Comments on: 1985 – The Spanish Gambit

By: win1885

win1885 — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:34:45 +0000

Can someone please tell me how this book ends? My copy, a Dell Hardback, ends in the middle of Chapter 41 as Florry and Sylvia are entering France….
What kind of publisher doesn’t print the entire book….I’ve never heard of such a thing!

By: Richie

Richie — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:07:48 +0000

Of the 4 books I have read by Mr. Hunter, this is my least favorite. A good book but ultimately anticlimatic and predictable.

By: Pancho

Pancho — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:40:02 +0000

Whenever I hear of George Orwell I am thrilled. What a man ahead of his times! Even his well anthologized “death of an elephant” has a depth of meaning for my students, most of the third world. His internal conflict, his comments on empire ring so tru today.

By: thehip

thehip — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:18:21 +0000

This is a heavily researched book (except in the area of chess nomenclature, where APPALLING ignorance is displayed: no one calls the rook a “castle”, and although one “queens” a pawn, one does NOT “knight”, “bishop”, or “rook” [or "castle"] a pawn; clearly Hunter doesn’t play the game) and a quite well-written one. He’s drawn on “Homage to Catalonia” by George Orwell, even to the extent of (I believe) quoting it once or twice. Plus the protagonist has the same name (except for a doubled “r”) as the protagonist of “Burmese Days”, Orwell’s first novel (Robert Flo[r]y). Inside jokes?

This and “Point of Impact” are well worth setting aside a day to read. Be warned — once you start, you won’t stop!