Wednesday, 23 February 2011

ESCAPE IN VAIN, Georges Simenon

Judul/Title: Escape in Vain
Penulis/Author: Georges Simenon
Penerbit/Publisher: Penguin
Edisi/Edition: 1961
Halaman/Pages: 315
Dimensi/Dimension: 11 x 18 x 2cm
Sampul/Cover: Paperback
Bahasa/Language: English
Kategori/Category: Disewakan/For Rent
Call No.: 823/Sim/e/C.1
Status: Ada/Available

***

That 'rara avis' nowadays, a born story-teller, Georges Simenon has sometimes been compared with Edgar Wallace, but, as Mr Priestley has pointed out, the comparison is misleading. 'He is as readable as Wallace at his best, but he is far more of an artist, and is indeed, in these later tales, which are not only studies of crime but also clinical reports on pre-war Europe when it was sick with nihilsm, a considerable artist, of far more importance than many more pretentious French novelists.

The two novels in this volume possess these qualities in the highest degree, and rank among his most outstanding work. The Lodger-its scene, is laid in Belgium-opens with a daring crime on the Brussels-Paris night express, and the experiences of the young murderer, his desperate evasions and emotions, make a tale that is moving and absorbing. One way out also, beggining in a French provincial town and moving on to the metropolis, ia a brilliant account of carefully composed suspense, and gives a realistic picture of life in Paris on the danger-line in those chaotic years immediately before the war. As in The Lodger, the central characters are quite young people, passionate and inexperienced, and Simenon has never displayed to better effect his symphaty for, and understanding of, human motive, and the perils of adolenscence.

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