Customer Reviews

Brothers

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love the novel Marathon Man, and I've read it several times. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw Brothers for sale. Unfortunately, this isn't a sequel to Marathon Man. It's a whimsical, superficial secret agent story that brings Scylla back from the dead -- or does it?

I'm afraid, if you are a big fan of the Marathon Man novel, you'll be disappointed with Brothers. Read Brothers as a stand-alone story, by all means. But if you want a sequel to Marathon Man, steer clear. The Scylla in Brothers is not the same character as in Marathon Man; he is a completely new character with the same name. Brothers concentrates on this new Scylla.

Babe comes into the story for no good reason -- he appears briefly for the purpose of contributing to a hastily-finished twist ending. If you liked Babe from Marathon Man, again, this is not the book for you.

The fight scenes are poor, with this new Scylla, at times, swinging wildly from being a terrifying, super-strong menace, to a klutz who repeatedly gets knocked down and trapped by the most innocuous of characters.

Certain important characters significant in Scylla's life and background from Marathon Man have disappeared, to be replaced by new characters, without explanation. The author hasn't given a damn about what went before.

Maybe William Goldman, who is, yes, a great storyteller, should have had his own novel Marathon Man open in front of him when he was writing Brothers. The connection between Marathon Man and Brothers is spurious at best.

So, I repeat my advice: if you are looking for a sequel to Marathon Man, steer clear. Brothers is not a sequel.

I wasn't crazy about this Marathon Man sequel. Although Scylla was improbably resurrected from his fatal stabbing from the first book, this feat paled in comparison to the wealth of fantastic plot devices and tricks appearing throughout Brothers, which, while clever, were never quite explained: potions capable of encouraging suicide; sprays causing complete compliance in those within range; and bombs disguised as children, which can walk and talk effectively enough to fool brilliant scientists and government agents (and even sophisticates such as Scylla himself). Unlike Marathon Man, I really had to suspend my disbelief in order to get into the action.

Fight scenes abound and are excellent- Goldman has a gift for describing them unconventionally and believably. However, combat alone couldn't save this story; its scope was just too ambitious, and literally involved Scylla's assignment (and, later, efforts) to infiltrate the Division and to save the world. The mention of Scylla's brother and Marathon Man protagonist Babe was token at best- he appeared spottily throughout, and was thrown in on the next to last page in a rushed effort to tie things up neatly. In fact, the entire last quarter of Brothers was too summarily wrapped up.

I thought there were a lot of brilliant ideas in this story, the majority of which would have been better served if they were fleshed out in another few installments. Scylla remains fascinating, although there was just too much going on in this story to do the complexity of his character justice. Oddly, as another reviewer noted, Scylla seems to have altered his sexual preference as drastically as his external appearance, miraculously turning hetero without explanation (perhaps to further his attempts at anonymity?). Quirks like this suggest that more development was necessary to make Brothers as robust as its predecessor.

...that is the only reason I can think of for resurrecting his beloved MARATHON MAN characters, completely rewriting their history, and shoving them awkwardly into a story that could have just as easily featured characters from THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Not only did he write a ridiculous book--a man creates a drug that makes a racist homophobe have sex with a black man!--he did the unforgiveable: he undid much of the power of MARATHON MAN. Turns out that tragic, shocking death in MARATHON MAN didn't even happen...Scylla's just been living on an island. Really unfair and embarrassing. Can only reccommend it on a purely camp level.

A modern fairy tale, nothing more. Goldman makes the absurd, the impossible, and the downright silly seem almost plausible. Above all, this book is fun. The plot centers around a mind controlling Binaca-type spray, suicide champagne, and exploding children. The hero is Scylla, the assassin whose code name confuses people. ("Was not Scylla a female monster?" "No. Scylla was a rock. Near a whirlpool." "Are you a rock, then?" "On my good days.") Scylla has no right to be alive, since he was pretty thoroughly eviscerated in Marathon Man, the prequel to Brothers. But in Brothers, he's alive and well. Read Marathon Man, read this one.

I bought this book used, and I have to say it might have been the worst $2 I have ever spent. If you have the paperback version, you might see some of the positive reviews in the front; in fact, one reviewer even proclaims it a "masterpiece." Frankly, I don't know what book those folks were reading. If you like wooden, underdeveloped characters, an idiotic plot, pages of boring back story in the middle of an "exciting" scene, and an unexplained, shoddily-constructed, intelligence-insulting twist that would farcical if you weren't so angry that you had wasted a few hours of your life reading the previous 300 pages, then this book is for you. If it had been possible to hand out negative stars, I would have done so.

First off, I will say this: I could not put this book down. Well, I kind of forced myself to put it down...I could have easily devoured this thing in one night had I let myself, but I stretched it out over a week. It was, as I said before, an absolute joy to read. Fun, action-packed, and all about my favorite character from the original Marathon Man, Scylla aka "Doc" Levy. I was pretty devastated when Doc was killed in "Marathon Man"; I saw the movie before I read the book, and once I discovered that there was not only a sequel to Marathon Man but, wait holy crap, Doc comes back to life?! Sign me up! But I digress...

This is not something Goldman just whipped off because he wanted to exploit the success of "Marathon Man"; on the contrary, it must have taken an extraordinary amount of time, research and effort to write this story. It's a good deal longer than "Marathon Man." The characters are many, the plot twists are numerous, and the backdrops move from one elegant European setting to another (mostly England). A couple of times I found myself sitting back and going "Wow, how does he come up with some of this stuff??" Really, the depth and size of Goldman's imagination is extraordinary. Extraordinary enough that a seemingly ridiculous concept (Scylla didn't really die by being gutted by Szell; he was just really, really badly injured and his appearance was altered by surgery, and he was whisked away to a remote tropical island for six years until he is required back to save the world) becomes plausible. If you can set aside your disbelief (stranger things have happened after all), and just accept the fact that Goldman really wanted to bring back Scylla, and hey, it's an entire novel about Scylla and that's fantastic, then you're in for a fun and entertaining romp. The protagonist from the first novel, Scylla's younger brother Babe, also appears in several scenes, as a married and successful Ivy league professor.

Yes, as mentioned in other reviews, there are some interesting "James Bond" caliber weapon choices; mind-altering mist, liquid that induces thoughts of suicide, poisoned briefcase handles, and there are some truly loathsome enemies (The Blond and Cheetah for example) but what I liked most about this novel was the way it dives right into Scylla's character.

After recovering his physical health and rebuilding his strength on the island, Scylla returns to employment under a new identity with the morally ambiguous, shadowy government agency known simply as "The Division." We know that Scylla looks much different due to the plastic surgery he received as part of his identity wipeout; several characters comment on not recognizing him, but other than being "suntanned", we don't get much of a physical description. Scylla is described in the book as being very tan, very, very handsome, with the same big hands, muscular body, and broad shoulders from the first book. So it's obvious that the only thing altered was his face, but Doc was described as handsome in the first book as well, a guy who had a great smile (to quote Babe, "he was a fabulous-looking guy") and no problems with women. Thus, it's sort of left to your imagination as to what Scylla's new face looks like.

Scylla/Doc is, without doubt, a complex and fascinating man. He is a mixture of light and darkness, kindness and cold-calculation. He is the deadliest man in the world, yet he is nothing like the enemy "spy drones" that surround him; he is the best at what he does, yet he loathes any type of "spy game" quirks/behaviors/cliches that go with the territory. For example, Scylla hates passwords; there is a pretty funny scene where he is suppossed to say a simple password to a woman in order to establish contact, but he absolutely refuses to say it because he can't stand the cliche of it all. You get the feeling that Scylla looks at the entire espionage business, and yes, even at himself, with a certain amount of amusement. I got the impression that Goldman himself was poking fun at some of the more "007" aspects of typical secret agent stories. Also, unlike many of his counterparts, Scylla does not seem to particularly enjoy killing (unless it's someone he hates). Other characters, notably The Cheetah (a completely unlikeable Division drone) and The Blond (a superbly creepy hitman) not only enjoy killing, they REVEL in it. They live for it. Killing is a personal pleasure for them, and as soon as they have disposed of one person, they are already salivating at the prospect of the next kill. Scylla, however, kills only when necessary (self-defense or when ordered to) and he does so quickly. He never feels joy at the prospect of killing, and he even expresses regret over the necessity of a few victims. To put it simply, Scylla is not a sociopath. He shows compassion and tenderness, sorrow and regret, and because of this, you're constantly wondering what makes him tick. What keeps him going? Why does he even bother? Why doesn't he take his new face, his clean slate, and his new identity and leave Division? To a certain extent, some of these questions are answered; Scylla enjoys certain parts of the job. He loves the chase, the challenge(or lack thereof) of new opponents, and the travel from place to place. However, there is also a part of him that longs for a normal life, and a part of him that wishes he had died where he'd fallen.

As we already know from his scenes in "Marathon Man", Syclla is extraordinarily intelligent, perceptive, and posesses a razor-sharp wit. Goldman's signature humor comes into play several times through Scylla, and I definitely laughed out loud on more than one occasion. Brothers allows us to see something that Marathon Man did not; it allows us to see a vulnerable, unsure, and yes, even frightened side of Scylla. Having been out of action for six years, Scylla finds himself completely alone in a world that has moved on without him. There is a brilliant scene in an airport after Scylla has first arrived back on the mainland. He reads a newspaper to pass the time before his flight, and realizes that he doesn't know what many of the words mean. Words such as "AIDS," "VHS/VCR" etc., are totally foreign to him, and he is terrified. He even questions whether or not he wants to come back to Division at all, and for a while, you wonder if he still has it in him. After a few stumbles, you may wonder: Does Scylla still have the speed, smarts, power and agility to survive as a top agent? That answer is revealed with an awesome and completely gratifying scene that literally had me cheering.There are times when you think that surely, Scylla is done for, he's messed up, he's been caught, and his brilliance shines through again and again. Scylla is a master of disguises, of different accents, and of stealth. He is, to be very blunt, excellent at what he does. And why? As mentioned in the novel, Scylla is a man with absolutely nothing to lose, who cares little whether he lives or dies. And that makes him the perfect agent. His brother Babe is the only person in the world that he gives a damn about, and he knows that he would put Babe in great danger should he attempt to reestablish contact with him. Still, his longing to see his brother again is undeniable and equal only to Babe's mourning for Doc, and his desire to have his older brother back. It's the brothers' love for each other that is really at the heart of both novels, and it's their mutual love and respect for each other that made Doc's death all the more tragic, and their love is what, I think, made me so eager to accept that Doc was still alive. I enjoyed their interaction and relationship so much, I couldn't bear the thought of it ending so tragically.

I know that my first question, like many people I'm sure, upon reading this book was this: Do Scylla and Babe reunite? The answer is yes, they do. I'll leave it at that, don't want to spoil anything!

Much has been made about the apparent 180 degree turn taken by Scylla in terms of his sexuality, ie; he goes from homosexual to heterosexual without giving it a thought. However, I disagree that Scylla was ever a complete homosexual. Yes, he did have a male lover in Marathon Man ("Janey" or "Janeway,"), but Scylla never gave any indication that he went for men and only men. There aren't any scenes, in either book, of Scylla staring at another man and thinking how handsome he is, etc etc. From Babe's telling in the first book, Doc had been married and divorced a couple of times. And in "Brothers," Scylla sleeps with only women. Isn't it plausible that Scylla is bisexual? Or if not, that Janey was a one-time-only deal, the one and only man that Scylla would ever be attracted to, and now that he's gone, then that's it? I don't think that Goldman was trying to brush off Scylla's sexuality; he is not shy about having homosexual references, love scenes, and charcters in his books, nor should he be, but I think Goldman was trying to establish that Scylla's brush with same-sex love was a chapter in his life that is now closed. Perhaps Scylla's now-completely heterosexual tendencies are part of his new identity. Or perhaps he didn't see a guy good-looking enough to strike his fancy in "Brothers." Who knows. It's probably the least important aspect of the book to me.

My only problem with "Brothers" is the ending. I didn't like it. I was flying high until I got to the ending. Yes, it did feel a bit rushed, but mostly, it just confused me. I don't want to give anything away, but mostly I just wondered WHY Goldman chose to end the novel this way. The ending seemed to go against everything established in the first book, and everything that had built up for most of the second book. I didn't like the ending for one specific reason concerning Doc and Babe's relationship, and if you've read the book you'll know what I mean.

Besides the ending, this book is a joy. I truly, truly enjoyed it very much, and parts of it had me grinning from ear to ear. I love Goldman's work, and Scylla's character absolutely comes to life. Yes, parts of it are a bit nutty (you'll never look at cute kids the same way again), but Goldman makes up for it with plenty of wit, humor, wisdom, and action scenes as only Goldman can write them. Enjoy this one.

People who love Amer. TV , wont like this book. Everyone else, Loves It !!

Masterful little scenes which, despite complaints above, do much to enhance the characters, particularly Scylla of course. Indeed, wrapped up with haste and has a real bummer of an ending, although it is perhaps inevitable and fitting. Scylla ia a great character, both in this book and MM. Does have some cringe-inducing expository dialogue, but there are passages that are such a joy to read that I forgive its sins.

I loved Marathon Man and have read it several times. As a rule I also am a great admirer of William Goldman as a writer. However, on more than one occasion he has read as if he was phoning in the stories.

This is one such case. Most of the characters are killed within a chapter of being introduced. As a result, there is little drama as it becomes obvious that the only question is how the adversaries of Scylla will meet their ends within a few pages of being introduced.

Skip this one. Re-read Marathon Man instead.

This was my second Goldman book after Marathon Man (also great). I was captivated by this story from the beginning until the end. I absolutely love the character of Scylla. To me he is one of the greatest "bad boy" heros of fiction. Whereas the first book (Marathon Man) focused on the younger brother, Babe, this one focuses on the older one Tom (Scylla). It has all the intrigue of a spy/mystery novel with some of the wit of a comedy. I found myself rooting intensely for Scylla to beat all his rivals and achieve his goal. The ending was not predictablerise and kept me guessing to the final page. This book was a lot of fun to read. It reads like a screen play which Goldman is also famous for. I highly recommend it.