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A review by objectlesson
Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
5.0
I’ve read and reread these stories countless times, and between these readings I somehow always manage to convince myself that they’re not as insane and gay and romantic and delightful as I remember, and then when I do revisit them I’m surprised yet again. Hornung is a MASTER of double entendre and clever innuendo, I can hardly believe he got away with writing such scandalous stuff in the Victorian era, let alone openly as a pastiche of the Holmes stories. Genius!
This was the first time I got to read these stories in order and in an actual book instead of a dated geocities website, and that added to the experience a lot. Cannot wait to reread yet again and annotate the truly wild sentences where our guileless narrator Bunny manages to write openly about loving and desiring Raffles and commiting nebulous crimes with him, all while disguising what crimes, exactly, are being committed. Truly such witty and well constructed writing, I can’t get enough, I always have a big aching smile on my face every time I was reading this book.
And Raffles—Raffles. What a character. I love him as much as Bunny does and find him just as irresistible. I love how he’s sort of evil--like without a doubt this man is borderline sociopathic and lacking in consistent morals and he effectively ruins Bunny’s life and exploits his adoration and desperation, but he’s NEVER even remotely unlikable while
doing it? Imo he’s one of the most dastardly charming villians (because he is a villian!) in all of literature, I just delight in reading him. Part of what makes him so lovable is that we exclusively see him through Bunny’s eyes. Bunny who KNOWS he’s wicked and callous under all that charm, but loves and admires him all the same—not in spite of his cruelty but because of it. Because in his heart of hearts, Bunny isn’t the innocent victim he claims to be, either. He’s attracted to Raffles life of crime but also “the man himself,” the ease with which is moves between the high class world of clubs and Piccadilly and Mayfair and the world of the criminal underbelly. His dual nature isn’t secondary to Bunny’s attraction it’s the core of what makes him compelling. His danger makes him delicious for the narrator and so, for us, too! Thus Hornung manages to write a truly terrible person who most readers will love.
I cannot reccomend these books enough. They’re so criminally (ha) underrated imo, but I can only hope every time I sing their praises it inspires someone to check them out, and fall in love with Bunny and Raffles, too.
This was the first time I got to read these stories in order and in an actual book instead of a dated geocities website, and that added to the experience a lot. Cannot wait to reread yet again and annotate the truly wild sentences where our guileless narrator Bunny manages to write openly about loving and desiring Raffles and commiting nebulous crimes with him, all while disguising what crimes, exactly, are being committed. Truly such witty and well constructed writing, I can’t get enough, I always have a big aching smile on my face every time I was reading this book.
And Raffles—Raffles. What a character. I love him as much as Bunny does and find him just as irresistible. I love how he’s sort of evil--like without a doubt this man is borderline sociopathic and lacking in consistent morals and he effectively ruins Bunny’s life and exploits his adoration and desperation, but he’s NEVER even remotely unlikable while
doing it? Imo he’s one of the most dastardly charming villians (because he is a villian!) in all of literature, I just delight in reading him. Part of what makes him so lovable is that we exclusively see him through Bunny’s eyes. Bunny who KNOWS he’s wicked and callous under all that charm, but loves and admires him all the same—not in spite of his cruelty but because of it. Because in his heart of hearts, Bunny isn’t the innocent victim he claims to be, either. He’s attracted to Raffles life of crime but also “the man himself,” the ease with which is moves between the high class world of clubs and Piccadilly and Mayfair and the world of the criminal underbelly. His dual nature isn’t secondary to Bunny’s attraction it’s the core of what makes him compelling. His danger makes him delicious for the narrator and so, for us, too! Thus Hornung manages to write a truly terrible person who most readers will love.
I cannot reccomend these books enough. They’re so criminally (ha) underrated imo, but I can only hope every time I sing their praises it inspires someone to check them out, and fall in love with Bunny and Raffles, too.