Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-thief by Maurice Leblanc

[Drunk Monk]

There was this http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=5965 which inspired Stacy to gift me this book for my birthday (clearly an impulse buy).

Although it's a French classic, it wasn't that good. Maybe it's better in French. It's a small book of linear short stories culminating in the face-off between Lupin and Sherlock Holmes. The character of Lupin wasn't as impressive as I expected and the crimes never seemed overly plausible. Lupin does have a certain savoir faire but not so much that I felt his character was overly distinguished. Had it not been for that Netflix series, I wouldn't have though much about him. Mostly, the writing style fell flat, but perhaps that's an artifact of the translation (this is a 2020 translation). I expected more.

[King Bob]

After seeing Lupin, I thought I'd try the source material. The writing is enjoyable, but the book sort of fell flat for me, and I gave up midway through the third story. The author keeps saying what a criminal genius he is, but then only explains a rather mundane part of how each caper was pulled off, leaving out the larger and more difficult parts. I guess I wasn't satisfied with that. Maybe for a light vacation read it would be good, if you were in the mood, but otherwise not recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

Summon the merge police! 

http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=6264

[Greg]

It would make it easier if the bulletin board wouldn't abbreviate the link.