Rating: 
Summary: A GOOD READ -- EVEN FOR CATHOLICS
Review: I half expected a book that would be another gutting of the Catholic Church, but "The Seville Communion" turned out to be a real pager-turner mystery you won't be able to put down. Has that same darkly compelling interest as the novels of, say, Dashille Hammet.
Rating: 
Summary: Paints a pretty picture, but I can't give it 5
Review: I imagine I could have used the phrase "engaging portrait," rather than "pretty picture," but based on most reviews I've stumbled upon, there is already enough condescention and pomposity in here by wannabe literary elitists. Suffice it to say that, as in "The Flanders Panel," this novel does a beautiful job of describing the sights and sounds of its locations, and in turn creating an atmosphere. The only disappointments I found were ones of my own personal preference (i.e. - how Father Quart's inner struggle turned out, the comedy relief trio). I would not recommend any of the author's books to anyone who does not like spending time reading about the atmosphere, instead prefering their mysteries to focus on the matter at hand. If that was the case in this book, it would have been roughly 28 pages long and you wouldn't have needed half of the characters. As others have written, I was left wanting to know a little more about what would become of Quart, but don't think any sort of sequel is necessary. The mystery drew me in, the major characters were compelling, and you put the book down feeling certain you are being given an honest glimpse at the way certain aspects of society operate.
Rating:
Summary: The Spanish Graham Greene?
Review: Arturo Pérez-Reverte's THE SEVILLE COMMUNION was, for me, at least vaguely reminiscent of Greene. This is a novel hard to define: It's not a modern Brother Cadfael-style murder mystery, nor a THORN BIRDS-like priest-stud bodice-ripper romance, nor a Morris West behind-the-Vatican-doors potboiler, and yet there's a little of all these elements. This isn't to take anything away from Pérez-Reverte's work, which I enjoyed. With respect to the spare character development and the treatment of issues of faith and lack thereof, I'm reminded of Greene's MONSIGNOR QUIXOTE, coincidentally also set in Spain. One element that I found distracting (disturbing?) was the trio of sad, clown-like rapscallions that served as comic relief. I found Father Quart to be an interesting protagonist, and hope that we might learn more about him in a future novel. To "A reader from Chicago": I think you need to re-read the part of the book in question and an answer to the supposed plot flaw will present itself.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written and interesting
Review: I have read other books by this author, and I am happy to have read this one, also. I found the story line quite interesting, and the characters engaging. The world of Church politics is an always fascinating one, and the author appears to take the hierarchy to task for many of the decisions being made in the modern world. The prose is well-done, and the translator does a fine job in this instance, letting the nuances of the original come through. It's worth reading, although I feel that the plot is merely a convenience for the author's use in hanging on an interesting character study of the priest-protagonist. That's all right, though, the work is worthy of being read in itself, not necessarily for finding out "whodunnit".
Rating: 
Summary: A Promising Debut
Review: Two personalities, a poet and a journalist, collapsed in one and produced The Seville Communion. A patriot of Spain and Seville makes us want to visit it and to explore it. A writer with the sharp sense of time and period builds a bridge to the world of old churches, Flamenco music, and Cuban cigars. It was an inventive idea to tie a murder in an old church mystery and the world of modern computer technology in a knot of an international intrigue. Unfortunately, the journalist side of the author takes over sometimes. Greedy bankers who destroy art and cultural landmarks. Vatican bosses who would like to continue to burn people at stakes. A poor and rough but honest village priest who opposes the indifference of the aloof hierarchy. A sexy terminator-investigator in expensive shoeswho is also a priest and who has a hard time resisting his temptations. References to the Theology of Liberation and rude American soldiers. All those clichés are to assist us in figuring out who the bad guys are, but more to help us determining the author's own sympathies. The journalist in him feels that in order to be in a man of letters has to be a left-wing radical and an atheist with the strong anti-Vatican sentiment. However, taking sides makes the otherwise good mystery novel more predictable. While predictability damages any fiction, is absolutely lethal for a detective story where surprise and suspense are crucial for keeping reader's attention. All in all, the Name of the Rose folks have been left starving for a long time, and we should be glad that Arturo Perez-Reverte made a more or less promising debut. Today he continues to be our best bet.
Rating:
Summary: Sevilla, nagical city in the south, lush with life.........
Review: ..........mystery, few times has a book evoked your presence, or the reality of any place, as well as this, The Seville Communion (original title Piel del tambor). This book is a marvel of well conceived intrigue, and the people who inhabit the storyline jump from the pages in such a real manner that the reader actually is smelling the coffee, or the anis they drink, or the flowers they walk by. Perez-Reverte is a master in transforming a story on the flat, white pages of a book, into a full drama with sounds, smells and images that the reader will project in his or her own mind. And for those who have not yet been so fortunate to have visited Sevilla, here is a chance to do so!One book that I would certainly take to the deserted island, even though I've read it three times already.
Rating:
Summary: Charm but radically impausible
Review: Perez-Reverte clearly loves Seville, and I now want to visit it. The characters I would most like to meet from the novel are the "Three Stooges" villains. The major protagonists less so, though it would be interesting to see Macarena remove her cigarette lighter from her bra strap (something the author brings up over and over). At some points plausibility plunges out of sight but then an episode of humor (particularly some muddled literary allusions by one of the villains) redeems things. Speeches by high clerics in the Vatican are wooden and unconvincing.
Rating:
Summary: plot flaw
Review: This was the first Perez-Reverte book I read. I liked it, mainly for setting and mood. It seemed to evoke Seville as I have enjoyed it, and got an interesting mix of the old aristocracy, the modern banking interests, the Vatican, etc. There is one fatal plot flaw, I believe. When a murder takes place in a Catholic church, I believe that the church has to be closed until the local bishop reconsecrates it. This makes much of the plot untenable. I'm glad I went on to read The Club Dumas and the Flanders Panel. Perez-Reverte's mastery of the technical worlds of art and rare books supports interesting plots and characters, along with the evocative settings I found in Seville.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad, really bad
Review: "The Seville Communion" has insurmountable problems: its main character is unlovable, its premise is unbelievable, and its love story is soporific. The main character, Father Lorenzo Quart, is a Vatican investigator sent to Seville, Spain, to learn the identity of a computer hacker who has sent the Pope a rather demented e-mail regarding a local church controversy. Top Vatican bureaucrats drop everything and rush to investigate. Yeah, right. Father Quart, for his part, is cold, calculating, and distant. It seems that the author himself dislikes him. The other characters are a clutch of clichés: the rough-edged but devout local parish priest, the scheming businessman, the oily low-life enforcer, etc. None is interesting, let alone memorable. Much of the novel dwells on Father Quart's lust for a beautiful Seville high-society woman, Macarena. The big question: will Quart break his vows and hop into bed with her? Mind you, there's nothing interesting about either Quart or his love interest. Nor is there any subtlety about their connection, which is purely hormonal: Quart is handsome and suave, and Macarena, one is instructed, is a babe. "In the candlelight, her skin was dark in contrast to her ivory necklace and silk shirt. Her large dark eyes looked back into his. He realized then that his soul was in peril. Had it been a share on the stock market, its value would have plunged." (Pages 157-158.) Oh, dear! Quart suffers even more when she "lean[s] forward on her elbows, and her silk blouse [that blouse again!] brushe[s] the edge of the table. Quart could sense what was inside: heavy, brown, soft. He needed more than a cold shower." (Pages 158-159.) I'm not inventing the foregoing quotations! If you can make your way to the end of "The Seville Communion," you will find out whether these two cardboard people connect sexually. But you won't care. Highly unrecommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the beef?
Review: This is quite an enjoyable book, but it never gets into top gear. The pages turn over quite quickly, but neither the plot nor the characters are convincing or particularly interesting. There are too many characters and most of these are rendered purely for comic effect. The shabby villains are very reminiscent of the losers who perform similar functions in Graham Greene's early thrillers. They may work as amusing caricatures and one might argue that the book's collection of failed flamenco singers and useless ex-bullfighters is ironic - a mockery of other countries perceptions of Spain, but the book needs more than irony, jokes, lustful priests and glamorous aristocrats. Neither the Vatican nor the computer angles are rendered with much conviction and there are many long passages that add nothing to the slim plot or our understanding of the characters.
|
