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Title: A Conspiracy of Paper : A Novel by DAVID LISS ISBN: 0-8041-1912-0 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.23 (145 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Solid, but not quite must-read.
Comment: Good, but not great is how I would rate David Liss's historical thriller, set in 1719 London at the height of the South Seas bubble (and written, not coincidentally, at the height of our own stock market bubble -- the parallels are laid on pretty thick, but are still enjoyable). As a good historical novel must do, Liss admirably conveys the (imagined) sights, sounds and smells of 18th-century urban life, both splendid and squalid. The main character moves smoothly between both worlds: the estranged son of a Jewish stockbroker, Benjamin Weaver has lived on both sides of the law and now makes his living, more or less, as a private detective. Weaver's many double lives -- Jew and Englishman, criminal and law enforcer, son and outcast -- are masterfully drawn, with the help of a vivid supporting cast of characters.
Liss, currently getting a doctorate in 17th century English literature (it seems safe to say, given how well his first novel has been received, that he is probably the happiest English lit student in the country), knows his material very well, and writes with confidence and humor. He deploys some admirable literary tricks, for instance casting the novel as a memoir written decades later by Weaver, which allows him to lard in relevant and interesting historical details without too much sense of authorial intrusion. (Other successful historical novels, e.g. _The Name of the Rose_ and _Lempriere's Dictionary_ pull this trick off with geographical distance, rather than temporal, by sending their characters on journeys into unfamiliar and interesting locales.) Liss also borrows from the writing style of the novels of the time, his own stock in trade, to give the narrative a pleasantly "antiqued" diction and pace.
So what holds this novel back from the greatness to which it aspires? That most important aspect of fiction, plot. The intrigues into which Weaver are drawn, involving his father's suspicious death, stock fraud and the London criminal underground, are a bit too convoluted. It's enjoyable to watch Weaver solve the mystery, with a combination of induction (Weaver's entertaining sidekick, a penniless but charming physician, introduces him to the then-new concept of probabilistic reasoning, and draws a comparison between stock-brokering, detective work and Pascal's wager) and physical violence, but it's easy to lose track of his clues and suspicions. Liss puts so much work into the convoluted mystery that it becomes a bit exhausting. About halfway through, I found myself getting bored with all the characters and their possible motives, and all the talking and thinking about them, and looking forward to another exchange of pistols or another chase through a waste-strewn alleyway.
It's worth comparing _A Conspiracy of Paper_ to _The Name of the Rose_, the apotheosis of the historical thriller. When the truth came out in the climax of the latter book, it all made sense -- I could think back over what I'd read and see all the mysteries illuminated in the light of the truth. When finishing A Conspiracy of Paper, I was happy to find all the accumulated implausibilities and unlikelihoods neatly wrapped up, but the core of the mystery had been somewhat lost beneath the coat of loose ends.
Rating: 5
Summary: A captivating historical novel
Comment: "A Conspiracy of Paper", a first novel from an obviously talented new author, is a very enjoyable book set in 18th century London. It is probably the best historical novel I've read, and richly deserves the awards it's already garnered.
The hero, Ben Weaver, begins to investigate the death of his long-estranged father. Soon enough he finds himself in way over his head, embroiled in the financial intrigue that would ultimately become the South Sea Bubble, causing the ruin of many of London's finest gentlemen.
The style of writing is wonderful, part first person, part narrative, and heavy into the vernacular of early 18th century England. Near the end of the story, this becomes one of those "must stay up until I finish it" books.
A thoroughly enjoyable book. I highly recommend it to those who love the genre.
Rating: 5
Summary: Follow the Money
Comment: Perhaps David Liss has started a new genre, the financial thriller. In the twists and turns of the tale of Benjamin Weaver, Liss allows the historical backdrop of London in 1719 and the impending scandal of the South Seas Company to dress an amazingly complex train of scandal and duplicity. Using an historical figure Jonathan Wild as the arch-villain as an 18th century Mafioso profiting from theft, prostitution and even "peaching" his own crooks to the gallows for profit when they've outlived their usefulness, Liss has a great cast of characters. The behind-the-scenes maneuvering of the Bank of England's Bloathwait vs. the South Seas Company's Adelman serves to keep each new discovery off-balance. The other remarkable accomplishment is the amazing amount of humor that Liss scatters through the tale with Weaver's observations of various loose characters. The supporting characters of his buddy Elias who performs surgery when not too drunk, Kate Cole the un-penitant prostitute and Sir Owen gives amazing possibilities for a budding screenwriter. As Weaver seeks to find the cause for his father's death, we are constantly caught off guard with each new bogus stock or less-than-random act of violence. Cousin Miriam adds a love interest and issues of feminism to the mix. Add to this the cultural backdrop of Weaver being a Jew in Christian England, and Liss weaves an incredibly rich and complex tale that keeps our interest as the pages burn from turning. The climactic scene in the theatre as Weaver unmasks the mysterious phantom of Martin Rochester is breath taking. Bravo!
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Title: The Coffee Trader : A Novel by David Liss ISBN: 0375760903 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Spectacle of Corruption : A Novel by DAVID LISS ISBN: 0375508554 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 16 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Dante Club : A Novel by MATTHEW PEARL ISBN: 0812971043 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 10 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Winter Queen : A Novel by Boris Akunin, Andrew Bromfield ISBN: 1400060494 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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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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