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shropgirl's review against another edition
3.0
I have read several British Library Crime Classics by J Jefferson Farjeon and have enjoyed them. No 17 is the first in a series of seven, featuring Ben the Tramp. Ben is a redundant merchant service man who is on his 'uppers'. He finds shelter in a house, the said No. 17 where the door is slightly ajar and the place is empty. Farjeon portrays Ben as spineless, someone afraid of the shadows and reluctant to be involved in anything, good or bad.
The plot has at its heart some missing jewels, a gang of thieves, a man with a crooked shoulder (crooked indicative of the character), secret passages, hidden cupboards, a young lady who may or may not be a 'gangster's moll, a young innocent and two detectives!!
What I found extremely annoying was the author writing any conversation by Ben in a cockney accent. Written in 1926, this style of writing seems to me to give a stereotypical portrayal of a working class man, and therefore inferior when compared to the professional detectives. Whether this is my modern sensibilities that find this slightly distasteful, but other characters in the book were given a more middle-class or professional speaking voice and so displayed a superiority compared with the simple Ben.
This was for me a quick and easy read, finished in a couple of days but I was not particularly invested in the characters or the storyline. I will not read anymore of Farjeon's Ben the Tramp series, Ben's character being totally infuriating. Disappointing.
The plot has at its heart some missing jewels, a gang of thieves, a man with a crooked shoulder (crooked indicative of the character), secret passages, hidden cupboards, a young lady who may or may not be a 'gangster's moll, a young innocent and two detectives!!
What I found extremely annoying was the author writing any conversation by Ben in a cockney accent. Written in 1926, this style of writing seems to me to give a stereotypical portrayal of a working class man, and therefore inferior when compared to the professional detectives. Whether this is my modern sensibilities that find this slightly distasteful, but other characters in the book were given a more middle-class or professional speaking voice and so displayed a superiority compared with the simple Ben.
This was for me a quick and easy read, finished in a couple of days but I was not particularly invested in the characters or the storyline. I will not read anymore of Farjeon's Ben the Tramp series, Ben's character being totally infuriating. Disappointing.
nellkup06's review against another edition
4.0
Entertaining but I found the dialect hard to decypher at times.
unsweettea's review
2.0
The novelization of a play; Alfred Hitchcock made a movie of the play. Watching the movie is probably a better bet than reading the novelization.
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