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Title: The Fencing Master: A Novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte ISBN: 0-15-600684-7 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (70 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An elegant, powerful, period thriller - A gem of a book!
Comment: What a gem of a book! This is a splendidly original, elegantly written, period thriller that is near impossible to put down. The tale is set in 19th century Madrid, a time of political instability and intrigue, against the backdrop of rumored coup plots against the Spanish queen. Don Jaime Astarloa, a proud, aging, master fencer and teacher, practices his noble art which he sees slowly losing its place within aristocratic society. He is approached one day by a beautiful yet mysterious young woman who requests that he take her on as a student. Though reluctant at first to instruct a woman, Don Jaime soon discovers that she is a skilled fencer. The mystery surrounding her grows, however, when she abruptly discontinues her lessons after learning an arcane yet deadly technique that only a select few fencers can perform. Soon thereafter, a series of murders takes place that forces Don Jaime to question whom he can trust and whether he himself is safe.
The Fencing Master combines a gripping plot, elegant prose, and intense, powerful descriptions of fencing duels that may at times leave you breathless. Think of the grace and beauty in Hemingway's depiction of bullfighting in The Sun Also Rises, and you may have some sense of how masterfully Perez-Reverte has captured the essence of the art of fencing. With each turn of the page you will feel transported to a different time and place. The stylish prose and authoritative narrative voice fill this novel with an authentic period feel. And each sentence conveys an understated sense of strength, pride, honor, integrity, and passion that make this book and its hero simply unforgettable.
Rating: 5
Summary: Don Jaime, where are you now?
Comment: Arturo Perez-Reverte makes me wish I could read Spanish. That is - possibly - the only way his works could get any better. I've read all of his novels that have been translated into English, and "The Fencing Master" is the one that grabbed me by the lapels, so to speak, and dragged me into 19th-century Madrid. I must say I was not inclined to put up much resistance.
The story centers around Don Jaime, an antiquated fencing master, one of the last of a dying breed in an age where the pistol is gaining popularity as the means civilized men use to kill each other. Don Jaime lives his life according to a personal sense of reality, one that revolves entirely around the concept of honor. He realizes that he is a fossil, and that others may look at him as an aging dandy, but he does not mind. In fact, he hardly notices the outside world at all.
Until one day he is summoned to the house of a beautiful young woman, who demands to know the secret of the unstoppable thrust (Don Jaime's personal invention). And nothing in the fencing master's world is ever the same again. To give the story away would be criminal, but rest assured intrigue, politics, and mystery abound.
Mr. Perez-Reverte has done his usual prodigious amount of homework, and Madrid in the late 1860's springs to life from the page. I probably know even less about fencing than the average person (my information comes solely from period-piece movies), and the sword fights described kept me awake long into the night. Even week nights. The final bout is a masterpiece of suspense and beauty, an illustration of the age-old struggle between good and evil, hope and despair. My only niggling question is, how did the beautiful young woman acquire that enigmatic little scar at the corner of her mouth?
In short, a fantastic read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Hollywood - don't even think about messing this one up!
Comment: Bear with me: I haven't even read this book, but I'm checking it out at my local library this week and can't wait to get started, it sounds great. How I wish I could read Spanish! (I'm praying it doesn't read silly in English). I only learned of Reverte today after finding out that Viggo Mortensen's next film will be "Captain Alatriste", another Reverte novel in pre-production in Spain and scheduled to start shooting late 2004 early 2005. I'm European, but have lived in the US for over a decade and I confess I had never heard of "Spain's most popular writer" - I'm truly embarassed! And I didn't even know that "The Ninth Gate" with Johnnie Depp is based on Reverte's novel "Club Dumas". I was also very surprised to learn that several of his books have been translated into English. Some of his titles do sound like they are of the "Name of the Rose"/"The Da Vinci Code" genre, but nothing wrong with that I suppose. However, I picked "The Fencing Master" because it sounds more character driven that plot driven - the others sound like the characters are fairly one or two dimensional. "The Fencing Master" sounds like it would make a fantastic film, but not the Hollywood kind! Hopefully someone in Spain will adapt it. Viggo Mortensen speaks fluent Spanish due to his childhood spent in Argentina with his Danish father and American mother and two brothers. How cool is that?
Oh, and maybe I have a one-track mind, but "the unstoppable thrust" sounds like a double entendre. Fencing is very sexy. Now that the divine Penelope Cruz has wised up and gotten tired of Tom Cruise, she could head back to her native Spain and play the fencing student in "The Fencing Master". And Spain have loads of superb actors who can play the Master himself. Of course, we could have Pedro Almadovar (did I mess up on the spelling there?) do his take on it and have the student and master be two gay men - that would be very cool!
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Title: The Seville Communion by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Sonia Soto ISBN: 0156006391 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Sonia Soto ISBN: 0679777547 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Flanders Panel by ARTURO PEREZ-REVERTE ISBN: 0553377868 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Margaret Sayers Peden ISBN: 0156013053 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears ISBN: 0425167720 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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