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2.0 out of 5 stars
A thriller that has not aged well, Oct 2 2000
THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is one of those novels that you hear about, but never find the time to read. It sits on the library shelf, desperately awaiting the rare occasion when someone is overcome by their curiosity, and decides to give it a chance.That's what happened to me. Unfortunately, the above tale of library derring-do is about as exciting as anything found within Ira Levin's tale. It starts off compellingly enough. A group of former Nazis meet to discuss the details for a new attempt at world domination. Dr. Josef Mengele is discovered to be involved, and it is up to Nazi-hunter Liebermann to unearth the sinister plot. So far, so good. All the elements of good pulp fiction are in place. And let's not be fooled: Despite the theme of renewed Nazi powers, this IS a pulp novel. Nothing wrong with that, really. But it's not a GOOD pulp novel. A large part of the problem is the cartoonish nature of the lead characters, particularily Mengele. He is a truly evil man, in all respects, but his actions in BOYS tend to create giggles, in the place of fear. As well, his fanatical devoltion to Adolf Hitler, which in reality is a cause for great alarm, comes across on the page as rather silly. Some may claim the novel has more relevance in today's climate of cloning advances, but that's hogwash. BOYS is not a cautionary tale of the horrors of science. What it is, is ridiculous. And barely entertaining. Still, some scenes do serve to help the novel pass the time. The final confrontation is well paced, if overblown. There are some asides as to the importance of war crimes tribunals that certainly remain relevant today. And it is certainly better than Ken Follett's THE THIRD TWIN, another thriller based on cloning that is one of the worst [books] I've ever read. But where TWIN is garbage, BOYS is merely innocuous. It may have been groundbreaking when it was written, but it functions more as a curiosity now than anything else.
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by Ray Bradbury
