the bourne identity-bored identity more like... (The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum)

Member Name: sparkymarky1973

Product:	The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
Date:	09/08/06 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: grips you in the first few chapters but.....

Disadvantages: too long and drawn out to maintain my interest until end...

As a big fan of both the films starring Matt Damon,I thought I'd pick up the three novels in the series when I saw them in a book club together-wish I hadn't bothered now,stick with the film I say.....

From the beginning,the book grips you with a mystery-a young man is found near-drowned in the ocean,his body as riddled with bullets as his mind is with holes.With no knowledge of who he is or where he has come from,the fishermen who rescued him drop him off at a local port;home to an alcoholic,washed up doctor who,over the next six months,treats him and aids this mysterious stranger in his recovery.

Upon discovering a strip of projection film implanted under the skin of his patient,the doctors interest is pricked and he soon discovers that not only is his patient able to converse in more than one language but also that his memory appears to have been completely wiped out by whatever happened to him at sea.As the young man recovers,he too becomes obsessed with discovering the truth and,after a near fatal(for them)confrontation with some locals,decides to head towards Zurich-a clue picked up from the film previously implanted in his skin.

Once at Zurich,he is pointed towards a swiss bank account containing a small fortune in dollars but it is not until he tries to collect that he faces the first attempt on his life and discovers his name is Jason Bourne and that he is a wanted man.Grabbing a hostage during an incident in his hotel,Bourne goes on the run in a series of exciting set-pieces-planning to discover who he is or was,why he is wanted dead so badly and what his connections may be to an infamous asassin named Carlos(yes-the Jackal!!)

It is sometime after this that I began to lose interest-the next chunk of the book deals with crosses and double-crosses amongst the central (un)intelligence agency and its counterparts and tries to explain who Bourne is and how he came to this pass but none of it is easy reading and at times becomes quite complicated.Too much for me -no stranger to complicated plot twists and turns in many a novel.

Maybe it is the same problem I find with much of Tom Clancy's work in that these kind of espionage books are just too much like hard work and too heavy for me but I have read spy novels by Len Deighton and other spy writers and really quite enjoyed them in the past and was really looking forward to these after the movies-though it has been said that both these have been highly edited from the original material for the screen.

The premise is good,I just found it starting to go on for way to long and it got to bout two thirds of the book when I realised I just didn't care how the novel or the series was going to end!!Normally I have to feel empathy with a character to continue reading but with this I began to not care if Bourne or his girl lived or died andjust wanted the book to end so I could begin something more enjoyable.

Its not often I stop a book before the end but this was one of them.
As for the other books in the series,I really could not be bothered after reading this and have listed them on my swap pile at Readitswapit if anyone wants to make up their own mind.


My advice-stick to the far superior films,even if you don't like Matt Damon normally.....

Summary: starts well,goes on too long to maintain my interest.....YAWN