Rating: 
Summary: Perez-Reverte presents an angst-ridden cast of characters
Review: The engaging plot mechanism of 'The Seville Communion' is only its prima facie appeal. The real fascination for me was that the principal characters each in a distinctive way live the anxiety of post-modernity in its inherent absurdity as well as its incompatibility with the spontaneous and perennial orientation of man towards meaning. To make the same point another way, the characters each live in two worlds and two ways, mutually incompatible: the traditional and the post-Kantian. This profound unease has evoked a different response from each person, leaves none of them happy, and allows the author to figure forth the philosophical roots of the contemporary life of man in himself and in society. I found this book to be a highly provocative reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: Good characters, great blend of mystery and history!
Review: I really enjoyed the book. The author did a great job of introducing the characters and describing the area where the action takes place. I especially enjoyed the mix of past and present, the 18th Century with the 20th soon to be 21st. Father Quart is the type of priest I would like to meet and have as a friend. I was kept quessing until the end for the identity of the killer, and was sorry to have the book end. I strongly recommended it to my friends and it is now making the rounds. I look forward to reading more of the authors books.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting delineation of characters and plot
Review: The novel was intellectual with a surprising plot and typical Spanish locals as characters. As a teacher of Spanish literature, I found echos of Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno resonating in the faith vs. reason conflicts with which Father Quart was wrestling. Pérez Reverte transported me to Sevilla as he unfolded the plot. I would have liked more emotional depth and interaction; the story was like a fresh breeze that fans you pleasantly and then is gone. However, I did not guess the perpetrator of the entry into the Pope's computer and the revelation of the identity of the hacker delighted me and inspired me as I face inventing a new life for myself after I retire. Pérez Reverte drew the elder señora with a respect and enthusiasm that is typical in Spain and should be emulated in our country. While not deep, "The Seville Communion" is a delightful summer diversion.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and thought-provoking
Review: What an intriguing book. I learned a great deal about the inner-workings of the Roman Catholic church. Father Quart's spiritual struggles were both enlightening and encouraging. Surely one of the very best last lines in a book -- ever.
Rating:
Summary: A book of invincible subtlety about good and evil.
Review: After reading the other reviews, I was interested in the range of responses to it. Some enjoyed it as a fast summer read, others connected to its historical detail.I was fascinated with the way characters were developed, even though I early on figured out (as did at least one other reader) the identities of the killer and the hacker. But that only enhanced the way the book led me through the behavior of each character. Perez-Reverte understands, as does Umberto Eco in "Name of the Rose," that a Grand Inquisitor has a personality which depends for satisfaction on the status of his victims. The Inquisition lives on in such lost souls. P-R also shows understanding of cowardice in an all too common form: abuse of the helpless for entertainment. He holds a lens to the vincible evil of the old banker who gives his regular shoe shine man payment with a denomination of money for which he knows the fellow cannot make change. The old banker enjoys a helpless person's humiliation for an honest bit of labor. The author is kind enough to allow readers to find similar subtle gems of insight set into the manuscript. What some reviewers saw as "comic relief" of the bungling local spies, I saw as a portrait of incompetent, invincible evil. The trio of self-deceiving never-have-beens incapable of facing their insignificance required no response from those trying to preserve an old church as a haven. I was entertained until the last sentence (anticlimactic for me) by the way those who sought good consequences for others (preservation of a place of solace and peace) chose not to be distracted to despair by mindful cruelties and idiocies drifting around them. The choices made by strong, good souls reminded me of the remarks Solzhenitsyn makes in his "Détente: Prospects for Democracy and Dictatorship" when he says that those who wish the world well should not "make concessions to senseless, immoral aggressors" and should "find others of good will" until there! is a critical mass of firm, caring people. In this sense, "Seville Communion" has many layers of meaning. The surface layer is the defense of a simple place of solace in communion. Behind this surface is a realm where those who wish the world well find satisfaction in their own spiritual strength to keep alive a process of liberation.
Rating:
Summary: For romantics and history buffs.
Review: I loved the book, but I think you have to be a romantic or history buff to really love it. I hated to see it end, and I thought the economy of the story telling, plus the way every conversation and meeting unfolded, constantly propelled the book forward. I started out thinking something must have been lost in the translation, but the more I got into it, the more I realized how clever and sensitive the translation must be. For example, I laughed out loud when Father Quart was referred to as a "hatchet man from Rome." I wonder what the original was in Spanish!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Light Summer Read
Review: The Seville Communion caught my attention because of the title - the mystery of old Seville and the faith/spiritual component of Communion. Not having read the authors previous books and reading reviews I was expecting something with a little more meat to it. And, yet, in the heat of the spring, I found I could relate to the unremitting heat of the Spanish sun. On the whole the book was well written, entertaining, and I found it to keep me in suspense from cover to cover. This is not high brow reading and the plot was very easy to follow. I would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A good , solid book
Review: Recommended by a friend, I picked up a copy and was not disappointed by this book in the sense that it is well written with characters I thought were well written and a nice story which is not really a mystery and might disappoint somebody looking for a Sherlock Holmes type of story. Anyone who would be interested in the culture of Seville would enjoy this book. I found it entertaining and it kept me interested. My only complaint is that I wish the author had made a more positive characterization of the priests in the book, specially Father Priamo Ferro. It seems very hard to find a book where a positive role model of a Catholic priest is present ( maybe Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah comes to mind). At times I found it difficult to accept that Lorenzo Quart is a priest. In spite of that, I see this book as superior literature. I will read The Flanders Panel next and I hope Mr Perez Reverte is an author I will want to come back to
Rating:
Summary: Moral crisis of the 20th century
Review: Yes, I deliberately am not emphasing the fact that the book is a mystery/thriller. What makes the book stand out is that it has several fully developed characters each in their own way attempting to deal with the end of an era - the decline of aristocracy, of faith, . . . Some of the incidental characters are flat - the complaint about the "three stooges" in a previous review was not unfair. I would rate The Class Trip or The Name of a Bullfighter as more successful as mystery/thrillers but would certainly add The Seville Connection to the list as well worth the time even if it doesn't keep one awake at night to finish it in a single reading.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I was intrigued, first, by the premise - a hacker in the Vatican computer system, and a priest who goes to investigate. And while the book didn't always live up to its promise, and while it did sometimes lapse into the "trash novel" genre, I still thoroughly enjoyed the read. I enjoyed being transported to Seville, and I was half in love with Father Quart myself. I enjoyed Perez-Reverte's depiction of the characters - ok, they were a little overdone and more like caricatures, but they were vivid. I also thought the ending was well done; I appreciate that the author didn't tie everything up into a neat little "happy ending", which would have trivialized it.
| 
