$10.50  The Club Dumas - Book |
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$11.20  The Seville Communion - Book |
 The Nautical Chart - Book |
$16.35  The Queen of the South - Book |
 [Larger view] | The Fencing Master: A Novel
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Average user rating:  | |
| A simple, straightforward book | |
| I have not read any of the author's other books, so I cannot compare, and really that's not very fair. I was under the impression that this was a thriller but the book really felt like a romance to me. Not that that's all bad, but nothing seemed to be happening until about page 150. The premise: old fencing master is approached by a mysterious and beautiful female student to learn a "secret" but deadly fencing move and lust and deceit ensue. I couldn't help but picture Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Wait, they already did that movie. The story is more than a little predictable, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it, mornings at my local coffee shop. I have to say that the motive in the book was lost on me, maybe if my Spanish history was better. It didn't help that my knowledge of Spanish Revolution of 1868, the back drop of the novel, is zero. Seeing that Pérez-Reverte is a native of Spain, his core readers may have been better in tune than I. The Fencing Master is such a simple, straightforward book that it is difficult to say much without giving much of the story away. Though predictable, it was an enjoyable read and it was nice to read an international best seller for a change of pace. Oh, by the way from Fencing.net's glossary: Foible: the upper, weak part of the blade. For more details, go to aj.huff.org. Thanks. | |
 Perez-Reverte Redux | |
| This novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte is something of a departure from his other books. Instead of a book set in modern times where the story connects to the past, this story actually takes place in the past, back in 1868 when the Spanish monarchy was on its last wobbly legs. The protagonist and title character is Don Jaime, a fencing master in Madrid who has had most of his life defined by the art (he insists on calling it that rather than a sport) and by his conception of honor, which was probably old-fashioned when he was a young man, and is now sadly outdated. He has killed men in fencing duels, and had to flee Spain as a result, living for years in exile in France (there's no explanation in the plot, at least as far as I could see, for his rehabilitation so that he could live in Spain again) and learning from a master fencer there. In Madrid, he teaches fencing mostly to young boys whose parents are wealthy, well-born, and spoiled. He has several adult students, however, and one in particular, a dissolute libertine of a nobleman who enjoys the passtime of fencing. Don Jaime's only other social contacts consist of an unofficial social club who meet daily at a local restaurant and argue about politics, society, and so forth. These arguments provide (as one of the other reviewers pointed out) exposition for the political turmoil of 1868 Spain, which would otherwise be obscure to most. Into Don Jaime's fading world of honor and dignity steps a woman. She is (of course) gorgeous and turns out to be intelligent and (naturally) a wonderful fencer also. Don Jaime takes her on as a pupil, at first reluctantly, and begins to simultaneously fall in love with her. But things go awry, the bodies begin to pile up, and Don Jaime, in the middle of things, is in some trouble because while he's very skilled with a foil, he's basically a babe in the woods when it comes to political intrigue. This is a very good novel, full of layers and textures, as all of Perez-Reverte's novels are and do. The plot is a bit more obvious than in some of his other books, and has bits and pieces of plots from other detective novelist, borrowing from Agatha Christie and Mickey Spillane with no compunctions. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it | |
 More Boring Than Expected | |
| This is the fourth book I have read by this author, and it is the most boring. The book is rather thin in overall character - the plot is rather simple and there is little to no suspense in this so-called mystery. Perhaps someone interested in Spanish fencing masters of the mid to late 1800's or interested in Spain would be more moved by this book. I was just looking for a good read - and this was not it. |
