The Fencing Master

Rating:
Summary: Leisurely Paced Historical Mystery - Spain 1868
Review: The magnificent Spain that opened the New World to Europeans had faded into near obscurity by the nineteenth century. The setting is Madrid, 1868. Her Catholic Majesty, Queen Isabel II, has a tenuous hold on the throne. The now aging Don Jaime Astarloa, a superb fencing master, ekes a marginal existence training the young sons of aristocrats, although he does have one highly proficient client, Luis de Ayala-Velate y Vallespin, the Marques de los Alumbres.

Classical fencing, once mandatory for all men of honor, is increasingly viewed as anachronistic, valued as little more than healthy exercise for young men. The pistol is displacing the sword. Amidst the conniving political intrigue of Madrid, Don Jaime, as a man of honor, is anachronistic himself.

The story moves leisurely, slowly revealing details about the reserved Don Jaime. In parallel, the author, Arturo Perez-Reverte, allows the unsettled, unpredictable political background to suggest that Don Jaime's philosophical isolation may not last indefinitely. The pivotal point, the arrival of a mysterious, beautiful woman requesting advanced fencing lessons, lacked some authenticity, and yet I was intrigued. The mystery itself is not exceptional and the outcome is not entirely unforeseen. Nonetheless, I found The Fencing Master to be enjoyable reading, perhaps more for its unfamiliar historical setting and its unusual topic, the art of classical fencing, than for the mystery itself. I look forward to reading other novels by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable
Review: I had high hopes for this novel, but they were all dashed as the plot progressed.

I picked up the book on a whim because of the cover and the fact that it was supposed to contain a lot of fencing. Which it does. But I found that the writing was boring, and the fencing matches were so full of rapid-fire, clinical discussion in fencing jargon that I was bored out of my skull by them. There was no description of the action beyond the use of terms specific to fencing, which thankfully, I -knew- and thus could get some idea of what was happening. Woe betide the reader who wasn't familiar with these terms!

The plot was horrendously predictable as well--and I am not a habitual reader of mysteries. It was very simple and cliched and rather, well, boring.

I did like the main character of the fencing master--his character was well drawn and he was interesting, but the forays into the chaotic Spanish political scene of the mid to late 19th century were full of allusions to people I didn't know and didn't care about. The antagonist was nothing more than a pretty cardboard cut-out.

I have to wonder, however, if some of the problem isn't from the translation of the work into English--there were points at which I found anachronistic terms used--terminology that would never be used in the time period represented in the book, which jumped out at me as odd. I also wonder if that may be part of why the woman is always described as beautiful--with no other word substituted for beautiful over and over again. There are other words in English to describe a beautiful woman, and I wonder if the book didn't suffer from an unimaginative translator rather than an unimaginative writer.

I wish I had read more about the book before buying it.

Rating:
Summary: Superb character study of a man of honor.
Review: Don Jaime Astarloa is "The Fencing Master" in this marvelous novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. The year is 1868. Don Jaime lives in Spain and makes a modest living teaching fencing to young men of means. He also meets regularly with a rakish aristocrat, Luis de Ayala, a wealthy womanizer and gambler who enjoys parrying with words as well as swords. The fifty-six year old Don Jaime has been working for years on what he hopes will be the ultimate treatise on fencing, one that will surpass all others that preceded it.

This is a time of political upheaval in Spain. Queen Isabel II is on the throne, but those who vehemently oppose the monarchy are threatening to force her into exile. Although Don Jaime is oblivious to current events, he frequents a cafe where his acquaintances argue about politics for hours at a time. The fencing master is prepared to live the rest of his life following his predictable routine, when a beautiful young woman named Adela de Otero summons him to her home. Although she is already an accomplished fencer, Adela implores Don Jaime to become her teacher. Against his better judgment, he takes her on as his pupil, and he soon falls under her spell.

"The Fencing Master" is a marvel of elegant writing, and the character of Don Jaime is mesmerizing. He is an anachronism, a man who was born too late. He dresses in clothes that went out of style two decades ago, and he stubbornly holds on to his memories and to his old-fashioned code of honor. He also fences in a classical style that few people value anymore. In addition, Don Jaime is naive in the ways of the world, and he is quite unprepared for the sudden intrigue and danger that disrupt his peaceful existence. However, when the fencing master holds a foil in his hand, the years disappear, and Don Jaime becomes a formidable combatant who is the equal of any other fencer on earth.

All of the characters in this novel are intriguing, from the bewitching and mysterious Adela to the dissipated Luis de Ayala, and Perez-Reverte captures the tension of a country whose government is under siege. The fencing scenes are standouts. The author brings the reader into the gallery as the opponents thrust and parry, and there is a deliciously erotic quality about these descriptive passages. The denouement of this book is outstanding, as Don Jaime must rely on all of his emotional and physical resources to oppose the forces of evil that are closing in on him. "The Fencing Master" is a tour de force that left me breathless with admiration.

Rating:
Summary: Another solid effort from Perez-Reverte
Review: This was another great book from Arturo Perez-Reverte. After being somewhat disappointed with the Flanders Panel, I thought Reverte was back on track with The Fencing Master. I really enjoyed the main character, Don Jaime, and sympathized with his being something of an anachronism. His "Old-World" values were endearing, and the descriptions of the places and fight scenes were brilliant. This story wasn't as multi-layered as some of Reverte's other works, but overall I still enjoyed the book and found myself cheering for Don Jaime.