Hey guys it's my first time posting here and I have a question. What do you guys think about Tom Clancy's novels? Are they worth reading, where should I start, your favorites etc.
Also general political thriller thread
>>7745698
If a mild thriller bogged down with pages upon pages of technical descriptions that border on autistic appeals to you then go for it. Otherwise Clancy's not an excellent use of time.
Packaged fantasy of working for the CIA and being an American James Bond. Basic propaganda sold to fat drooling underachievers to convince them that their spy agencies and war industry is somehow helping keep them safe and not imperial expansionism to ballast a failing economy.
Harder to swallow given modern understanding of that landscape, even for the most basic of plebs. Shut your brain off books, like any other escapist trash.
>>7745698
I enjoyed a lot of them, but leave ample space in between, the technicality can become too dry too often. If you like reading about operators operating in operational environments you will have a pretty okay time.
>>7745846
Very apt anon, I thought I was the only one who noticed this.
Fuck off
no discernible talent
>>7745698
I read a few of them in high school (a long time ago), but I have no desire to read any more of them any time soon, if ever.
I'd say Without Remorse was probably my favorite, if I had to choose one. It wasn't the standard CIA/political plot though, it dealt mostly with taking down drug gangs in Baltimore.
I wouldn't call most of his books 'thrillers' either. They are usually quite dry and can be hard to get through.
I like Clancy a lot. First one I read was Rainbow Six which was pretty action packed. There were plot holes but otherwise well written, did not commit any worse sins than you average action movie. It was enough to get me looking and I got is whole collection up to The Bear And The Dragon (also good)
The Hunt For Red October, Without Remorse and SSN are great.
Solid b8 m8
>>7745698
>50 pages of story and 800 pages technical manual.
Jokes apart, Clancy was an extremely talented writer. His wargaming and storytelling abilities were excellent. The way he weaves details into his novels were great. I think every writer can learn something about extensive and meticulous research from Clancy. His first book was published by the Naval Institute Press, which didn't even publish fiction then, and they only found one technical detail wrong - he placed some valve at the top instead of the bottom. He read hundreds of books with boring names like Soviet Naval Warfare Review 1944-1954, talked endlessly to hundreds of sailors in Baltimore and surprisingly able to weave all of that detail into something that doesn't bog readers down. Fascinating.
But then his novels got bigger and bigger and he became more of a Reaganesque republican in his books. I only like his first book.
Btw, DFW, although I'm not a fan, put Tom Clancy in his list of favorite books or something for exactly that reason.
>>7745698
I love true stories of intense military action, but Clancy sucks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5IgiSeP76w
>>7745698
one of the books by numbers troupe.
Always saw Clancy as the Quintessential American writer. Fat, nerdy, workaholic, loves 'murica, hates Japs, Chinks, Gooks and Commies, believes in God like a good born-again.
>>7748568
Tom Clancy is basically what you get if you combined a standard thriller writer with an encyclopedia. It's all useless stuff that has nada to do with the narrative (This is the appeal of a Mazda Miata! This is why porpoises are shaped the way they are!) but if you like that kind of digressive stuff, it's great.
>>7745698
I was fourteen when I read Red October. I thought I could write better. So I e-mailed him back in the late 90s, like a stupid troll signed with my own name. Told him he better watch out cause I'm gonna write my own book and its gonna blow his outta the water.
Tom Clancy, or whoever handled his email, but probably him as people handled their own emails back then, actually replied. He said something like "haha good to know. Ill be waiting".
>>7745846
>like any other escapist trash
Get a load of this guy.
>>7748593
How is that different from the "encyclopedic novels" Infinite Jest and Gravity's Rainbow?
>>7748678
The difference is that you don't have to have Harold Bloom's pretentious dick stuck up your ass to say you like Tom Clancy.
>>7748678
Thing is, well I can speak at least for Gravity's Rainbow, that every detail has an aesthetic and compositional purpose, it's working toward a particular artistic goal. The digressions were for fun, flavor, theaming, and specifically for Pynchon to intentionally bewilder and overwhelm the reader so they have a shared paranoid experience with the characters. Clancy just does it cause he has the autism to go on about useless shit. In a military setting I suppose you have to use jargon to sell a particular atmosphere but you don't need to go into Clancy detail to do that.
>>7748795
Holy fuck you are a faggot.
>>7748797
railing sweet boypussy and having valid arguments are not mutually exclusive.
>>7748804
>valid arguments
>subjective bullshit
Pick both.
>>7748807
saying something is subjective isn't a counter argument, it's a cop out.
>>7745698
I'm a massive fan of Clancy's work. Most of his books are referred around a couple of characters which occur in later books etc, and swap over/meet other characters. Most of his books are about CIA (big guy), and military. Anyway if your a starter I'd go for his newer books even though he didn't write them, Mark Greaney/Grant Blackwood, anyway it gives you a good insight into how Clancy would write. Clancy dies just before 'Command Authority' it was a good book. But if you want Clancy himself my faviorites are 'The Bear and the Dragon' (currently reading). Red Rabbit is also good, Rainbow Six is good also. Also 'Without Remorse' is a great read.
