Posted by EPL patron and guest blogger, Irv S.
The Boston Book Review says that Robert Olen Butler is "a
master of enveloping his reader in the consciousness of a character." He
has certainly lived up to the reviewer's praise with The Star of Istanbul. It
is literary and highly entertaining.
The novel begins in 1915
when Christopher "Kit" Marlowe Cobb, a Chicago journalist and a spy
for the U.S., boards The Lusitania for what is to be its last voyage. He is to
write about the war in Europe while following and reporting on the activities of
a British professor who is suspected of spying for Germany. The U.S. was not
yet in The Great War but soon would be, at least in part due to U-boat
activity, including the sinking of The Lusitania.
There is plenty of
action as Kit happily narrates his spooking and sexing. Like most similar
characters, he demonstrates tremendous vigor and stamina (Have you been amazed
by the energy of Robert Ludlum's Bourne?) He has a torrid fling with a
beautiful actress, a terrifying escape from the sinking ship, and numerous confrontations
with enemy spies, some German some not. Kit shifts gears from spying for his
country (i.e., tell as little as possible, then only to those who need to know)
to reporting (i.e., tell as much as possible to as many as possible.) He is
comfortable in both roles and doesn't seem to worry about, or even to be aware
of, the inconsistency.
The ending is not
predictable, perhaps not even foreseeable.The history is good and reliable. The
descriptions of style and architecture are somewhat esoteric. The dialog is
true and idiomatic.
Jeff Guinn wrote in the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Butler "is the best living American writer,
period." High and well-deserved praise. Butler graduated from Granite City
High School in 1963 and teaches creative writing at Florida State
University.
Great review Irv! It inspires me to go out and read this one.
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