Alistair Maclean. Santorini. Fontana Collins. U.K.1986.
A mysterious sinking of a plane filled with hydrogen bombs...a sinking yacht with a multilillionaire who has stashed away his millions in banks across the world...Ariadne, a NATO ship with a razorsharp captain Talbot...Santorini, a catastrophe waiting to happen...the unravelling of clues right before one's eyes, ah...all these make Maclean a writer for someone yearning for some action. The plot is intriguing enough to hold attention...
Maclean, an English Professor of Glasgow University in the early 80's, interstingly enough, uses active narration through conversations. Descriptions are far and few in between and the reader construes the thread of action through the conversations, which are humorous and vibrant. The reader is free to imagine the mood, the place, the environment, the details that one cannot see but can only hear...this makes it more enjoyable.
Captain Talbot, Admiral Hawkinsand Van Gelder are all characters with colourful personalities and one cannot have enough of their lighthearted banter and shrewd acumen.
Ofcourse, if one were expecting something on the lines of Guns of Navarone, or Where Eagles Dare, one would be a mite disappointed. No complaints though.
5 comments:
The Golden Gate is also excellent from Maclean. you might read "The Satan Bug" also written by Maclean under the pen name Ian Stuart
Alistair Maclean is one of my childhood favourites. My father introduced him to us...I think I've read almost all of his books. However, I was not aware that Ian Stuart was his penname. When I found Ian Stuart's books in the library, I believed that they were written by some modern writer who chose to rewrite these famed stories. In fact, I recommed him to my second and third year students who I know will enjoy the adventure and thrill found in these books.
ur mention finding Ian Stuart books in the library probably means they are really by a different author and unrlated to Alistairs maclean, as he had written only 2 novels under the pen name Ian stuart. The dark crusader and The satan bug. I have read The Satan Bug(borrowing it from The british council library Madras) in the 1960s.
Though Macleans novels were fantastic, his first novel HMS Ulysses was very very boring for me.
Anyway I read all these novels long back and my memory may be rusty.
somehow libraries of enginering colleges don't seem to be interested in buying many books in English Fiction. I saw almost a complete set of PG Wodehouse books at Govt. College of engineering, Tirunelveli much to my surprise and pleasure. Language skills for Engineering students will certainly improve if such interesting books are available in libraray.
I'm sorry, the library here meant Bala's Cellar, a private library where I am a member. Oh, yes ofcourse, if good books were available to students in their college libraries, it would go a long way in helping students develop healthy habits. GCE, Salem has some amazing English books in its condemned section...a pity really. Today, even when students are given the open access, they do not know of the wealth of books lying there. The department is trying to move them over to the department, but then again the dearth of cupboards to store them hinders us. I wish you could see the titles available here.
i did not see ur library though i came for inspection in 2001. can i see ur lib catalogue on the net?
Cupboards- ask the library to shift both the books and the cupboards to ur department. or u can digitise the books and make them available on the college network for use by ur students. u must some how prevent the condemned books ending up in a waste paper mart.
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