Every once in awhile I like to dish up some lemon sorbet to cleanse the reading pallet. This gives me a little break from the multitude of subjects I read about with the intention of learning something of value. If you have been following my other book recollections, you might have recognized the pattern. There comes those times when you just need to sit back and enjoy a book for pure entertainment with no expectations of knowledge retention. This was on of those times. While I was picking up the Gang Leader for a Day book and the Black Swan (next on the docket) I glanced over and saw Frederick Forsyth’s latest novel call The Afghan. I had actually read a quick review in one of my magazines (guessing Men’s Health) and they gave it pretty good marks. Add to that the fact it was on sale and you have a combination that leads to a purchase. I honestly had not read a book by this author since The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File were required reading in my English class many many many years ago.
Clearly Frederick is jumping on the Terrorist bandwagon theme similar to the other Clancy’s in the world, but unlike the Sum of All Fears, this book was fairly tight in the plot, had a few interesting (but somewhat predictable) plot twists and probably in most contrast to the Sum of All Fears, was concise – translated around 343 pages. Note to Clancy, I am not reading another one of your 700+ books especially if it is eventually going to star the acting challenged Ben Affleck in the movie adaptation. I actually approach entertainment fodder different than retention material. For pure enjoyment books, I mentally replace all names with something very common and monosyllable based on maybe a combination of letters in the name or someone it reminds me of. For example, in this book Marek Gumienny is Gum, Martin is Art, Izmat Khan is Mat. This allows me to visually replace the occurence of that name with a quick substitute for more efficient reading. I also cast out all the non-value words (I have the most problem with female authors who think 5 adjectives or more is needed to convey the fact the subject is wearing shoes). As a result, I crank through these books pretty fast. Unfortunately, it took me a little bit to get into gear which is sometimes the problem when the author is from another country or has a weird sentence cadence. Obviously, Frederick is English and it may just be me, but you have to get used to the writing style. I had a similar problem with Ronnie (Ron Wood autobiography).
In summary, it was an okay book. It served its purpose and kept me interested throughout. I do not want to give any plot details away on this because it was meant for pure entertainment and I don’t want to ruin it for others. There were a few parts I think he let end a little too quick. It almost seemed like he was conscious of the length of the book or grew a little bored with that particular track – Mat in the woods is one of those areas. I give tremendous credit to Frederick for not selling out and making an “Everybody Happy Feel Good ” book. All things do not have to come out exactly perfect and I appreciate authors willing to take that risk. If you have seen I Am Legend or the original movie version Omega Man, these are other examples of that approach. Although in Legend, whoever made the dog decision needs a whoopin’ – ‘g’ left of in intentional reference to Sarah Palin.
So, if you are bored sometime, I recommend giving it a read, you should be adequately entertained.
Sidebar: my pallet cleansing was quickly tainted. I started receiving Rolling Stone Magazine for no apparent reason. Needing something to read while my dogs were running agility, I grabbed it on my way out. After reading about two articles I decided that it was the most worthless piece of liberal rag I’ve ever wasted an ounce of time on. After reading an article on Chrissy Hynes and her passion for doing drugs every night on tour and about 3 paragraphs on how McCain is the devil’s gift to the earth and received preferential treatment while a POW… I tossed it in the garbage. It doesn’t surprise me they have to reduce the size of their magazine in a desperate attempt to save costs. Tomorrow I intend to call them up and make them remove me from their mailing list.
Life Intrigued 