Cristiano Ferreira itibaren Scharendijke, Netherlands

cristianofe

11/02/2024

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Cristiano Ferreira Kitabın yeniden yazılması (10)

2019-02-05 13:40

Ballad Of A SolDier (Askerin Türküsü) TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından:

I was happy to get to read this book because it was for research for a chapter about famous spies I got to ghostwrite for a book my uncle is working on. I would never have read it otherwise and, due to my general ignorance about history in general, probably would have died never having even known who Pham Xuan An was. I don't think An is really all that "famous" in actuality, but this is only because, as far as spies go, he was pretty discreet. He was spying for the communists/North Vietnam during the Vietnam War but working with the Americans/anti-communists. He was trained as an American journalist, even managing to earn himself a free trip to California at one point to study journalism at an American university. He loved the United States and wished no harm on it, but he was also a fierce Vietnamese nationalist who fervently believed the liberation of Vietnam was the best possible outcome and was willing to fight for it. An was a very good journalist and an even better schmoozer. He earned the friendship and trust of some of the top American journalists and military personnel working in Vietnam during the war, which as you can probably imagine, gave him access to a lot of pretty important information. He reported it all to his Communist superiors and a lot of it was not only important but, some have argued, essential to the Northern army outlasting the American occupation and, kind of, though many have tried to spin it differently, winning the war. Anyway, An was a cool, colorful, interesting dude and while this book does pay him homage and demonstrate why his life was interesting and important, it doesn't do much more than that. Author Berman kind of fawns over An, mostly staying away from tough questions such as, well, as charming and friendly towards Americans as this guy was, he also enacted espionage that helped kill tens of thousands of US soldiers. I mean, Berman kind of asked An such questions, in his many interviews with him before he died in 2006, but he seems to get brushed off pretty easily. In the end, Perfect Spy provides a decent summary of An's life without much in the way of editorial. Berman's prose is simple and clear and instructional. His book also provides a basic understanding of the conflict and how things went over there—something I have embarrassing little knowledge about, so I was happy to receive that. But there are better, more probing books about An and his fascinating life, such Thomas Bass' The Spy Who Loved Us, which I also read for research and enjoyed much more as a gripping read/book than Berman's rather dry account.

2019-02-05 15:40

De Ki Işte TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi

Tarafından yazılmış kitap Tarafından: Metis Yayınları

First I have to say---what a tremendous book! I don't usually read thrillers---I usually find them too stressful to read on top of everything else I have to deal with in life---and also the title threw me off initially because reading about atrocities done to children is not something I want to read about (if the last bit throws you off too, take it from me as someone who can't read that sort of stuff, you will be surprised when you open this book what it actually turns out to be---I can't say more than that without giving anything away) but this book had gotten a lot of buzz (the NYTimes wrote a very positive review but be warned it also includes lots of spoilers: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/boo... ) and my friend Juliet Grames HIGHLY recommended it to me. All that being said it has been a long time since a book has kept me up several hours after I should have been asleep on a work night and this one certainly did that! I roared through this book! So, what I liked about it: -The main characters/mystery solvers are women. They are not stupid or vapid---they are strong and intelligent---of course they have flaws but their flaws make them supremely interesting and truly make you care about them. They also compel the reader to keep reading to see what decisions these women will make next----they are unpredictable while at the same time they feel like women you might know or might have met at one time or another. -This story was believable and all the characters' actions rang with truth---every character had very specific motivations---they were all very fleshed out. -I felt the pain of the characters---and everything was very visceral. -Short chapters and great pacing made this book a breeze to go through. -I felt like I was right in the story and could visualize everything going on. I would recommend this to people looking for a great thriller---I would also recommend this to anyone who likes to read books involving strong female characters. This recommendation would be made to 2 separate groups. I could definitely see this book being made into an incredible film. I will buy a copy for my boyfriend's Mom who likes thrillers---I think she will love this one.

Okuyucu Cristiano Ferreira itibaren Scharendijke, Netherlands

Kullanıcı, bu kitapları portalın yayın kurulu olan 2017-2018'de en ilginç olarak değerlendirdi "TrendKitaplar Kütüphanesi" Tüm okuyucuların bu literatürü tanımalarını tavsiye eder.