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Summary: One of the best books I've read lately
Review: It's great, one of the best books I've read in many months, it kept me thinking to solve the mistery, and every time I re-read it keeps me intrigued. The only "but" is that the action happens in the 90s, but when I began to read it, it seemed to be more properly in the late 60s or early 70s, so it was a bit disappointing discover that everything happened in our days.
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Summary: An OK Thriller... but you won't miss much if you skip it
Review: Arturo Perez-Reverte is an exceptional writer. His writing is witty and intelligent, and reflects the author's extensive knowledge of classic books and their characters. In fact, the reason I read the book was that I am a big fan of The Three Musketeers. But the book is not as suspenseful as I would have liked, and the characters are not very engaging. This is especially true for the girl, whose identity and motives are more than a bit vague. Moreover, the author goes too much into the subject of devil worship, which I found to be quite unpleasant. Halfway through the book I started to loose interest, and it became increasingly challenging to keep on reading. The last twenty pages were especially tiresome; when the twist was finally revealed on the last page, I was too bored to care about anything and as a result I was not very impressed.
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Summary: Astounding and absorbing, a great work that is also fun.
Review: I felt this book was a marvelous read. The story is interesting while the characters are well developed. If you enjoy reading Eco, then you will also love The Club Dumas. The books vitality and energy is matched by its cleverness. The greatest books entertain while making you think and this is a great book.
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Summary: To the Initiated: this review contains Spoilers.
Review: I liked the book and the way it was built on earlier works. The part played by Mr. Balkan was genuinely surprising, to say the least. If I had entertained any notions as to the identity of the murderer, the last pages caught me off guard & wondering; that, in all likelihood, was Perez-Reverte's intention.The role of Devil in the book must have owed to the mentioned literary reference, as did most of the characters to theirs. The ultimately anti-climatic ending was a nice touch, making it far stronger than the ending of "The Flanders Panel", but some threads of the story were, on occasion, loose; hence the 3 stars instead of 4.
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Summary: Don't read this if you haven't read the book yet
Review: I may have an advantage, here, since I saw The Ninth Gate in Paris last month, but I think it was pretty clear throughout the book: Irene is the Devil. Fallen angel who fought with God? Pretty good clue right there. There were plenty of other indications that she wasn't just some bimbo who was dropped in to be the love and sex interest. But Roman Polanski may have realized people would have the same problem with the movie, so he pretty much hits you over the head with her true identity. He also totally drops the Club Dumas angle -- there is nothing about it -- and adapts the surviving characters to the Ninth Door story. Probably a good move; for me, it works in the book, and it's fascinating history, but it would take too much talking to explain it in a movie. This is very clever book that works on different levels -- as a mystery of course, but also about literature and, obviously, about good and evil. (BTW: I totally apologize if I sounded condescending about Irene. I have certainly missed the point before in books. I didn't realize until reading this book that the devil is in The Brothers Karamazov; it's been 15 years since I read that, but I sure don't remember it.)
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Summary: Film...
Review: Looking forward to the film, The Ninth Gate, by Roman Polanski
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Summary: Fabulous book except for the last 100 pages
Review: Club Dumas had me engrossed from page one. I love nothing better than reading about old books and if you throw a mystery in on top, I'm hooked. However, like those who have expressed an opinion before me, I thought the ending was a big let down. I also thought the character known only as 'the girl' added nothing to the story. I had imagined as I was reading that she may have been an undercover policewoman or something of the sort following Corso in order to solve Enrique's hanging. However, in the end, she turned out to be nothing at all. You could have wiped her from the book and noone would have noticed. I understand that Hollywood is making a movie based on this book. I believe it is to star Johnny Depp. Should be interesting to see it on the big screen.
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Summary: Doh! What happened to the ending!
Review: Until I reached the last chapter or so, "Club Dumas" was a totally transfixing novel. The eerie brew of antique books, "The Three Musketeers", and devil worship was a irrestibley murky combination that I craved for. However, as many of the other reviewers have mentioned before me, the ending was a big let down. After all of the imagination and effort that went into the rest of the novel, one would have thought that Senor Perez-Reverte should have done something a bit more cunning to conclude the story. Nevertheless, the book still kept me glued for several hours, and for that it still deserves four stars.
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Summary: If you love books and stories of ancient history
Review: The book is very good, almost like Umberto Eco's : The Foucoults Pendulum, with a touch of the library part of : The Name Of The Rose.
Rating:
Summary: Almost a masterpiece.
Review: Compared to the first Perez-Reverte book I read (The Flanders Panel), this was more interesting and entertaining. In fact, all the twists and turns of the mystery almost made me love the book - it was a great idea to print the pictures, so that the reader could also take part in solving the riddle. And I think the romance between Corso and "Irene" was beautifully described, if not most believable. But I have to agree with other reviewers about the ending. It's all too clear that the author didn't even know himself what he should do with all the loose ends. The Nine Doors sideplot never really fit in with the Club Dumas plot. The ending was all the more disappointing since I had already started believing that Perez-Reverte had some wonderful surprise reserved for the last pages. Well, at least this book was interesting and original.
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