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Title: The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Margaret Sayers Peden ISBN: 0-15-601305-3 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.4 (43 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fun but Predictable from a Great Writer
Comment: I am a big fan of what are probably best termed "literary thrillers." I am drawn to stories that center around books, libraries, and antiques with their mysteries and eccentric cast of characters. Books like A.S. Byatt's Possession and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose are probably two of the gems of this genre. And I wouldn't hesitate to put Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas near the top of a "best of" list either. In fact, Perez-Reverte specializes in this field with other worthy titles such as The Flanders Panel and The Seville Communion. Now, he adds The Nautical Chart.
Basically, this novel is a treasure hunt centering around the attempt to locate a sunken Jesuit ship lost off the coast of Spain in 1767. Coy, a grounded sailor, is lured into the hunt by--whom else?--a beautiful woman who believes she can find the ship using the ancient titular chart. Of course, there is competition to reach the lost ship which leads our narrator through most of the adventures in this novel.
Like all of his novels, this one is very well-written, plunging us into a vanished world our modern characters need to understand before they can achieve their desires. There are always things to learn when reading a Perez-Reverte novel and they are always fun to read. But there is something missing in this book that Perez-Reverte usually provides: surprises.
Though intellectually stimulating, this novel is very predictable. On some level, I think Perez-Reverte realizes this and plays it off in Coy's own foreshadowing of his ultimate fate. Still, he has shown himself to be capable of much more in his other novels.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good book? Poor translation?
Comment: Someone once said of Peter DeVries, "I love his book. I read it every time he writes it." Arturo Perez-Reverte has cemented his claim to such backhanded praise with this release, "The Nautical Chart".
This book follows the standard Perez-Reverte formula, one that became almost tiresome after "The Flanders Panel" was released.
Here we are offered Coy, a down-on-his-luck sailor with barely enough knowledge to get the job done, a man who thinks and acts with his fists as opposed to his wits, Tanger Soto, a single-minded femme fatale who echoes Hammett's Bridget O'Shaughnessy (from "The Maltese Falcon", which this book references and echoes)and a pair of villains as cruel and unlikely as Gutman and Joel Cairo. The group are all in search of a vast treasure buried beneath the sea centuries ago. That's pretty much all there is to the story.
It's not the repeat of the old formula that bothers me so, rather it is the change in writing style that seems to have sucked the joy out of my reading of Perez-Reverte, and I don't know whether to blame this on the author or his translater. Former translator Sonia Soto had a flair for language and helped ease The Club Dumas and The Flanders Panel into the American consciousness by imbuing these books with a fluid formality that seemed just right for the content. New translator Margaret Sayers Peden has a wooden ear, seemingly translating some sections exactly as written (which makes them seem odd and flat to an English speaker) and others by trying to inject modern slang and make the book sound more contemporary.
It is a fact that, unless we read the original language, we are at the mercy of the translator when reading foreign literature. A good one can make the work sing and a bad one will make it squawk. Sadly, without a strong, fresh framework from Perez-Reverte, this translation merely squawks.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good story for sea-lovers
Comment: I have always loved stories related to the sea, and so this book appealed to me from the start. The premise is good: a grounded sailor develops a quick crush on a mysterious blonde he encounters at a maritime objects auction in Barcelona. He goes after her in Madrid and discovers she is looking for a sunken XVIII century ship, which should be buried under the sea outside the Mediterranean Spanish coast. And, she happens to be in need of someone with time and deep knowledge of the seas. Coy, the sailor, signs for the deal, not least because by now he is madly in love with her, Tangier. But it happens that there is someone else in search for the enigmatic ship, this time a professional treasure-hunter from Gibraltar, a man who has a very dangerous sidekick, an Argentinian ex-torturer. Coy recruits his old buddy, the Pilot, to take them in his boat and go looking for the ship. Why this ship attracts so many attention I will not spoil for you, but it is an interesting and exciting tale. Some reviewers complain about the long discussions on things maritime, but I tended to like them.
The book's strong points: the link to an ancient adventure and the historical background. Perez Reverte does his homework and is very good at surrounding his tales with historical roots. That gives the present-day adventure an epic aura. The political intrigue surrounding the historical event is another thing Perez Reverte likes to do and is good at. One further strong point that should be remarked, since it gives the book much of its appeal, is the author's ability to vividly depict places. Of course he has the advantage of locating his story in beautiful towns of Southern Spain, which hardly need any embellishment, and especially in Cartagena, where Perez Reverte himself was born and obviously knows very well. Plus, the story is ingenious.
Unfortunately, the book has one weak point, but one that is crucial in distinguishing a good novel from a great work of art. In fact, it is the cornerstone of great literature: the characters. The best-crafted character is the main one, Coy, a likable loser and basically a good and brave man. It is obvious, and the author makes no secret of it, that this character was inspired by Conrad's Lord Jim, but without the tragic, Shakespearean overtones. But most of his expressions are cliches. Nevertheless, I think every reader will root for Coy. The woman, on the other hand, is totally unlikeable. She's not even sexy. Another reviewer here was right when he thought of her as a spoiled little brat. I didn't want her to win. As a character, she's flat as flat can be. The Pilot is commonplace tough-but-good-guy, a wise old man. And the bad guys seem to jump right out of a Disney movie. The boss would be a wolf and the Argentinian a bad rat. They are the weakest point of the book.
Anyway, it's a good entertainment but don't look here for the great literary achievement.
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Title: The Fencing Master: A Novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte ISBN: 0156006847 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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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 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: 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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