The Maltese Falcon

Hello! This is Erin, blogging to you about an hour and a half before we will meet to discuss the book that we picked after this one, so I figured it was about time to post my blog entry!

I knew I was going to have a really hard time picking a book to follow The Hunger Games trilogy, so I didn't even try very hard. I picked three book options that I had picked for earlier book clubs, but were not picked. The choices were White Noise, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and The Maltese Falcon. We ended up with The Maltese Falcon, and I was excited to read one of the books that had made it on to several lists as one of the best mysteries of all time.

We got together in late January to discuss the book. I had set up a "Maltese Falcon Malt Shoppe" dinner for the girls, which really had nothing to do with the book other than "Malt," but I thought it would be fun anyway. We discussed different points of the plot, but focused on the novel's main character, Sam Spade. Sam Spade, detective, and womanizer, seemed pretty consistent throughout the book until the very end. We all agreed that his actions in the final scene were very surprising. We all expected something different from him or a bigger twist, like some of the more modern mysteries we have grown accustomed to. I enjoyed the old, film-noir feel (can you say that for a book?) throughout the whole story. However, overall, I think we were a little disappointed.

Our ratings for the book were:
Stacey: 6.25
Camille: 6.5
Allison: 5
Kristin: 7
Erin: 6.5

I'm curious if our ratings would have been any higher if we hadn't just read one of the best book trilogies of all time right before it. Probably not.

Look for our next blog, which will be written by Stacey about Little Bee!