in this book I was presented with two subjects in which I was either woefully ignorant or totally clueless: the art of fencing and anSpanish overthrow of Queen Isabell II.
I think my understanding would have been enhanced had I known more about fencing, so I was surprised to find myself deciding it didn't matter, While I understood some of the fencing terms generally, mostly I came to see the discipline required to excel and that it has a long tradition, This is overlaid upon the coming chaos of a revolution,
The above makes this sound boring, boring, boring, and it was just the opposite, Yes, the initialor so pages left me wondering if fencing was going to be the sum total of the novel, I did not just hope that there would be more, but there was enough foreshadowing that I felt confident there would, indeed, be more, In what period of history might we find this to be untrue
Do you know what the problem is We find ourselves in the last of the three generations history chooses to repeat every now and then.This is a very plot driven novel, As plot is not one of my primary reasons to read, I might find myself dismissing this as fluff, It is anything but. Prose is an important element to me and which I mention in nearly every review and in this it is good not beautiful which would detract from the novel in this case, but good.
The first generation needs a god, and so they invent one, The second erects temples to that god and tries to imitate him, And the third uses the marble from those temples to build brothels in which to worship their own greed, lust and dishonesty, And that is why gods and heroes are always, inevitably, succeeded by mediocrity, cowards, and imbeciles,
True, I was reading a translation, but I think a translator rarely makes a silk purse out of a sow's ear, Surprisingly in a plotdriven novel was the very good characterization of the title character, The novel is told in thirdperson limited and so we come to know him intimately,
As a thriller, I must withhold astar rating because I want to save those for what I think of as more literary, That is my bias, and perhaps one day I'll be sorry for having it, Still, this is a solidstars, I'm glad not only to have read it, but also that I haveother books by this author awaiting my attention, Cinco estrellas porque me da la gana,
No es redondo porque sólo hay un personaje con cuerpo, el maestro de esgrima Astarloa, Porque la trama es sencillita, Y porque se enrolla un poco con el tema esgrima,
Pero te atrapa, Y te enternece el personaje, con su honor y sus convicciones ya pasadas en el
tiempo en que vive,
Es un dinosaurio que vive ajeno a su tiempo y ya cercano a losconoce a una bella y joven esgrimiste, Os imagináis el resultado,
Con este trasfondo nos cuenta los momentos previos a la revolución de Prim en el SXIX que personalmente no me interesaba nada, pero bueno, . .
Resumen, que con su personaje embrión claro de Alatriste y su honor trasnochado y su ya preciosista uso del lenguaje es su segunda novela me ha reconquistado.
Y es que creo que lo leí de adolescente, pero no me acordaba de nada y no lo tenía ni apuntado como leído en mi veterana base de datos.
Yo he disfrutado mucho, Me lo he zampado en dos días, Es cortito.
Leed y gozad, O no Que les digo Cada vez que uno vuelve a leer un libro lo encuentra diferente a la primera vez y al mismo tiempo es igual, Ahora entiendo de forma diferente la trama, pero me sigue gustando igual que siempre,
Leí este libro hace años, nuevamente, para una clase y aunque no me acuerdo de absolutamente todos los detalles del libro, recuerdo muy bien la línea principal de la historia y sobre todo, recuerdo lo que me hizo sentir y por eso está entre mis favoritos.
Fue el primer libro que leí de sitelinkArturo PérezReverte
Es una novela de intrigas, habla un poco sobre los valores perdidos en este caso, la esgrima y el honor pero principalmente es una novela de misterio y un poco histórica en la que termina involucrado un maestro de esgrima de ahí el título que aparte del problema que se le presenta, persigue la estocada perfecta.
La novela es muy descriptiva en cuanto a los personajes, los escenarios y sobre todo en la parte histórica por lo que llega a resultar un poquitín pesado a veces pero salvo por ese detalle me parece que es una novela emocionante y atrapante.
Estoy deseando releerla, Espero hacerlo pronto Μια ιδιαίτερη ιστορία γύρω από τη τέχνη της ξιφασκίας και έναν άντρα που ζει σύμφωνα με τα δικά του πιστεύω και ιδανικά χωρίς να αφήνει τα γεγονότα της καθημερινής ζωής να επηρεάσουν τον τρόπο με τον οποίο ζει τη ζωή του!
Και υπάρχει επίσης και το κομμάτι εκείνο του μυστηρίου που μπλέκει πολιτικές συνωμοσίες και φόνους που μπορεί η μπορεί και όχι να έχουν κάποια σχέση με τον δάσκαλο της ξιφασκίας.
Μια πολύ καλή ιστορία που διαβάζεται εύκολα και μας μεταφέρει σε μια Μαδρίτη τουμε πολιτικές αναταραχές, αναφέρεται στη τέχνη της ξιφασκίας που χάνεται και μας αφηγείται την ιστορία ενός χαρακτήρα που γύρω του υφαίνεται ένας ιστός γεγονότων που θα ταράξουν τη ζωή του χωρίς αυτός να το θέλει αλλά θα πρέπει να στη τελική να τα αντιμετωπίσει!
An interesting story about the art of
fencing and a man who lives according to his own beliefs and ideals without letting the events of everyday life affect the way he lives his life!
And there is also that part of the mystery that involves political conspiracies and murders that may or may not have anything to do with the fencing teacher.
A very good story that is easy to read and takes us to Madrid ofwith political unrest, refers to the art of fencing that is about to extinct and tells us the story of a character that without fault of his own a web of events is woven around him that will shake his life and eventually he sets out to face those events with an effort to not lose his self in the process! I originally discovered Arturo PerezReverte through Johnny Depps film The Ninth Gate based on PerezRevertes book The Club Dumas.
I was quickly enamored with his writing, which is fluid, descriptive, and intrinsically character based, My only complaint with The Club Dumas was the ending, I felt that PerezReverte had failed to give enough attention to completing his antiquarian book thriller, leaving the reader wanting for a better conclusion,
When I picked up The Fencing Master, I expected a repeat of The Club Dumas fantastic style with a disappointing finish, To my surprise, PerezReverte pulled together a much more satisfying story with a conclusion that was far tidier than the previous novel,
Set against the backdrop of theSpanish Revolution, PerezReverte gives us an extremely sympathetic main character in Don Jaime Astarloa, an aging fencing master who is witnessing the demise of not only his profession but his code of ethics as well.
Its the internal machinations of Don Jaime that drive the novel and gives this story a convincing tone,
Like The Club Dumas, The Fencing Master is well written, leisurely paced, and thick with vivid descriptions, As in the former novel, PerezReverte makes use of a fairly obscure profession to draw the reader into a realistic, yet commonly unknown world,
There are times, however, when PerezReverte seems to spend too much space on secondary characters, Don Jaimes set of café companions, for example, add little value to the overall story, Even though one of these characters plays prominently later in the story, the numerous scenes with this handful of eccentrics merely drag the plot unnecessarily,
Nonetheless, this one minor complaint is nothing compared to the loosely pulled together ending of The Club Dumas, giving The Fencing Master a far more entertaining aftertaste.
Even though I enjoyed the previous novel and the movie it spawned, if asked, Id have to recommend The Fencing Master to anyone interested in PerezRevertes work, Arturo PérezReverte es uno de mis escritores favoritos y quizás uno de los mejores escritores españoles vivos,
De formación periodista, pero con vocación de historiador y novelista, PérezReverte tiene una facilidad envidiable para trasladarnos a la España del siglo XVII el capitán Alatriste, la rebelión española contra Napoleón Un día de cólera o en el Madrid de mediados del siglo XIX, que es donde está ambientado El maestro de esgrima.
Si bien su capacidad para evocar lugares, ambientes, sonidos y hasta olores no está tan desarrollada en esta novela como lo está en la serie del capitán Alatriste recordemos que El maestro de esgrima es su segunda novela, la historia es tan envolvente y los personajes tan carismáticos que no podemos menos que caír rendidos ante ellos.
Jaime Astarloa es un maestro de esgrima por supuesto ya en los primeros años de la vejez, Pero no es la decadencia física lo que más lo atormenta, sino el saberse un personaje fuera de sitio: en, la esgrima había dejado de ser un arte de combate y se había convertido en un pasatiempo o un deporte, reemplazada por las mucho más eficientes y como lo destaca un personaje "democráticas" armas de fuego.
Por qué democráticas Porque la esgrima es un arte de elite, complejo, difícil y para el cual se necesitan años de práctica para convertirse en un luchador consumado las armas de fuego, en cambio, hacen iguales a los hombres, porque hasta el más debilucho de los pusilánimes se convierte en un adversario de temer cuando tiene un revólver en la mano.
La contraparte de Astarloa está en la misteriosa Adela de Otero, una joven y atractiva esgrimista de ojos violeta que remueve el amargo y solitario corazón de Astarloa y lo arrastra a una sórdida historia de engaños, asesinatos y conspiraciones.
Astarloa recuerda mucho al capitán Alatriste, quizás por ese aire de decadencia, ese honor extraño y ese aferrarse a costumbres e ideas que a veces no sólo son de otro tiempo, sino de otro planeta.
En un momento, uno de los personajes se sorprende de que Astarloa no se deje llevar por la "ocupación nacional" del español: el chismorreo y el debate político.
A Astarloa el mundo, los gobiernos, las conspiraciones, los escándalos y todo lo que signifique vida social fuera de su reducido círculo de conocidos le resbala como si estuviese aceitado.
Por eso parece un personaje atemporal, extraño, con dificultades para adaptarse a la vida de un mundo que le es ajeno, pero que, en su área de conocimiento la esgrima no es sólo ducho, sino el auténtico maestro, ese para el cual el mundo se detiene cuando debe investigar una nueva movida de esgrima, cuando intenta descubrir "el Grial" de la esgrima: una estocada perfecta, imparable, que, además, sospecha que no existe.
No tengo mucho más que decir que no sean adjetivos, así es que prefiero detenerme aquí, Novela de aventuras pero también policiaca, de traiciones y maniobras políticas en el Madrid galdosiano de, El maestro de esgrima es la historia de un mundo de tahúres y mercachifles mantenido a distancia por un florete honorable, Pero es, sobre todo, una inquietante parábola sobre el poder del dinero, la ambición política y la extinción de los valores de honradez y fidelidad en este siglo XX que agoniza.
When considering the aphoristic and oftrepeated writing advice 'write the book you want to read,' one of the hooks that I've rarely come across as welldone is one of perspective: I love the idea of a story told from the eyes of a true side character.
Not a sidekick or a righthand or a chronicler, but an actual bit player in a larger storyline, This sounds a bit vague and potentially boring, I know, but I think it has dynamite potential in the right hands,
The longer I reflect on The Fencing Master, the more I feel like that's actually what I'm getting in this story, though somewhat unsatisfactorily.
At its strongest, this short novel is an intelligent character study, Don Jaime Astarloa is an accomplished swordmaster, an aging holdover from a time when that sort of fighting was essential, As warfare and firearms have evolved, Don Jaime has seen the skill and art and philosophy that he's spent his life passionately pursuing become less relevant, and demoted to the rank of sport.
He clings to the ideals of his past, valuing the notions of an honourfilled life, and gets by trying to impart these ideologies to his fencing students, These rigid, gentlemanly practices keep him a step or more removed from the modern world having lived the height of his passions at an earlier time, he has little concern for the political debate or romantic sighs of his peer group.
His sense of propriety and his remove mean that he is genuinely unaware when he becomes a player in a bigger story though of course it all begins with a mysterious and beautiful woman asking to learn a difficult fencing move.
That's the interesting thing, though, Beyond the character study, the bulk of the actual plot happens offpage, to characters who are mostly on the fringes of the narrative, Don Jaime is a pawn, a dupe, a stepping stone, The story gets large in scope, but because our fencing master is so insular he himself doesn't pay much attention to any information that gets handed to him.
In the end, he has to have everything straight out explained to him, and he still mostly only cares because his honour has been slighted,
In is an interesting stylistic choice, but leaves the plot feeling remarkably passive, and the bulk of the story slow,
On the flip side, Astorloa is an interesting man, and the story happens in's Madrid, where political unrest is at a peak, PerezReverte is a lovely writer with a keen eye for observation, so this was a good read, Don Jaime just wasn't the dupe I was looking for, .