"The Maltese Falcon" - Kelli's Take

I liked this book more for the lack of adverbs than anything else.  This is something Marie recently drew my attention to - that she despises adverbs because authors, in her view, should just choose stronger verbs and then they wouldn't need to modify them.  She mentioned this right before I dove into this book and I noticed that Dashiell Hammett uses remarkably few of them in the course of the novel.

I have to agree with my mom here.  I understand historically why this book would make the list, but, aside from the interesting lack of adverbs, the book doesn't stand out as anything spectacular.  Perhaps the novel was shocking for the day (I was shocked myself with the sex out of wedlock and stripping in the novel - it was the 1930s for Christ's sake!).  However, I think the rest of the novel's novelty (ha) was spoiled by our 21st century overexposure to this exact type of protagonist - the difficult-to-decipher, sexy-but-reserved detective whose personal sense of justice (right or wrong) guides everything he does.

SPOILERS: Everyone's crooked.  Everyone's a victim.

GRADE SHEET:
Pacing: B+
Protagonist's Likability: C (SUPER average)
Satisfying Ending: C (You kind of wish it was more dramatic)
1930s Sexist Masculinity: A+
Originality from the 21st Century Perspective: D

Up Next: The Grapes of Wrath