Litsy

pick

WTF DID I JUST READ?! Seriously?! I‘m not sure I even know what just happened. I‘m going to be processing this one for a while. This book is one hell of a mental trip. Just be ready to ask WTF repeatedly.
#BAParis #ThePrisoner #audiobook #wtfjusthappened #wtf #stillprocessing

TheBookHippie 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 1mo

TheBookHippie I don‘t read these type books but you made me giggle with your review. 1mo

GingerAntics @TheBookHippie I read them sometimes because I like the mental challenge… this one is more than I was expecting. 1mo

23 likes3 comments

GingerAntics

The Prisoner | B.A. Paris

🤯😳😱
#BAParis #ThePrisoner #audiobook #wtf

15 likes

Bookwomble

The Prisoner: A Day in the Life | Hank Stine

pick

The 3rd book in the '60s/'70s trilogy of novelisations of the cult TV show, this was better than the 2nd offering by McDaniel, but the 1st novel by Disch stands head-and-shoulders taller.
This installment by Stine (now Jean Marie, not Hank 💖🏳️‍⚧️💖) had some mischaracterisations, & focused somewhat on contemporary hippie/square generational conflict, but overall was a worthwhile read. If you're not a super-fan of the show, I'd stick to the Disch

Bookwomble Low pick: 3.5 ⭐ I've tagged the first and best novel in the series.

The Prisoner

8mo

29 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

The Prisoner: Who Is Number Two? | David McDaniel

pick

This was a less proficient novelisation than Thomas Disch's, but not entirely unsuccessful.
The dialogue was not quite as crisply sparring, but was close enough. The main supporting character this time was Number Six's Lotus Seven kit car, driven by him in the iconic opening titles of the TV show.
Another of Mrs. B's indulgences of my Prisoner fandom was the gift of a track day at Silverstone where I got to drive the successor vehicle, a ⬇️

Bookwomble ... Caterham Super 7 (souvenir model pictured). At the time, I hadn't driven any car for two years, never mind a powerful sports car, and the bemused professional driver who escorted me around the track pityingly commented it was the first time the Super 7 had done the course without getting out of second gear! 🏎️🏁
But, I digress... Number Six's escape attempts are simultaneously ingenious and rather tediously detailed, apart from Number Two, ⬇️ 8mo

Bookwomble ... the other characters are rather cardboard, but the introduction of a cat is interesting, both in the Village's reasons for doing so and Number Six's reaction to it.
The end is a bit of a belly flop, and while it has to return to the story to its status quo, it could have benefitted from a little more panache. 3½⭐ 8mo

The_Book_Ninja This is a wholesome thread☺️ 8mo

bibliothecarivs I just watched the opening sequence of The Prisoner on YouTube. So cool that you got to drive the successor car. As a Xennial American, I only knew McGoohan from Braveheart 😆 8mo

31 likes4 comments

Creadnorthey

The Prisoner | Thomas M. Disch

so-so

Not super bad but not super good either. Did enjoy the esoteric bits… sometimes. This smells of late sixties disaffected James Bond type of stuff with LSD thrown in to be the difference maker- shaken not stirred- waking up the morning after to realize the wild ride was better on TV. Watch the show sooo much better.

12 likes

Bookwomble

The Prisoner: Who Is No. 2? | David McDaniel

Onto the 2nd of The Prisoner novelisations, & an inauspicious start as the first word, "Drake," has me grinding my teeth ?

John Drake was the name of actor Patrick McGooghan's character in his earlier TV series, Danger Man, & as well-loved as that series & character were, McGooghan made it clear in press releases prior to the airing of The Prisoner that the new protagonist Number Six was NOT Drake!

I'll calm my inner nerd & see what develops!

31 likes

Bookwomble

The Prisoner | Thomas M. Disch

pick

This wasn't as good as I'd remembered it - it was better!

Disch captured the smart, jousting dialogue just right, and created the layers of suspicion, second-guessing, cautious trust and resigned betrayals of the TV series.

His story is littered with the Shakespearean and classical references of the original, and the Bard's "Measure for Measure" forms both a plot element and a subversive meta-narrative on the role of the characters within ⬇️

Bookwomble ... the book, and of the writer and reader of the book. Whether the follow-up novels by two different authors will measure up to Disch's high standards remains for me to see.

Oh, and did Disch conceptualise motion-capture CGI in this 1969 novel? I think he did! (edited) 8mo

34 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

The Prisoner | Thomas M. Disch

Having just bailed on a much-loved literary classic, I thought I'd dive into a cult classic instead 😁
I've been fascinated by the adventure/sci-fi/espionage/cultural-philosophy/dystopian TV series since I first saw it as a kid in the '60s, and Mrs. B was indulgent enough that our honeymoon was in Portmeirion, the Italianate Welsh folly-village of eccentric architect Clough Williams-Ellis, which was the principle location of the show. ⬇️

Bookwomble It's the three paperbacks at the front I'll be focusing on, a re-read of the Disch novel and, despite my obsession with the show, a first read of the other two.
"Be seeing you!"? 8mo

Ruthiella I remember watching this TV show with my dad when I was little. 8mo

Bookwomble @Ruthiella Your dad has impeccable taste, and demonstrates admirable TV parenting skills 🫣 📺😊 8mo

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RamsFan1963 @Bookwomble I'm sure someone watching The Prisoner now would find the giant white balloons laughable as a threat, but at the time they were damn scary!! 8mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 Perhaps, certainly as a special effect, as it was used because of its lack of expense compared to the original more mechanical/robotic "Guardian" design, but I think the amorphous, smothering quality of it is rather nightmarish and intimidating, especially when it quivers inches away from a face ⚪?⚪ 8mo

The_Book_Ninja I, too, get themed hyperfixations about things. I see you‘ve read two of the books already since I was last on here. Hope you have fun with the rest, Wombie! 8mo

33 likes6 comments

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