The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

First, let me say that I haven’t seen any of the recent onslaught of Jason Bourne movies.  Apparently if you love the books, you hate the movies.  If you love the movies, you hate the books.  If you’ve never been exposed to either, you wonder just what all of the fuss is about.  The first of (what I think is) a three volume series was actually written almost forty years ago (around 1975), and I almost have to wonder why it took so long to make the adaptation to screen in the first place based on the apparent popularity of the series .

Our story opens up somewhere in Europe (I forget specifically where).  Some local fishermen discover a body floating out in the ocean and they haul in this near-corpse that is miraculously still alive.  In the nearby small port town, there’s only one doctor, who apparently moonlights as an alcoholic.  The doctor slowly nurses back this mysterious shodden figure back to health, and the specimen is definitely a unique find.  The doctor discovers that this man has had many parts of his body surgically altered to radically change his physical appearance.  Definitely something sinister here.  It doesn’t help when the patient slowly regains consciousness over a period of weeks only to be suffering from amnesia.  He has no idea who he is nor where he came from.  The doctor finds a microchip embedded on the man’s body, which only contains some random information about a bank account in Switzerland.  So this is basically all the patient has to go on if he wants to discover his identity.

So this is where the ride really starts.  Without going into too much detail, let’s just say that the man (he later finds out his name is Jason Bourne) is part of a clandestine government operation, and although he’s supposed to know who he is, no one else is.  So when he starts arbitrarily showing up in places, such as the above mentioned  Switzerland bank, casually announcing who he is in attempt to find out who he really is, chaos, panic and a lot of shooting commences.  A lot of shooting.   Over a lot of pages.

All of this is only the beginning, and we’re taken on an incredibly complex labyrinth of details from this point of the book forward.  It’s very easy to get lost with all of the mysterious figures coming and going, and this is a book that must be read (at least by me) slowly and carefully.  There’s simply too much to digest.  For someone like myself who only speaks one language, it doesn’t help that 95% of this novel takes place in a different country other than the United States.  The author describes a lot of detail in these strange countries, along with elaborate, but appropriate names and descriptions.  I simply found myself getting lost with all of the foreign names and locations.  Example:  If this story took place in the good old U.S. of A., with American characters, it might describe a scenario in this manner:

“When I walked out of the Hilton, I saw a man that looked like Charlie, who was riding in a taxi when they drove past the Olive Garden on the way to the Main Street parade.”

Since, however, we’re in places like Switzerland and Germany, what we get instead is:

“When I walked out of the Les Feltehtraum Sherrabere Deuz Kaptin, I saw a man that looked like Monsieur Von Klappentooff Schertzanhous who was riding in an AutoFrankenheis when they drove past the Gotte Zer Plettz Der Frouihenheppenhurffer on the way to the Des Mont De Shlavovitz on Perre”.

I realize that what I wrote is extreme jibberish, but this is exactly what it felt like to me after reading a couple of hundred pages or so of this book with all of its pristine details.  It made me wish that I kept a notebook on the side so I could take some copious notes that I could use for future reference.  There were several times when I just couldn’t juggle and remember all of these complex foreign names and places.

Another key fault of this book is the female “sidekick”, or “accomplice”.  Apparently, Robert Ludlum decided that if this story was going to have some teeth, he simply needed to give Jason Bourne an ally to help him through this complex nightmare.  That, in itself, is o.k. and probably even desirable.  It also doesn’t hurt that she’s young, has auburn hair, beautiful, etc.  What the problem is, is how she’s thrown into the story.  Near the beginning of this adventure, Jason kidnaps her.  Not out of cruelty, but necessity.  Remember, he doesn’t even know who he is.  Of course, after the initial kidnapping, she’s rightfully terrified out of her wits, and seems to scream “Please let me go!” at least a bazillion times during a dozen or so pages.  Well, without drudging up the plot, let’s just say that these two somehow, amazingly, become not only allies, but lovers.  It seems a bit preposterous for her to address him throughout the remainder of the pages as “my darling...” after what this man put her through.  She’s overall a good character (as I write this, I can’t remember her name.  Not really important),I just wish a bit more care would have been taken into how she becomes involved.

So the story continues, and each page is packed with action.  Although I couldn’t give you a very thorough explanation of who everyone in this book was, and what purpose they served, the story was overall enjoyable even though my head was spinning much of the time due to the complex plot.  The book manages to have a very satisfying conclusion, yet leaves room for more story, which I’m assuming will be picked up with the next books in the series.  I look forward to reading the next couple of volumes.   Some day.