The Guns of Navarone [Hardcover]

Alistair MacLane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 1995

Vocabulary of 2000 words.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Could hardly be bettered.' Sunday Times 'Its strength comes from the speed of its narrative, its vivid creation of tensions and its power in handling descriptions of action.' Evening Standard 'Action sustained at a high pitch. From the outset there is a feeling of suspense: a problem that can only be solved by action involving danger and demanding courage ! an insistently gripping tale.' Scotsman --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

An entire navy had tried to silence the guns of Navarone and failed. Full-scale attacks had been driven back. Now they were sending in just five men, each one a specialist in dealing death. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (May 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0286132966
• ISBN-13: 978-0286132961
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The legendary "Guns of Navarone", May 29, 2005

By 

D. S. Thurlow (Alaska) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Guns of Navarone (Paperback)

For those who know "The Guns of Navarone" only from the justly famous movie starring Gregory Peck and David Niven, Alistair MacLean's novel will be an enjoyable surprise. "Navarone" is, with "Where Eagles Dare", the Scottish-born MacLean's best known work in the United States. His story of a daring British commando raid against the fictional German-held island of Navarone is loosely based on a failed British expedition to the eastern Aegean Sea during the Second World War. The commandos must silence the guns of the title to permit the evacuation by sea of British troops trapped on a nearby island. The novel traces the commandos' dangerous journey by sea to Navarone and their struggles to survive and outwit the Nazi occupation force long enough to carry out their mission.

A strength of this novel is MacLean's portrayal of well-developed and nuanced characters. Captain Mallory, a New Zealander and pre-war mountain climber, is the leader; his deputy is Andrea, a taciturn and dangerous, yet compassionate Greek. Others are Miller, the cynical and world-weary American explosives expert, and young Stevenson, the insecure subaltern and backup climber. We are given enough of the background and voice of each of the major characters to understand why they are the way they are. MacLean took care to populate the story with an interesting supporting cast of British and German military personnel and Greek villagers. In the process, he conveys a sense of the desperately bitter partisan warfare that must have taken place in Nazi-occupied Greece.

A second strength is MacLean's ability to weave a complicated yet compelling story. The opening chapter sets the tone with almost brilliantly concise description and dialogue. Mallory, obstensibly spirited out from a behind the lines mission in Crete for a rest, discovers that his boss has a more important mission for him. Mallory's hastily put-together team must surmount a series of hair-raising challenges and make some tough choices along the way. In precise, often understated prose, we experience with the commandos the physical and mental fatigue of a dangerous and morally ambiguous mission. MacLean vividly portrays a harsh world of war and betrayal, in which even the best choices have brutal consequences.

This book is highly recommended to the reader looking for an enthralling adventure story, one told with style and substance. This is no mindless summer beach read. "The Guns of Navarone" is MacLean at his best, a pure pleasure to read.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awful Writing; Great Reading, March 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Guns of Navarone (Mass Market Paperback)

MacLean is unbeatable when depicting men simultaneously facing dangerous assignments and horrendous weather conditions. (In addition to "The Guns of Navarone," do read "Ice-Station Zebra" and "Night Without End," for example). This undeniable talent makes for a riveting and enjoyable read. Indeed, these books can and should be reread numerous times over the years. This, despite the fact that MacLean stinks in all other writing aspects.

His preposterous and one-dimensional characters are easily interchangeable from book to book (by the way, the same is true of his awful and tedious dialogue). In particular, his protagonists share the same characteristics, most of them unattractive, regardless of which book you pick up. To be sure, they are all courageous and resourceful (and why shouldn't they be?), but they also are self-righteous, sickeningly sentimental, and not very bright. Worst of all is their artifical (or at least badly portrayed, sledge hammer) world-weariness. Is this what MacLean was like? Is that why he imprints these undesirable traits on his characters? I don't know. What I do know is that, despite it all, he's an irresistible read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If You Like War Stories, You'll Like The Guns of Navarone, June 26, 2009

By 

Mary Ellison (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Guns of Navarone (Kindle Edition)

My first contact with The Guns of Navarone was the 1961 movie staring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn. My first contact with the book upon which the movie was based was the Kindle edition, and it is that which I now review.

I must say right out of the gate that those who loved the movie will find that while the overall objective remains the same - to destroy The Guns - there are many differences between the movie and the book. For example, "Butcher" Brown in the movie is not a butcher in the book, Cpl Miller is not the whineing brat that the movie protrays him as, Major Roy Franklin in the movie is a very young Lt. Andy Stevens in the book, etc. Also, there is no female spy or traitor in the book and no "born" killer from the bronx, and neither Quinn's character, Andrea Stavros, nor Pecks character Capt. Keith Mallory, are quite the hard nosed bastards that the movie protrays them to be. And finally, the movie producers altered some scenes significantly and left others out completely

But these are minor points compared to the places where the book seems to have trouble making a transition between two different thoughts and story lines. I don't know if it was the author or the conversion from print to electronic format that is to blame, but it appears at times that MacLean is talking about one thing for several pages and then, without warning or pause, from one paragraph to the next, he is talking about something entirely different, leaving the reader lost and trying to figure out what just happened, what s/he just missed. I also had a difficulty accepting MacLean's descriptions of some of his characters, because he seems to provide contradictory descriptions at different points in the book.

Still, all-in-all, these are small things that do not make one bit of difference to the overall story. The book still presents some high adventure, pitting a small handful of brave men against seemingly impossible odds.

As for those who say the story line is predictable, don't worry about them. I expect it is somewhat predictable when you've had 50 years in which to see the movie or have your friends tell you about it. Just buy the book (or this Kindle version) and enjoy it the way the author meant it to be enjoyed.