The Amateur Cracksman

Rating:
Summary: A great classic!
Review: A great book that's very well written, The Amateur Cracksman is a must read classic. Though it lacks moral value (A. J. Raffles steals mostly just for kicks) it has what most great classics lack, a good sense of humor. It's about Bunny, a broke journalist on the verge of comitting suicide, who seeks help from from his best friend from school. Before he realises it, he has just become the loyal side-kick of one of England's greatest thieves. As Raffles is one of the best cricket players in England, he gets invited (along with the ever-faithful Bunny) to the houses of the rich and famous of England. At night, he robs them blind. Marvelously written, its set in the Victorian period. It's packed with action and adventure, and a lot of cynnical jokes. A great introduction to classics, it is a more relaxed story than most books of it's era. Though A. J. Raffles and Bunny are not exactly great role-models for young readers, their almost devious acts are ammended by their courageous acts on the battle field. I definitely recommend reading the Amateur Cracksman!

Rating:
Summary: A great classic!
Review: A great book that's very well written, The Amateur Cracksman is a must read classic. Though it lacks moral value (A. J. Raffles steals mostly just for kicks) it has what most great classics lack, a good sense of humor. It's about Bunny, a broke journalist on the verge of comitting suicide, who seeks help from from his best friend from school. Before he realises it, he has just become the loyal side-kick of one of England's greatest thieves. As Raffles is one of the best cricket players in England, he gets invited (along with the ever-faithful Bunny) to the houses of the rich and famous of England. At night, he robs them blind. Marvelously written, its set in the Victorian period. It's packed with action and adventure, and a lot of cynnical jokes. A great introduction to classics, it is a more relaxed story than most books of it's era. Though A. J. Raffles and Bunny are not exactly great role-models for young readers, their almost devious acts are ammended by their courageous acts on the battle field. I definitely recommend reading the Amateur Cracksman!

Rating:
Summary: Great fun, great in-joke.
Review: This entertaining book is almost forgotten now, but during the first part of the century is was one of the favorite books of every teenage boy in the English-speaking world. They loved to read about Raffles, the upper-class and charming Amateur Cracksman (thief) and his adventures.

Raffles himself is indeed great fun, I love the idea of an upper-class young Englishman who takes to crime rather than get a job, which after all would interfere with his high society life and amateur cricket career. The book is a series of related stories, each slyly witty and subversive, each a clever detective story in reverse.

The reason they were indeed detective stories in reverse is simple: E.W. Hornung was the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Hornung wrote these stories partly as a satire on Holmes (and Watson, his narrator "Bunny" is a rock-stupid, dead-on parody), and partly just to annoy. It worked, Conan Doyle worried about this book's effect on the public morals!

Now, who wouldn't enjoy a book written to annoy a self-righteous in-law? Especially if the book is actually good? (The book was later made into a weak film starring David Niven, and inspired "To Catch a Thief")