual quest of Davies, one of the book's two protaganists. An Englishman and amateur yachtist, Davies' spot of autumn sailing along the challenging Frisian coast, Germany's narrow mouth on the sea facing England, turns into something more when a man ostensibly out to aid Davies by "piloting" his small craft with his larger yacht through an intricate network of sandbanks in harsh weather, actually makes an attempt to lead Davies and his boat to their doom along the treacherous coast. This act of deceit peaks the indefatigable Davies' curiosity. What was so important among these nondescript sand islets fronting the German coast that would necessitate murder? This question is one object of Davies' subsequent quest. The other is a lover's quest, namely in the form of the daughter of the putative pilot just mentioned. To aid him in his foolhardly quest, considering his small yacht and the inclement weather of the North Sea in autumn, Davies summons from England his acquaintance Carruthers, whose fluent German could prove useful. What he doesn't do, at least at first, is tell Carruthers just what is afoot, suggesting instead a spot of duck hunting and pleasure sailing. What follows soon upon Carruther's arrival is a nautical cat and mouse game involving the small yacht of Davies, an Imperial German gunboat, and an assortment of other yachts and shady characters peopling this melancholy and threatening coastline.
I found Childer's work very engaging, especially as I chose to read it while doing some traveling along a similar shoal of islands, though far from Germany and not in a yacht. The novel certainly kept me riveted by its plot, and Childers does a fine job in developing the primary characters and personalities of both Davies and Carruthers who emerge in very human detail against their backdrop. I'm not sure what edition the reader will be reading, but one disapointment I encountered was that the backcover of my edition gave away too much. The nature of the mystery should be left completely to the reader to discover. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the frequent use of nautical terms and the heavy reliance upon the intricacies of coastal features (requiring, at least for the curious, a continuous back-referencing to the series of maps) does hinder the pace a bit, but not to any great degree. What I found particularly interesting about this work was its language. It is a period piece, not just historically, by revealing a growing unease among Britain of the period of a rising German power, but culturally, as seen in the very approach to their problem taken by Davies and Carruthers. It is a game, and the phrase "playing the game" comes up frequently in the course of the text. Manliness and ruggedness, being proven and found worthy by one's adversaries (be they the elements or the Germans), and most of all "winning the game" with pluck and verve are all salient characteristics of Childer's attitude (and certainly not unique to him). I found the novel revealing in the general attitude towards international rivalry and war in the pre-World War One years. It was this gamesmenship attitude to combat and its challenges (a very British notion) that helped contribute to the willingness with which men threw themselves into death in 1914. I'm not sure if "Riddle of the Sands" is indeed the first modern espionage thriller (what about Arthur Conan Doyle?), but it is a perfect insight into period attitudes and fears. It is also exciting reading.
Rating: 4
Summary: Adventure in Northern Germany
Comment: I found this spy novel particularly interesting as I was born on the coastline described. Childers's descriptions of the Frisian Islands, the cities of northern Germany, and the dangerous tides are very accurate. That's what I like best about the book. The narrator, Anton Lesser, does a generally good job reading the book. In fact, he's much better than some other actors I've heard. However, his grasp of the German language is dreadful. Some sentences he reads in German are almost incomprehensible. This is inconsistent with the fact that the narrator of the story is supposed to speak German like a native. Listen if you love stories about ordinary people getting caught up in extraordinary events. Listen if you love the North Sea and Baltic coasts of Germany. Stay away if you love the German language.
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