notasilkycat's review against another edition
4.0
This is Maugham I always liked- sharp, witty and somehow ruthless. Many years ago his short stories made me reconsider my dislike of this genre. Ashenden is basically a short stories collection which connected by one character.
Here we have Ashenden - a writer and a spy. To be honest we have here Maugham himself - he doesn’t even try to hide his own personality in Ashenden. Fascinating, engaging - as almost everything I’ve read of his.
Here we have Ashenden - a writer and a spy. To be honest we have here Maugham himself - he doesn’t even try to hide his own personality in Ashenden. Fascinating, engaging - as almost everything I’ve read of his.
alisaoksalahti's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
krisz's review against another edition
5.0
Maugham nagy kedvencem, igaz, ezek az ügynökös sztorik Greene-re emlékeztetnek, aki szintén kedvenc íróm, szintén brit stb. Jó az ötlet, hogy mindent egy kitalált ügynök szemével látunk és WSM nem vesződött azzal, hogy elhitesse, leírja, hogy ez több ügynök több történetéből adódott össze, szép volt a novellák íve, kiadott egy füzért, sok-sok jellemábrázolással és elgondolkodtatással.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
4.0
Like all of Maugham's books, it was lucid, elegant, and displayed an impressive understanding of humanity. It was also fascinating to get an idea of what Maugham's experiences as an intelligence offer entailed, however fictionalized. I also appreciate getting a non-sensationalized espionage novel.
The fact that it was broken up into what basically amounted to a series of short stories meant that I didn't get as sucked in to it as I would have a straight-up novel, but it was a good format for reading in bits and pieces.
Now, I need to go rent the Hitchcock film "Secret Agent", as it is apparently loosely based on some of the stories in Ashenden.
The fact that it was broken up into what basically amounted to a series of short stories meant that I didn't get as sucked in to it as I would have a straight-up novel, but it was a good format for reading in bits and pieces.
Now, I need to go rent the Hitchcock film "Secret Agent", as it is apparently loosely based on some of the stories in Ashenden.
ellisknox's review against another edition
4.0
All the reviews will quickly state that this isn't a novel, it's a collection of "loosely-connected" short stories. And that's true. One chapter might be a continuiation of the previous, but then the next chapter might jump years and countries. There's a bit of retro-fitting but it's as obvious as spackle on drywall.
I didn't mind, though. The writing is excellent, some of the characters are unforgettable, and reading what has to count as one of the first spy novels is worthwhile in itself. But there's more to this book than that. There's a unity of theme in all this. Maugham was a keen observer of the human condition and here he makes his observations regarding the peculiar and insular world of espionage. That underlies and connects all the stories.
Maugham was himself in British intelligence during the First World War. Many of the stories sound very much like a re-telling of his own experiences. I was most struck by how similar in tone the book was to Le Carre--weary, managing to be both cynical and sympathetic, Ashenden is a far more interesting character than is Bond who at his best manages only to have two dimensions. Ashenden is a fully-realized human being traveling in a world where he must be both more and less than human.
I didn't mind, though. The writing is excellent, some of the characters are unforgettable, and reading what has to count as one of the first spy novels is worthwhile in itself. But there's more to this book than that. There's a unity of theme in all this. Maugham was a keen observer of the human condition and here he makes his observations regarding the peculiar and insular world of espionage. That underlies and connects all the stories.
Maugham was himself in British intelligence during the First World War. Many of the stories sound very much like a re-telling of his own experiences. I was most struck by how similar in tone the book was to Le Carre--weary, managing to be both cynical and sympathetic, Ashenden is a far more interesting character than is Bond who at his best manages only to have two dimensions. Ashenden is a fully-realized human being traveling in a world where he must be both more and less than human.