Marathon Man

What a brilliant book! Excellently drawn characters; plot twists and turns; murder, suspense and betrayal.

I've seen the film adaptation a few times, but lastly some years ago, so I had the dual advantage of Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier reprising their parts in my head (perfect casting) but couldn't clearly remember the plot, and got all the mystery, too.

The early chapters follow several seperate strands, building suspense because you KNOW that they are all connected. The way that Goldman gathers the threads together and delivers a wholly satisfying conclusion is just masterful.

Read this book and enjoy - but don't plan any dental work any time soon!

"Is it safe? Is it safe?"

When I was eight or so (possibly younger), I strayed on the torture scene from the film of the same name on a hotel room TV. I've never quite forgotten it, and i don't think I'll ever quite forget this book.

Thomas Babington Levy is a struggling graduate student majoring in history at Columbia University and a marathon man, training to run in his first marathon. His brother ostensibly works in the oil industry, but is really an agent in a shadowy U.S. government operation called the Division. When Thomas's brother dies in his arms, Thomas ("Babe") finds himself unwittingly drawn into his brother's world, one of espionage and deceit. He's now in a battle of wits with a Nazi dentist and a rogue agent, and Babe show more finds he must draw upon the few resources he has to survive.

This book marked a first for me in that when Babe decided he didn't care whether he lived or died, only that he got his revenge, I found myself agreeing with him. show less

The first time I read Marathon Man was over the course of one day, but I didn't manage to finish it before I had to go out for the evening. As such, when I got back in, having been looking forward to the finale all evening, I was disappointed to find the ending an anti-climax but I wasn't sure if this was because of the manner in which I had read it rather than not liking the ending.

So here I am a few years later reading it again and... I'm still not that much of a fan of the ending.

I love the writing style. Goldman is brilliant with his sentences. It's a colloquial style, perfectly mimicking the way a person thinks, often with short statements and other times interrupting a sentence with a side thought or to reinforce the point with show more wit. And then during the shootout scene it's all one long run-on sentence because it's all happening at once for Babe. It's just incredibly smart and slick and beautiful. I could very much do without the racism though. The bad guys are Nazis, so sometimes we get their racist perspective, which I don't want to be in, and even when we're in someone else's perspective there are words used that make me uncomfortable. Meanwhile Babe is kinda misogynistic.

Also I must admit that despite having read the book twice I don't entirely understand the plot. I guess the point is that the bad guys are just super paranoid, but they seem to be putting certain things into action for no reason. Oh well.

So, it's witty and exciting and at times even moving. However the issue I had both times is that I love Scylla, he's my favourite character, and I don't much care for Babe, so that makes the second half of the book less enjoyable. And then, this ending. It just doesn't really do anything for me. I couldn't tell you what I want from the story. Maybe I just don't want this story. Maybe it loses me at the halfway point, not to say that it isn't very exciting and well-crafted beyond this, it's just that we're kind of all done with character-development and plot and are just running down to the showdown. Maybe the thriller genre just isn't my thing. Babe is hurled into a story that isn't his, if that makes sense, so there is no ultimately satisfactory way for it to go. It's also fairly obvious wish-fulfilment stuff, with a Nazi torturer getting his comeuppance at the hands of Jewish people, which might have been the overall point to the novel but from the point of view of the reader seems to come out of nowhere.

So ultimately, I love the prose and while I think the individual scenes are brilliantly conceived, the overall plot doesn't interest me that much. I have no intention of ever reading Brothers, the sequel, which is apparently not great and very weird, but I like to keep hold of the idea that Scylla survives his death in Marathon Man. show less

Even though I've seen the film, Marathon Man will remain a gripping read. The story cracks along at a blistering pace, much like historian and marathon runner Babe, the central character. Babe's life is torn apart and we watch him put it back together piece by piece. The book has a little bit of everything, action, mystery, political intrigue, and a conclusion worth the journey. Read it, then watch the film.

Most people have likely at least heard of the movie (1976) if not the 1974 book Marathon Man by William Goldman and know something about the plot. I was curious to read the book and see if it held the same intensity as the movie. I was not disappointed. Goldman, perhaps best known as a screen writer, is first and foremost a writer. He does an excellent job carefully crafting his plot and setting up the tension. That nail-biting tension builds and builds until you feel like you are running a marathon to finish the novel.

With it's well defined characters and escalating tension, Marathon Man by William Goldman is a classic thriller that packs a punch even years after it was written. Because it was written 40 years ago, the book is, quite show more naturally, dated, but still highly entertaining. Or you could get your hands on a copy of the movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Open Road Media via Netgalley. show less

I read this because The Princess Bride is one of my favourites and I thought I had seen the old Marathon Man movie and wanted to read something else by Goldman. I found it dated but exciting and well-written. I'd recommend it. But do avoid it's awful pulp sequel, Brothers.

Marathon Man William Goldman *****

I must have lived under a rock for the last 35 years because I had never even heard of the title, let alone seen the film or read the book. I found a copy of this while browsing in a second hand book shop, read the blurb and thought it sounded my type of book.

The plot is fairly simple, we follow ‘Babe’ a graduate student at a top university who also has dreams of becoming a world beating marathon runner, whilst living under the shadow of his deceased but famous historian father. Babe also has an older brother known as Doc who is a successful businessman. Just when babe feels like his life it starting to take a turn for the better a nasty event catapults him into a world filled with espionage. Throw show more in Nazi diamonds, torture and multiple hidden identities and you are left with a page turning thriller.

This has to be one of the best thriller books I have ever read, interestingly the author released a sequel called ‘Brothers’ some twelve years after Marathon Man. I will be sure to check it out. show less