 "Great book" | 2009-03-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: AHCHKW1EM8DRF |
| real good book, highly recommended...just whatever you do DO NOT see the movie with denzel...it is AWFUL, it doesn't even follow the book..the book was great |
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| "The Manchurian Candidate" | 2009-02-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3JM691KNENM0B |
| I have always had a great experience dealing with Amazon and this transaction was no exception. |
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 "A classic thriller" | 2009-01-27 |
| - Reviewed By resqgeek |
What if a "brainwashing" could create the perfect assassin...One with no memory of the killing, no remorse or guilt. Medal of Honor recipient, Raymond Shaw is just such an assassin. The actions that won him his medal are fictional, memories implanted in his fellow soldiers to position him for future use. Eventually, some of his comrades begin to suspect the truth, but can the solve the puzzle before its too late?
The writing here is similar in style and tone to that of Joseph Heller (Catch-22), though it lacks the humor of Heller's work. The characters here are almost characatures, so over the top that they are almost hard to believe. Yet, somehow they make the story work, and the climax, when it arrives, is entirely satisfying. Though dated in some ways, this is still a gripping thriller. |
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| "Cold war hysteria makes for a great movie" | 2008-08-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2G3U6AM951P6D |
Lurid melodrama of brainwashing is a dated but interesting artifact of the 1950s Cold War hysteria. It includes a strong account of a fictional Joe McCarthy and his manipulative and driving wife, and the havoc she wreaks in her family life and her country.
Reads like a Cold War version of a Mike Hammer novel, scripted for television or movies, and not surprisingly, has been filmed twice (the 1962 The Manchurian Candidate (Special Edition) starring Frank Sinatra is a classic). |
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| "politics as usual" | 2008-08-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: AC3PDLH17F96W |
The most memorable character in >Manchurian Candidate< has to be the Chinese psychiatrist Yen Lo who supervises the brainwashing of the American GIs. He is intelligent and cultured, with an Oriental reserve that conceals his killer's instinct. The brainwashed GIs function so well before the joint Soviet-Chinese delegation, it's as though "their brains had not merely been washed," wrote Condon, "they had been dry-cleaned."
Yen Lo singles out Sergeant Raymond Shaw and begins to speak about the psychology of "resentment:"
1) "Although the paranoiacs make the great leaders, the resenters make their best instruments because (the resenters) make the great assassins."
2) "Dr. Maranyon tells us that resentment is entirely impersonal, as opposed to hatred which has a strictly individual cast and presupposes a duel between the hater and hated. The reaction of the resenter is directed against destiny."
3) "At the core of (Raymond's) defects is his concealed tendency to timidity."
4) Yen Lo's voice softened when it spoke again: "Pity Raymond, if you can."
5) "The queen of diamonds, in so many ways reminiscent of Raymond's dearly loved and hated mother, will clear his mechanism for any assignment."
And heighten his murderous intent, Yen Lo could have added. He is being programmed as an assassin, after all.
Raymond's mother is married to a United States Senator.
1) She was memorably faithful to him, not being naturally lustful herself, except for power.
2) In consequence, he was so grateful, he let her rule all of his public and private acts.
3) Big John's good health sometimes flowed impulsively.
4) Her enemies had to give her credit for her loyalty (to him).
5) Frigidity preserved her from temptation.
6) Her ambition kept her insatiably excited.
American politics get a significant reality check in >Manchurian Candidate<.
1) (Raymond) was dependent upon the children of the people who were in his mother's garden, mostly politicians and their lackeys, newspaper types, commerce and industry edges, hustlers of veterans and hustlers of minorities, patriots and suborners, confused women, and the self-seeking clergy.
2) Because no public regulation exists to control it, the national convention has developed into one of the most remarkable political institutions in the world.
3) "A greedy crowd of office-holders, or of office-seekers, indulge in or are victims of intrigues and maneuvers."
4) "You cannot help repeating the American saying, 'God takes care of drunkards, little children, and the United States.'"
With national conventions all set to begin soon, >Manchurian Candidate< is a must-read. |
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