Bored to Death?

The Flanders Panel
-Arturo Perez-Reverte

In the realm of literary mystery, Perez-Reverte provides a modern, sophisticated and unfortunately shallow look at art, history, mystery and the prototypes of the business.

I chose this novel randomly after studiously perusing the shelves of Barnes and Noble for a smart, interesting mystery. I was tempted to go with a traditional Agatha Christie or Janet Evanovich, but I opted for the quasi DaVinci Code read alike.

The premise is a painting with three subjects and an unfinished game of chess set in the 15th century. Julia, art restorer and protagonist uncovers the real mystery of this painting, an unsolved murder and the unlikely murderer. Soon enough a 20th century game of chess begins and she becomes a living piece on the chessboard.

While the mystery is seemingly interesting in the beginning, shortly enough the plot becomes a mess of poorly orchestrated chess plays and a set of characters that are clunky and pretentious.

Despite the bland plot it is the stereotypical characters that really disappoint. There’s the flaming homosexual, the older, slutty crack addict and the beautiful, independent, single and searching, protagonist. None of these characters would ever associate with each other in real life and I was appalled at the casual use of heroine and alcohol by the cast.

The novel gets two thumbs down from this reader. If this is what “literary” mysteries are all about, I’ll stick to M.E. Braddon or Agatha Christie.

Note: I read the Publisher’s Weekly review after I wrote this and while theirs may be a little more eloquent, I’m glad to see that we’re eerily on the same page.
http://www.amazon.com/Flanders-Panel-Arturo-Perez-Reverte/dp/0553377868

GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS

“THAT TO BE SEEN – IS ALL I EVER WANTED; TO BE MORE THAN JUST A FLEETING GLIMPSE, A TWELFTH MAN IN THIS GAME OF GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS.”

Whoa. That about sums up Harris’ novel in one word. All I have is praise for her truly spellbinding and totally convincing creation.

To begin, I will try not to give any of its secrets away. This is the fourth novel by Harris that I have read. Although the writing remains flawless, it has a different tone than the others that is both refreshing and surprising. Gentlemen and Players, is captivating from page one. The English boys school premise is absolutely intriguing. Sort of reminiscent of movies such as Taps and The Emperor’s Club. Harris’ lineup of characters is very Dickens-esque. In fact, the whole text is a great mix between Dickens and M. E. Braddon in regards to character development, cunning and mystery. I am amazed at the themes that run smoothly throughout the text. The concept of life/school as a game is not new, but Harris puts her own twist on it that makes it equally enticing, begging the reader to eat up every word. The way each section of the book is named after a chess piece is pure genius. Not only that, but several of the characters surnames clearly relate to the chess undertone.

I especially like her creation of Ron Straightley, the Classics professor. It is all just so perfect. In a sense, it is sad to see the world moving away from a classical education, eliminating language and other humanities programs in place of information technology and Spanish. While both of those subjects are necessary in today’s world, they are not the end-all in education.

Whether it is pure coincidence or not, I also see traces of a Pink Floyd influence in Harris’ language. In fact, the phrase “fleeting glimpse” is hauntingly close to that in Comfortably Numb, “When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse.” A raving fan perhaps? There were a few others that I can’t think of off hand.

Overall, Gentlemen and Players is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. It doesn’t have the seriousness that the majority of modern “classics” possess, but it is a smart, well –written novel that has a lot to offer the world. It may even benefit a high school literature class – something they could relate to perhaps.