Customer Reviews

The Guns of Navarone

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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.

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.

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.

I have to smile when I see people make so much of MacLean's lack of writing syle or prose or some predictability of the story. Come on folks, this is plain old action entertainment.....never meant to win literature awards. Just enjoy yourself like you do when you read Harry Potter. You're not reading great literature, you're reading a fine story that keeps you interested, is fast moving and often keeps you on the edge of your seat. This is why so many of MacLean's novels have made it to the screen. It's simply entertainment. You want great prose with your action? Step up to Stevenson, Dumas, Cooper or Sabatini.

"The Guns" is a great action story that moves quickly and keeps you interested all the way through. Despite some predictability and weaknessess in the writing style, just enjoy it for what it is.....a 20th century, WWII action story. Read it and have fun!

I read this book when I was in my early teens and I became an immediate fan of Alstair MacLean. His books waste little time before you get right into the action and then there's action all the way through to the end. I can't remember how many of his books I eventually read; there was "Puppet on a Chain", "Ice Station Zebra", "Force 10 from Navarone", "The Satan Bug", etc. etc. etc.. About the time I was reading "River of Death" I realized that all the excitement in his books didn't always make up for the hasty way in which he seemed to write them. The tough guy with no personality eventually lost my interest. In my opinion, "The Guns of Navarone" was his best work. Maybe it was the World War II setting that gave it added appeal. He didn't have to waste any paragraphs establishing the cause or who were the good guys and who were the bad. Whatever it was, I remember feeling like I needed to take a deep breath when I was finished with it.

It's too bad that literature and spellbinding adventure rarely come together in one book. I remember reading Henry James's "thriller" "The Turn of the Screw" when I was a teenager. That book put me to sleep trying to drag myself through it. Action has no time for character development. Some books make you want to stop and think while others make you want to keep turning the pages. I used to enjoy Alstair MacLean's novels. I would heartily recommend them to any young man who's looking for excitement in a paperback.

Like many others, I first read this one for English in 8th or 9th grade. It's one of the few books most boys read voluntarily... I'm now in my thirties and it remains a diverting read. Great action, incredible gambits, complex characterization, good dialogue. Read the book then see the movie... they're both first rate!

To all of you who are bad-mouthing this book, stuff it. It's not modern writing but if you read it to read it, not because you have a book report due, you'll like it. I picked it up and could'nt put it down except for a breif exception where I thought my bladder would explode, but then I picked it back up again. I would definitely rate this as a classic and, although some of it is a tad unrealistic, almost all of it is believable. I would highly suggest that if you have a few spare hours, you should immeadietly pick it up and if not, wait for a weekend (or a better time) and then do it. This book is Awesome!

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I got hooked on MacLean twenty years ago, reading everything he ever wrote. The action in the Guns of Navarone is riveting from start to finish, with the right touch of light humor to keep the tension from becoming overwhelming. As the characters make their way through the story,the reader is right there with them. Dusty Miller is a particular favorite. MacLean excels at the World War II stories, and this is among his best.

Sir, I do not know where you went to school but your appaling spelling doesn't exactly support your claim that "The Guns of Naverone" has poor sentence structure etc. How would you know? You seem hardly qualified to judge given your command of the English language. I suggest you hit the books a little before you give such ridiculous reviews. This is the exact reason I love these reviews, they are hilarious!

"The Guns of Navarone" was an amazing display of creativity in a "war based" novel. The drama behind "the guns". Those darn guns were the only thing stopping forward progress in the war. The only other reasonable attempt would be a suicide mission up the giant cliffs and into the heart of the enemy stronghold. The way each character had his own trait and how it fit into the plot completed the comprehensive make-up of their actions. They each provided a specific and vital part to the mission. I do not want to get into any detail as to not ruin the story for any interested readers, but I will say to the fans of Tom Clancy pieces, you will be happy reading this Alistair MacLean novel.