Brothers

by William Goldman

Book Overview

A thriller novel. A sequel to the 1972 Marathon Man. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446346802
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.8" x 4.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent if you care about Babe and Doc, not so much if you're just looking for a page-turner

Masterful little scenes which, despite complaints above, do much to enhance the characters, particularly Scylla of course. Indeed, wrapped up with haste and has a real bummer of an ending, although it is perhaps inevitable and fitting. Scylla ia a great character, both in this book and MM. Does have some cringe-inducing expository dialogue, but there are passages that are such a joy to read that I forgive its sins.

Guilty Pleasure

In this sequel to Marathon man, Scylla is improbably resurrected; inexplicably changes sexual orientation and acquires an ex-wife; and evinces no curiosity whatsoever concerning the fate of his former live-in, Janey. In addition, the "inventions" upon which Goldman bases his plot are patently ridiculous. And yet... and yet... I've read this book three times. Scylla is a modern Tarzan, a brilliant mind in an exceptional body; brutal yet romantic; his only weakness his love for his kid brother. A powerful fantasy.

Great Fun

This was my second Goldman book after Marathon Man (also great). I was captivated by this story from the beginning until the end. I absolutely love the character of Scylla. To me he is one of the greatest "bad boy" heros of fiction. Whereas the first book (Marathon Man) focused on the younger brother, Babe, this one focuses on the older one Tom (Scylla). It has all the intrigue of a spy/mystery novel with some of the wit of a comedy. I found myself rooting intensely for Scylla to beat all his rivals and achieve his goal. The ending was not predictablerise and kept me guessing to the final page. This book was a lot of fun to read. It reads like a screen play which Goldman is also famous for. I highly recommend it.

Scylla the Rock lives

A modern fairy tale, nothing more. Goldman makes the absurd, the impossible, and the downright silly seem almost plausible. Above all, this book is fun. The plot centers around a mind controlling Binaca-type spray, suicide champagne, and exploding children. The hero is Scylla, the assassin whose code name confuses people. ("Was not Scylla a female monster?" "No. Scylla was a rock. Near a whirlpool." "Are you a rock, then?" "On my good days.") Scylla has no right to be alive, since he was pretty thoroughly eviscerated in Marathon Man, the prequel to Brothers. But in Brothers, he's alive and well. Read Marathon Man, read this one.

Brothers was a exciting and action filled book

Brothers was a fiction book written by William Goldman. It brought mystery, suspense and adventure all in one book, thus, making the story much more interesting. The story begins with about eight different characters, being described separately in the first half of the book. The whole book discusses about a `project', which is defined until the end of the book, which attaches the reader to the book until the end. The plot of the story was interesting because it was not described to the reader until the end of the story so the reader would have to keep reading to find out. Some events that happened in the beginning would make the reader feel it was irrelevant to the story, was later explained in the final chapter as what it had to do with the project. The story was filled with details and brutal events and did not leave out one bit of information. The story did not have a static setting because the main character traveled from place to place given the `bosses' orders. The main character was a well-built man that was kept away from the outside world, in a small island for a decade until he could regain his strength to come back. He was brought back and taken through tests such as surprise attacks which they thought he would fail but did not. The `boss', Perkins, sent him place to place for missions. The characterization of the story was a bit confusing but was fully explained. It involved many different characters that lead to the disastrous end. Some appeared to kill another human being. He used many different characters with different features such as a woman with a drooping eye to help with the plot of the story. The characters had different weaknesses and strengths that either helped them or put them at a disadvantage. It was for the opponent to find that weakness and attack it. The theme of the story was the destruction of the world and the rule of England to be the most powerful. They made fake children that carried bombs in their bodies and sent them around the world to kill all the human beings except the ones in England. "...the world will flock to the British for leadership, Scylla, first because it will be the only country with established leadership in place. And they will keep flocking because of the skill with which the British lead....." Page 303. Beverage speaking through tape recorder.