A jaded book detective is hired to authenticate a portion of the original Three Musketeers. A number of book collectors want it, including at least one who will kill for it. The detective travels around, seemingly re-living part of the manuscript, while chasing and being chased by the killer.

A bit odd, but still very good.

This book was recommended to me by a friend some time ago and I thought I would give it another go. I have to say that it took me a while to get in to the style and storyline but in the end I realised I had more fun reading it than I was expecting.

The reason for this was that not only was the storyline entertaining and fresh (although in retrospect I realised I can think of a couple of other books that use the same plot device) but also it had the secondary enjoyment of spotting references to other books.

Now without giving away any of the plot there are a number of references to books - some of them are fictitious while others are most certainly are not - for me it was fun trying to work out which was which and in the case of one title even further investigation to see how they were able to incorporate it in to this storyline. So yes a clever book which did not fall in to that all too common trap - where the author is trying to demonstrate how clever they are (or who well read they are).

Хареса ми! На моменти много ми напомняше за книгите на Сафон

Подобно на "Севилското причастие" и тук криминалната нишка не беше кой знае какво.
Но Реверте е просто много сладкодумен и увличащ писател.

"Съществуват неутешими вдовици, а има и вдовици, които всеки мъж би утешил."

"Фигурата й беше пищна, с изобилие на формите, което почти надхвърляше допустимите граници."

"Знаете ли приблизителната дължина на живота на една книга, отпечатана в наши дни? Кажи му, Пабло.
- Шейсет години - каза Пабло с упрек, като че ли вината беше у Корсо. - Шейсет жалки години."

"Само след един век - промърмори той, отделяйки една страница, за да я огледа срещу светлината, почти цялото съдържание на днешните библиотеки, ще е отишло на боклука. Но тея книги, отпечатани преди двеста, дори преди петстотин години, ще останат непокътнати. Така е, и книгите, и светът, в който живеем, са такива, каквито заслужаваме..."

"Мислех, че съм бил предостатъчно ясен. Книгата, която трябва да бъде пожертвана, не бива да бъде някоя, към която съм безразличен. Какъв смисъл би имало тогава страданието ми? Унизителна трансакция, налагана от законите на пазара - няколко по-евтини книги, вместо една скъпа... - Фаргаш поклати решително глава , изпълнен с презрение. Огледа се мрачно, сякаш търсеше някого, върху когото да излее гнева си. - Тези книги обичам най-много. Те се открояват сред останалите с рядката си красота, с любовта, която са в състояние да предизвикат. С тях ще вървя до ръба на бездната. Животът може да ме лиши от всички земни притежания...Но няма да успее да ме превърне в жалък мизерник."

"Също като рода на самия Корсо, и родът на Фаргаш щеше да загине с него. И да намери най-сетне покой."

"Музиката звучеше като ридание, носеше се из тъмните, пусти стаи с разнебитени, унищожени от дървояди мебели, с полуизтритите фрески по таваните, покритите в петна и паяжини стени, а в сенките глъхнеше ехото от гласове и стъпки на хора, отдавна напуснали този свят. Отвън, над разядената от ръжда ограда, бдяха две статуи - едната се взираше сляпо в мрака, другата бе скрила лице в маска от бръшлян. Времето беше спряло и двете неподвижни фигури слушаха мелодията, която Виктор Фаргаш изтръгваше от цигулката си, за да призове духовете на изгубените си книги."

"Всъщност векове наред всички говорим за едни и същи неща, като само им сменяме имената."

2’5 estrellas.

Mi elección para estrenarme con Pérez-Reverte me ha dejado… indiferente. No me ha importado la historia (que se me ha quedado corta tanto en lo relativo a la trama Dumas como a la demoníaca) y no he conectado con ningún personaje (con Milady, quizá, pero tampoco) ni con las inverosímiles relaciones entre ellos.

Y diría que el problema ha sido mío, pero sinceramente no lo creo, porque la causa radica en que no me he creído nada desde el principio. La trama, pese a gustarme, me iba pareciendo más y más vacía conforme avanzaba la obra, y la prosa del autor, correcta pero nada del otro mundo, no se alteraba en función de los personajes, siendo todos indiscernibles en sus diálogos y carácter.

El ambiente que se consigue crear es tal vez lo más destacable de todo, así como la preciosa edición por el 30 aniversario en la que lo he leído. Pero esperaba más… bastante más.

Lucas Corso is a book detective hired to authenticate a fragment of Alexander Dumas’s ‘Three Musketeers’ and is suddenly drawn into the world of the occult. It’s the novel that gave birth to the movie ‘The Ninth Gate’. To be honest, I felt the book was too clever by half. What is good in it, and there is quite a lot of good in it, is submerged in a sea of the superfluous, and I felt the book could have been at least a hundred to a hundred and fifty pages shorter and better for it.

Achei que iria gostar bem mais deste livro, já que versa sobre uma das minhas obras preferidas, "Os três mosqueteiros". Paralelamente, também outro livro, mais negro e oculto, faz parte da narrativa, mas nunca nenhum dos mistérios me despoletou aquele "click" que me fizesse agarrar o livro de outra forma.

Um início um pouco entediante, que acaba por melhorar, mas um fim dececionante. Havia potencial para explorar a história de outra maneira, algo que, na minha opinião, o autor desperdiçou.

Abandoned about 1/3 in. I didn't like any of the characters, not did the rare-book stuff really catch my interest. 1.5 stars for what I read, courtesy round-up. Not for me! Oh, well. Worth a try, I guess. Tastes differ!

Why I tried it:
Who could resist a nominee for the Macavity Award!
Plus my GR friend Stephen gives it 6 stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
".... you have what the front of the book accurately describes as "a beach read for intellectuals." I loved it and I give it my HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!!"

বই : দ্য ক্লাব দ্যুমা
লেখক : আর্তুরো পেরেজ-রিভার্তে
অনুবাদ : ইশরাক অর্ণব
প্রচ্ছদ : সজল চৌধুরী
প্রকাশনী : ভূমিপ্রকাশ
পৃষ্ঠা : ৩৬৮
মূল্য : ৪৭০ টাকা

কাহিনি সংক্ষেপ : 'ঘরের সিলিংয়ে ঝুলন্ত অবস্থায় পাওয়া গেল স্পেনের এক বিখ্যাত বই সংগ্রাহককে-যার মৃতদেহের পাশেই খোলা পড়েছিল আলেকজান্ডার দ্যুমা’র কালজয়ী উপন্যাস “দ্য থ্রি মাস্কেটিয়ার্স”। লাশটি কি আত্মহত্যার ফসল, নাকি কোনো রহস্যজনক খুন?
কোরসো’র কাজ হলো প্রাচীন ও দুষ্প্রাপ্য বই খুঁজে বের করে তা কমিশনের বিনিময়ে সৌখিন ধনীদের কাছে বিক্রি করা। ভাগ্যক্রমে তার হাতে আসে দ্যুমা’র নিজ হাতে লেখা “দ্য থ্রি মাস্কেটিয়ার্স”র পাণ্ডুলিপির একটা অংশ। দায়িত্ব পড়ে এই অদ্ভুত পাণ্ডুলিপিটির ব্যাপারে সত্যতা যাচাই করা। একইসাথে সত্যতা যাচাই করতে হবে মধ্যযুগীয় এমন এক বইয়ের যা দ্বারা শয়তান লুসিফারকে সরাসরি আহ্বান করা যায়।
শয়তানী বই ও পাণ্ডুলিপি, অদ্ভুত দুটি জিনিসের সত্যতা ও রহস্য যাচাইয়ে সে পাড়ি জমায় একে একে ফ্রান্স ও পর্তুগালে, যেখানে মুখোমুখি হয় “দ্য থ্রি মাস্কেটিয়ার্স”-এর অদ্ভুত সব চরিত্র, দুষ্প্রাপ্য বই সংগ্রাহক, শয়তান পূজারী ও গুপ্তসংঘের।
এদিকে, ফ্রান্সের প্যারিস ও পর্তুগালের সিন্ত্রায় ঘুরে বেড়াচ্ছে রহস্যময় এক সিরিয়াল কিলার। বেছে বেছে খুন করছে প্রাচীন ও দুষ্প্রাপ্য বইয়ের সংগ্রাহকদের। কে সে? কী-ই বা তার উদ্দেশ্য?
কী সম্পর্ক অদ্ভুত দ্যুমা’র পাণ্ডুলিপি ও রহস্যময় শয়তানী বইয়ের মাঝে? কেন খুন হচ্ছে বই সংগ্রহকারীরা? নিছকই কোনো কাকতাল নাকি এর মাঝে লুকিয়ে আছে গভীর ষড়যন্ত্র, যা নাড়িয়ে দিতে পারে প্রাচীনকাল ধরে চলে আসা ধর্মগুলোর ইতিহাস? কে-ই বা কলকাঠি নাড়ছে এসব কাকতাল বা ষড়যন্ত্রের?
এসব প্রশ্নেরই উত্তর লুকিয়ে রয়েছে আর্তুরো পেরেজ-রিভার্তে রচিত স্প্যানিশ সাহিত্যের কালজয়ী কন্সপিরেসি থ্রিলার “দ্য ক্লাব দ্যুমা”র ভেতর। প্রাচীন ধর্মবিশ্বাস, শয়তানতত্ত্ব ও ক্লাসিক সব উপন্যাসের পিছনে থাকা শিহরণ জাগানিয়া গভীর ষড়যন্ত্রের ইতিহাসে ডুব দিতে আপনি প্রস্তুত তো?'



অর্ণব ভাইয়ের অনুবাদক হিসেবে প্রথম বই ছিল বইটি। প্রথম দিকে বেশ জড়তা থাকলেও পরে অনুবাদ বেশ ভাল হয়েছে। যদিও বইটাই আসলে এমন, প্রথম দিকে বেশ স্লো লেগেছে কিন্তু ২০০ পৃষ্ঠা পার করার পর একটানা শেষ করেছি।

বইটাতে বেশ কিছু বই এবং অনেক তথ্য সম্পর্কে জানতে পেরেছি। দুমা সম্পর্কে অনেক তথ্য দেয়া আছে বইটিতে। প্রথম দিকে বেশ স্লো লাগলেও পড়ার সাথে সাথে গতি বেড়েছে।

একটা প্রশ্ন,
আপনারা কেউ শয়তানে বিশ্বাস করেন?

I am always looking for the next great puzzle/game mystery/quest novel, the next The Westing Game the next book Ready Player One, even the next The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown isn't the world's best writer, but the plotting and puzzle in the book was fantastic). This book was recommended as similar to those, and as it was written prior to the publication of Brown's book, I figured it wouldn't be one of the many rip-offs published in its wake. And it definitely isn't - Perez-Reverte has written a highly literate mystery, which is really two mysteries in one (and it's difficult to say more than that without giving anything away).

The strengths - nothing like a book lover's mystery book, although I'm sure I would have gotten more out of it had I read The Three Musketeers, however it is one of those books that is so much a part of popular culture that I know more about it than I thought. And Dumas's best known book isn't the only book referenced throughout the text, so there's probably something for every reader here. However, the book had serious flaws for me, and is probably a 3.5, rounded up because...well, because I appreciated the effort. So, the weaknesses - the characters were all very one-dimensional and the women - wow! Only small variations on your standard Madonna/whore choices and, naturally, beautiful, brilliant young women are perfectly willing to sleep with sketchy middle-aged men.

My biggest complaint, though, was that the book seemed such a lost opportunity to be what _I_ was looking for, that is, a great clue-driven mystery (and I realize that my desires don't necessarily match up with the author's). So many pages are given over to the illustrations, the charts and discussions of both, plus the various items we see at the end during the ritual - I just wish the story had been more about the differences, what they meant, the collection of the items and much of that was given short shrift in the end. I wasn't even unhappy about the dual storylines and the ambiguous ending, but I wanted more mystery, less philosophy, I suppose.

So, good, but not great.

ETA: 9/24/13 - happened to come across the movie adaptation, "The Ninth Gate" on television. I feel certain I saw it, but have no recollection of it at all. Anyway, watching it right now, and I remember that I meant to mention....what's with all the smoking around these priceless books? It was evident in both the book and movie. So odd.

I would like to say that I liked this book more than I did, but I did not. There were parts of the story that I thought were very interesting, like the information about Alexander Dumas, his books, and how he wrote them, if it were all true. I do not know. I will do the research and find out, though. There were several book titles that were mentioned that I looked up, and added to my to-be-read-list. The book collectors and the practice of hiring guys to find, purchase or steal books for them for any amount of money? Hmmmm... The second book revolving around in the plot of this story was a little too far fetched for me. I just could not buy it. I loved the two old guys that were printers and book binders and their creapy old studio. The twist that was served up in the end regarding them was an aha moment. I missed it at first. I liked the beginning better than the ending.

On top of the story issues that I could not buy into, I really did not think any of the characters were all that great. They were okay, just not people I really wanted to get to know more about. Corso was just okay. Even the bad guys were meh. If there was really supposed to be something/someone sinister, it was lost on me.

The setting could have been so much more! It was in Spain? It was all a blurr. The only place I thought that was well done was the old garden and house of one of the 2nd character that was murdered.

There were some good lines, and I think I caught most of them in my summary notes. There were many cliches/lines that were used from other references. Most made me smile. There were A LOT of of litterary characters and books mentioned!

P.S. There were a LOT of typos and punctuation marks missing in this book. It drove me crazy for a while. I guess my brain decided to compensate because I stopped noticing by the end.

I took the book from my bookshelf during watching "The Ninth Gate" by Roman Polanski when I read that the film based upon the novel.
Perez-Reverte gives a lot of informations about Alexandre Dumas and his works. The novel is written like a whodunit. Everybody who likes the novels by Alexandre Dumas will enjoy the story, for other readers it can be a little bit boring sometimes. There are lot of quotations by Dumas and others. You will find the engravings in the book, which the narrator tell about and a few sketches by the protagonist which he made for unravelling the mystery.