Scan barcode
magic_zlatan's review against another edition
4.0
Ωμό, απαισιόδοξο και με μια γραφή σαφώς πιο λυρική από τα περισσότερα σύγχρονα αστυνομικά, το πρώτο βιβλίο τηε τριλογίας τοης Μασσαλίας του Ιζζό δεν απογοητεύει. Σίγουρα δεν είναι για όλους. Η γραφή του, οι σύντομες προτάσεις, η απροειδοποίητη μετάβαση από το τώρα σε κάποια στιγμή στο παρελθόν και οι λεπτομερέστατες περιγραφές της πόλης της Μασσαλίας με τους δρόμους και τα σοκάκια της, θα αποθαρρύνουν αρκετούς. Όσοι όμως επιμείνουν θα ανταμειφθούν με ένα πραγματικά σκοτεινό νουάρ που σε απορροφά στον γκρίζο κόσμο του, σε προβληματίζει με τα κοινωνικά φαινόμενα που περιγράφει (και που παραδόξως μοιάζουν τόσο επίκαιρα στην Ελλάδα του 2020) και μια εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσα (αν και μπερδεμένη) αστυνομική ιστορία που θα σε αφήσει γεμάτο προσμονή για τα υπόλοιπα μέρη της τριλογίας.
Βαθμολογία: 8/10
Βαθμολογία: 8/10
quilly14's review against another edition
3.0
When Detective Fabio Montale's childhood friends are murdered, it sends him into Marseilles' past and present to find out what happened to them.
This book is less about the mystery of the murders, and more about Montale remembering his upbringing in Marseilles. The central question is how he became a cop, while his friends became criminals.
A quick read with a substantial emotional core.
gazakas's review against another edition
5.0
Χτες βράδυ τελείωσα το πρώτο βιβλίο της νουάρ τριλογίας του Ζαν-Κλωντ Ιζζό για τη Μασσαλία, «Το μαύρο τραγούδι της Μασσαλίας», σε μετάφραση Ριχάρδου Σωμερίτη (εκδόσεις Πόλις, 1999). Στο τέλος του βιβλίου υπάρχει ένα επίμετρο του μεταφραστή που κλείνει με τα εξής εντυπωσιακά προφητικά λόγια που συνοψίζουν 16 χρόνια πριν τις προκλήσεις της σημερινής εξάπλωσης της ξενοφοβίας και του φασισμού:
Διαβάζοντας τα βιβλία του Ιζζό, κυρίως τα τρία πρώτα, της σειράς «νουάρ», σκεφτόμουνα πόσο επίκαιρα είναι και για μας, παρά τις διαφορετικές ως ένα σημείο καταστάσεις που ζούμε. Πώς μπορούμε να να οργανωθούμε, ηθικά και πρακτικά, για να παραμείνουμε άνθρωποι, για να μην μας οδηγήσουν στο μίσος, στη βία, στο να χειροκροτούμε τα βάρβαρα ανθρωπομαζώματα μεταναστών και τους υποψήφιους (και όχι μόνο) δολοφόνους που «παίρνουν το νόμο στα χέρια τους»;
Τα όσα περιγράφει ο Ιζζό, με απελπισία αλλά και με κάποια πίστη στον άνθρωπο, είναι αυτά που δεν έχουμε ζήσει αλλά που είναι πολύ πιθανό ότι θα ζήσουμε. Τα όσα λένε οι εγκληματίες-φασίστες που μας παρουσιάζει, τα διαβάζουμε ήδη σε επώνυμες στήλες εφημερίδων και τα ακούμε σε τηλεοράσεις και ραδιόφωνα. Και το περιθώριο που μας ιστορεί, νάτο, κάτω από τα μάτια μας δημιουργείται κι εδώ, συχνά με τη συμπαράσταση (ανώνυμη) κυκλωμάτων μαύρου χρήματος και μαύρης πολιτικής.
https://gazakas.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%8D%CF%81%CE%BF-%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%B4%CE%B9-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%81%CF%8E%CF%80%CE%B7%CF%82/
Διαβάζοντας τα βιβλία του Ιζζό, κυρίως τα τρία πρώτα, της σειράς «νουάρ», σκεφτόμουνα πόσο επίκαιρα είναι και για μας, παρά τις διαφορετικές ως ένα σημείο καταστάσεις που ζούμε. Πώς μπορούμε να να οργανωθούμε, ηθικά και πρακτικά, για να παραμείνουμε άνθρωποι, για να μην μας οδηγήσουν στο μίσος, στη βία, στο να χειροκροτούμε τα βάρβαρα ανθρωπομαζώματα μεταναστών και τους υποψήφιους (και όχι μόνο) δολοφόνους που «παίρνουν το νόμο στα χέρια τους»;
Τα όσα περιγράφει ο Ιζζό, με απελπισία αλλά και με κάποια πίστη στον άνθρωπο, είναι αυτά που δεν έχουμε ζήσει αλλά που είναι πολύ πιθανό ότι θα ζήσουμε. Τα όσα λένε οι εγκληματίες-φασίστες που μας παρουσιάζει, τα διαβάζουμε ήδη σε επώνυμες στήλες εφημερίδων και τα ακούμε σε τηλεοράσεις και ραδιόφωνα. Και το περιθώριο που μας ιστορεί, νάτο, κάτω από τα μάτια μας δημιουργείται κι εδώ, συχνά με τη συμπαράσταση (ανώνυμη) κυκλωμάτων μαύρου χρήματος και μαύρης πολιτικής.
https://gazakas.wordpress.com/2016/02/23/%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%8D%CF%81%CE%BF-%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%B4%CE%B9-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B5%CF%85%CF%81%CF%8E%CF%80%CE%B7%CF%82/
francomega's review against another edition
5.0
A disillusioned Marseilles cop blows up his own life and career to avenge the deaths of his childhood best friends. Sounds dark, but the writing is darker, with a fatalistic worldview about the corruption of the world. Perfect.
rosseroo's review against another edition
This first in Izzo's popular Marseille Trilogy (followed by "Chourmo" and "Solea", which are both scheduled to appear in translation in 2007) is an unflinching portrait of France's southern port, dressed up in the trappings of a crime story. Make no mistake, it is a crime story, but despite the gritty local color and bloody action, the story is suffused with a sense of ennui, isolation, and loss -- not unlike the films of Jean-Pierre Melville. The protagonist is Fabio Montale, a disillusioned policeman whose two oldest friends, Manu and Ugo, are killed within days of each other. Twenty years earlier they were growing up together in a rough neighborhood, thick as thieves, chasing girls, and headed for a steady life of crime. But Montale didn't see in a future in it and opted out, first serving overseas in the Army, and then joining the police force.
Now, he's left to pick up the pieces after Manu is killed by one of the various mafias vying for control of the city's vice, and Ugo returns from Paris only to be killed by the police in what looks to be a set-up. A subplot of almost equal importance involves the disappearance of Leila, a beautiful, bright young Arab that Montale has a chaste love for. She's only one of the many, many beautiful women that seem to hover around Montale in various forms (friend, lover, mother, hooker). In this regard, the story is a cliche, the tough loner cop who can never allow himself to truly love. In any event, the two various story strands intertwine, but the plot is so totally convoluted as to defy explanation. This is something I've found with a good deal of crime novels from outside the U.S. and U.K., they tend to either very stripped down and simple, or totally tangled and labyrinthine. However, in this case, the actual plot is of much less importance than the tone and the setting.
Like his protagonist, the author was born and raised in the seedy city of Marseille, and watched it turn from a Southern European melting pot to a post-colonial melting pot of 1.5 million people. Like his protagonist, he had a front-row seat (as a journalist, not a cop) to the major social and economic shifts of the last several decades, and the xenophobia they have engendered. Here, he takes the reader deep into the world of Italian and Sicilian mafia, Arab ghettos, corrupt cops, pimps and prostitutes of all persuasions, and a very Gallic sense of disenchantment and fatalism. It's a complicated portrait, loving and nostalgic, yet sad and angry. In that sense, the book works much better as a social portrait of a city than it does as a crime story. I'd really recommend it much more to those with an interest in Southern France or who might be visiting Marseille, than I would to crime buffs. It would also, along with the film Hate, be useful for those seeking to understand the recent Paris riots.
Note: The novel was made into a film in France under its original title, "Total Kheops", but it is not available in the U.S. There was also an Italian television miniseries called "Fabio Montale" based on the trilogy. A recent Hollywood film that shows some of the seedy side of modern multi-ethnic Marseille is The Good Thief, which is a loose remake of Melville's Bob le Flambeur.
Now, he's left to pick up the pieces after Manu is killed by one of the various mafias vying for control of the city's vice, and Ugo returns from Paris only to be killed by the police in what looks to be a set-up. A subplot of almost equal importance involves the disappearance of Leila, a beautiful, bright young Arab that Montale has a chaste love for. She's only one of the many, many beautiful women that seem to hover around Montale in various forms (friend, lover, mother, hooker). In this regard, the story is a cliche, the tough loner cop who can never allow himself to truly love. In any event, the two various story strands intertwine, but the plot is so totally convoluted as to defy explanation. This is something I've found with a good deal of crime novels from outside the U.S. and U.K., they tend to either very stripped down and simple, or totally tangled and labyrinthine. However, in this case, the actual plot is of much less importance than the tone and the setting.
Like his protagonist, the author was born and raised in the seedy city of Marseille, and watched it turn from a Southern European melting pot to a post-colonial melting pot of 1.5 million people. Like his protagonist, he had a front-row seat (as a journalist, not a cop) to the major social and economic shifts of the last several decades, and the xenophobia they have engendered. Here, he takes the reader deep into the world of Italian and Sicilian mafia, Arab ghettos, corrupt cops, pimps and prostitutes of all persuasions, and a very Gallic sense of disenchantment and fatalism. It's a complicated portrait, loving and nostalgic, yet sad and angry. In that sense, the book works much better as a social portrait of a city than it does as a crime story. I'd really recommend it much more to those with an interest in Southern France or who might be visiting Marseille, than I would to crime buffs. It would also, along with the film Hate, be useful for those seeking to understand the recent Paris riots.
Note: The novel was made into a film in France under its original title, "Total Kheops", but it is not available in the U.S. There was also an Italian television miniseries called "Fabio Montale" based on the trilogy. A recent Hollywood film that shows some of the seedy side of modern multi-ethnic Marseille is The Good Thief, which is a loose remake of Melville's Bob le Flambeur.
offmessage's review against another edition
4.0
My first foray into French Noir. You can smell Marseilles when you read this book - the city is the main character and he brings it to life perfectly.
My only gripe is that as a Guardian reading, middle class, middle aged man the rather, um, "old fashioned" (and, dare I say it, French) attitudes to the female characters grates a bit occasionally. But not enough to detract from a great book.
My only gripe is that as a Guardian reading, middle class, middle aged man the rather, um, "old fashioned" (and, dare I say it, French) attitudes to the female characters grates a bit occasionally. But not enough to detract from a great book.
More...