Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill, Robert Whitfield ISBN: 0-7861-9880-X Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: May, 2000 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 7 List Price(USD): $56.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82 (34 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Great story, weak presentation
Comment: It's a rare thing indeed to discover a movie adaptation is actually better than the book that inspired it, but here it is: Paul Brickhill's THE GREAT ESCAPE is a great plot with no characters to speak of.
Brickhill gives a firsthand account of the escape of 76 men from Sagan, a German prisoner-of-war camp, during World War II. Through tireless efforts and disheartening setbacks, the men managed to dig a lengthy tunnel 30 feet down into the earth, and 300 feet towards possible freedom. The plan, which originally called for three such tunnels, was the single largest escape in WWII history, and the efforts, patience, and bravery of the men secures their escape as one of the most noble efforts of man.
What a pity, then, that THE GREAT ESCAPE is a fairly badly written first-hand narrative, related with all the style of a person making a grocery list. Brickhill has provided the bones of an amazing story, but he neglected to provide any meat along with them.
The story couldn't help but lend itself to a fascinating read. The actions of these men could never be anything less than remarkable. But all Brickhill does is tell the story. He doesn't add any true characterization to the hundreds of people who pop in and out, resulting in a lack of empathy for these men. The reader is left wanting to know more, but is frustratingly denied the opportunity. Even the leader, Roger Bushell, is a cipher, easily interchangeable with any other character.
It is easy to see why this story makes such fertile ground for a movie. The plot is astonishing, and the complete absence of any true personality leaves the filmmakers free to make up any character they want. Roger Bushell didn't escape from Sagan, Richard Attenborough did. So did Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.
I don't want to seem as if I am making light of the situation. THE GREAT ESCAPE was a shining example of what humanity can achieve under the most strenuous circumstances. But Brickhill doesn't provide us with any reason to care. The story unfolds with all the excitement and tension of someone telling of their day at work. Simplicity in storytelling can be a fine thing, but not where the story demands so much more.
Rating: 5
Summary: If the Plan Went as Smoothly as the Book . . .
Comment: 220 Allied POWs would have been swarming all over the Third Reich before the Germans realized they were missing. Unfortunately, only 76 managed to escape through a tunnel under Stalag Luft III that had taken a year to dig. Of those 76, only 3 managed to make their way back to Britain. Twelve found themselves back in Stalag Luft II in a matter of days. Eight wound up in concentration camps. The remaining 50 were shot by the Gestapo, on orders from Hitler himself. Among the 50 was South African-born RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, a.k.a. "Big X", the originator of the escape plan. The Great Escape is an incredible read. While the book is narrated from third person omniscience, its author was anything but detatched from the story. Paul Brickhill mentions his own role in the escape only very briefly in the foreword to the work. A key element of the escape plan, as Brickhill recounts in great detail, was the forging of official papers required for freedom of movement across the Reich. Brickhill led the gang of "stooges" that warned the forgers when camp guards approached. He found himself barred from participating in the actual escape when Big X learned of his acute claustrophobia. That fear may well have saved his life. After the war, Brickhill interviewed several of his other fellow survivors to assemble the grand narrative. The result is a riveting tale that ranks among the greatest war stories ever written, fact or fiction. You've seen the movie. Now read the book!
Rating: 5
Summary: A riveting tale of ingenuity!
Comment: An incredible story of raw determination, ingenuity and organization, substantiated with photographs mostly taken by the Germans. Man, is this ever a quick read! I couldn't put it down, and I'm *not* an avid reader. I would have read it faster were it not for so much flipping back to the diagram of the compound to follow along with the text. No one, no matter how imaginative, could have possibly made all this up.
There are many parallels with the movie: There actually was a prisoner in posession of a brand new civilian suit (obtained in Prague on a previous escape attempt and smuggled back into camp), someone who took a trunk through the tunnel, and the guards actually did use the prisoners' English word to refer to the "cooler." Also true was that once outside the fence, one was far from being "out of the woods," figuratively as well as literally; one was still deep within the heavily-policed, papers-conscious Reich.
There wasn't just one tunnel, though, and here are accounts of absolutely relentless escape attempts and incredibly clever make-do fabrications of fake everything, from gate passes to German uniforms and gun replicas --out of anything they could scavenge, inveigle, connive, beg, borrow, or steal.
There is insight regarding the personalities of the Germans as well as the prisoners, and why these POWs, mostly pilots, were placed in a relatively humane camp, and how they built a well-managed intelligence network among themselves. Some of the British slang and military acronyms from a bygone era gave me pause, but it was part of the adventure. A very inspiring tale!
 |
Title: Stalag Luft III: The Secret Story by Arthur A. Durand ISBN: 0807124435 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.84 |
 |
Title: The Great Escape: The Full Dramatic Story With Contributions from Survivors and Their Families by Anton Gill ISBN: 0755310381 Publisher: Headline Book Pub Ltd Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
 |
Title: Papillon by Henri Charriere ISBN: 0060934794 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 26 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Serpico by Peter Maas ISBN: 0061012149 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
 |
Title:The Great Escape ASIN: 0792838408 Publisher: Mgm/Ua Studios Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $12.26 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
