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libraryvee 's review for:
The Club Dumas
by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Re-read rating: 4 stars.
"However incredulous or doubting you might be, if you want to play, you have no choice but to follow the rules. Only the person who respects the rules, or at least knows and applies them, can win. Reading a book is the same: you have to accept the plot and the characters to enjoy the story.”
Indeed. If there was ever a book about a character caught up in an intricate game with rules beyond their understanding, it’s The Club Dumas. This is my second time reading it (the first time that I’ve read it as a full-blown adult) and I still don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that has such a deep level of intrigue.
Lucas Corso, intelligent and ruthless antique book dealer, is given a copy of a chapter entitled “The Anjou Wine.” It’s believed to be the original manuscript from Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Corso, despite his solitary, slightly untrustworthy existence, is one of the best in the business, and sets about trying to authenticate it.
At the same time, he’s asked by separate client to investigate a mysterious book: The Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows. Its author was burned at the stake in Venice, along with all copies of the book. Except! Three that remain, scattered around the globe. Only one of the three, Corso is told, is real. The other two are forgeries. And his client is willing to pay anything to make sure he gets the real deal.
Corso’s missions take him to cities in Spain and Paris, and along the way, connections between the books arise that are too coincidental to be ignored, and as the bodies start piling up, Corso realizes he’s not just authenticating rare books, he’s caught up in a real-life murder mystery.
The only help he gets are the clues found in the The Three Musketeers, and an accomplice in the form of a mysterious young student, who styles herself "Irene Adler."
Corso is a great character: a brokenhearted, weary, bitter man, written with a 1940s noir detective in mind. He’s intelligent, and manipulatively charming when he wants to be, but he’s also funny, and a heart DOES beat underneath that hardened exterior, one filled with both curiosity and longing.
The Club Dumas is a bibliophile’s paradise. Part literary mystery, part gothic puzzle, part old-fashioned detective story. Fans of Dumas' The Three Musketeers will have a field day with the weaving in of Dumas history and the Musketeerish connections. There are hundreds of callouts and quotes from other classics as well, but none of it seems excessive. There is a chapter on bookbinding that goes into quite a bit of detail (too much, for me) but that’s really the only time things slow down.
Perez-Reverte keeps the tension humming and the atmosphere thick: as we venture along this journey with Corso, it’s all leather bindings and shadowy bookshelves, all secret pages and deciphering of literary quotes. It’s the dark underbelly of the competitive and niche world of book collecting; people who take that world so seriously that they’re willing to die for it.
The Club Dumas’ genius is also its downfall: the game that Corso is caught up in is so intriguing that when we finally get to the ending, expecting a dazzling conclusion, it can’t be anything but a letdown. We’re offered both a very reasonable, slightly boring explanation, and also a frustratingly vague one.
It feels like a bit of a cheat, but the journey to get there feels so intriguing and atmospheric and surprising that it’s worth it. It’s a fun ride, and the perfect mystery/adventure for bookish people.
Note: you’ll get a lot more out of this if you love The Three Musketeers. It’s not necessary to have read it, but if you’re a fan, it will raise the book to another level.
Note 2: Speaking of The Three Musketeers, many plot points (and main characters’ fates!) are revealed in The Club Dumas, if you care about spoilers for classic books!
"However incredulous or doubting you might be, if you want to play, you have no choice but to follow the rules. Only the person who respects the rules, or at least knows and applies them, can win. Reading a book is the same: you have to accept the plot and the characters to enjoy the story.”
Indeed. If there was ever a book about a character caught up in an intricate game with rules beyond their understanding, it’s The Club Dumas. This is my second time reading it (the first time that I’ve read it as a full-blown adult) and I still don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that has such a deep level of intrigue.
Lucas Corso, intelligent and ruthless antique book dealer, is given a copy of a chapter entitled “The Anjou Wine.” It’s believed to be the original manuscript from Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Corso, despite his solitary, slightly untrustworthy existence, is one of the best in the business, and sets about trying to authenticate it.
At the same time, he’s asked by separate client to investigate a mysterious book: The Nine Doors of the Kingdom of Shadows. Its author was burned at the stake in Venice, along with all copies of the book. Except! Three that remain, scattered around the globe. Only one of the three, Corso is told, is real. The other two are forgeries. And his client is willing to pay anything to make sure he gets the real deal.
Corso’s missions take him to cities in Spain and Paris, and along the way, connections between the books arise that are too coincidental to be ignored, and as the bodies start piling up, Corso realizes he’s not just authenticating rare books, he’s caught up in a real-life murder mystery.
The only help he gets are the clues found in the The Three Musketeers, and an accomplice in the form of a mysterious young student, who styles herself "Irene Adler."
Corso is a great character: a brokenhearted, weary, bitter man, written with a 1940s noir detective in mind. He’s intelligent, and manipulatively charming when he wants to be, but he’s also funny, and a heart DOES beat underneath that hardened exterior, one filled with both curiosity and longing.
The Club Dumas is a bibliophile’s paradise. Part literary mystery, part gothic puzzle, part old-fashioned detective story. Fans of Dumas' The Three Musketeers will have a field day with the weaving in of Dumas history and the Musketeerish connections. There are hundreds of callouts and quotes from other classics as well, but none of it seems excessive. There is a chapter on bookbinding that goes into quite a bit of detail (too much, for me) but that’s really the only time things slow down.
Perez-Reverte keeps the tension humming and the atmosphere thick: as we venture along this journey with Corso, it’s all leather bindings and shadowy bookshelves, all secret pages and deciphering of literary quotes. It’s the dark underbelly of the competitive and niche world of book collecting; people who take that world so seriously that they’re willing to die for it.
The Club Dumas’ genius is also its downfall: the game that Corso is caught up in is so intriguing that when we finally get to the ending, expecting a dazzling conclusion, it can’t be anything but a letdown. We’re offered both a very reasonable, slightly boring explanation, and also a frustratingly vague one.
It feels like a bit of a cheat, but the journey to get there feels so intriguing and atmospheric and surprising that it’s worth it. It’s a fun ride, and the perfect mystery/adventure for bookish people.
Note: you’ll get a lot more out of this if you love The Three Musketeers. It’s not necessary to have read it, but if you’re a fan, it will raise the book to another level.
Note 2: Speaking of The Three Musketeers, many plot points (and main characters’ fates!) are revealed in The Club Dumas, if you care about spoilers for classic books!