The Coffee Trader: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining tale of coffee before Starbucks!
Review: An intriguing tale that winds through the financial center of old Amsterdam. Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew escaping persecution from the Inquisition of 1660, finds himself embarrassed for funds owing to a swindle that wiped out his fortune. He joins forces with a trading partner, and together they plot to corner the market on coffee, a beverage largely unknown and ignored at the time.

Lienzo's story is occasionally interrupted with passages from Alonzo Alferonda diary. Alferondo, a cunning trader of some wealth and power, has his own designs which unfold as the book progresses.

What's good: The story of coffee's emergence as the drink of high finance is marvelous and well-told. Liss also has a strong sense of setting, and it's easy to imagine old Amsterdam's streets, shops, and trading center. And there's no lack of intrigue here. Lots of twists.

What's bad: Too many twists. Hardly anybody is exactly who he claims to be. That might be fun in smaller doses, but it left me scratching my head as I tried to follow the ever-twisting plot.

Yes, The Coffee Trader is worth reading, but I wasn't fully engaged because I had to keep stopping to figure out the latest intrigue.

Rating:
Summary: The Stock Exchange - circa 1659
Review: David Liss historically recreates Amsterdam in 1659 in his intriguing novel The Coffee Trader. The Netherlands in the mid 1600's has become a haven for Inquisition persecuted Jews who have fled their Iberian roots. In Amsterdam under the direction of the Ma'amad, the law giving Jewish ruling council, Jews were permitted to openly practice their religion.

The story revolves around Miguel Lienzo, a transplanted Portuguese Jew who is a trader of some note on the Dutch commodities exchange. Lienzo has seen his fortunes take a tumble in the sugar market. He is in debt and in forced to take up residence with his scornful brother Daniel and his pregnant wife Hannah.

Lienzo has been recruited by an attractive Dutch widow, Geertruid Damhuis to be a broker in a coffee buying deal in which he will be an equal partner. Coffee at this time in Europe is a very speculative commodity and not as of yet popular as a beverage. The potential for the deal to be extremely profitable strongly exists if Lienzo can bring it all together.

The story proceeds to document the hardships Lienzo encounters while endeavoring to make the deal happen. The most difficult stumbling block is one Solomon Parido, a wealthy merchant and parnass or powerful member of the Ma'amad. Parido believes he has been slighted by Lienzo in an impending arranged marriage between Parido's daughter and Miguel. Parido is using all his power to try to destroy the coffee deal and seek revenge on Lienzo.

Davis Liss is a gifted wordsmith as he paints a wonderfully descriptive picture of Amsterdam in the 1650's. His story expertly navigates it's way through the highs and lows encountered by Lienzo in his dealings to consumate the coffee deal.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: I loved Liss's first book, A Conspiracy of Paper, but I have to say I think I love The Coffee Trader even more. This one is set in 17th century Amsterdam and concerns a trader's efforts to get a monopoly on coffee just as coffee is first emerging in Europe. This novel moves and feels like a thriller, and I kept turning pages late into the night to find out what happens next, but Liss doesn't rely on tricks used by cheap thrillers ' no piles of bodies or burning buildings, etc. His protagonist's anxiety about debt, ruin and humiliation make this novel moving and real and very, very compelling.

Liss tackles a number of tough topics here: commodities speculation in the 1600s, the insularity and paranoia of the Amsterdam Jewish population, the corrupting nature of trade, and so on. He clearly knows his stuff, and I walked away from the book feeling like I had received a great history lesson, but the book never gets bogged down with details. Probably because the characters are so believable and compelling. Every character has some kind of secret agenda, but it is never what you think, and the novel's conclusion is risky, but very, very satisfying.

This is the best historical novel I've read in years. It is suspenseful, funny and addictive. Even people who don't like historicals should check it out.

Rating:
Summary: A great tale, the best of Liss' novels
Review: I loved this book. If you're looking for a well-researched novel that you can completely become engrossed in, this is it.

To me, I base all writers on Ken Follett, the British author who first introduced me to the absolute joy of getting lost in a novel. This book measures up very well to Follett's best.

You are transported to 17th Century Europe (or thereabouts, it's been a while since I've read it), and Liss' writing style is very descriptive. It's really great fun to follow the adventures of the dashing Miguel Lienzo.

The fact that I remember the leading man's name 16 months after reading the book speaks volumes. I wholeheartedly recommend this novel to anyone who likes a great novel.

Rating:
Summary: Liss has created a masterpiece with this incredible saga!
Review: If Starbucks Coffee was smart, they'd start selling David Liss's new novel THE COFFEE TRADER right alongside all their other caffeinated laced beverages. After winning the 2000 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER, Liss has created another masterpiece relating to the historical fiction genre.

His second novel takes place in 17th-century Amsterdam in 1659 during the Golden Age. The book's main character is a Portuguese Jew named Miguel Lienzo, who has recently lost a bundle after the sugar market crash and is now trying to resurrect himself by searching for investors who would consider a new product called "coffee".

Broke and busted, Miguel must take shelter in the basement of his brother's house. Daniel, who also works at the booming commodities exchange, tells his brother not to waste his time vying for a lucrative fortune in the coffee trade. But after learning about the possible financial windfall from the provocative Dutchwoman Geertrud Damhuis, Miguel is utterly convinced that coffee will become a worthwhile investment.

However, being Jewish in Amsterdam during the Golden Age was extremely difficult for any promising entrepreneur. For instance, Miguel must be careful not to scorn the Ma'amad, the restrictive and mysterious governing body of the Jewish community. He must also be wary not to conduct business with anyone who is not Jewish, something extremely forbidden during the mid-1650s. Miguel also has to deal with his bothersome brother Daniel and his mousy wife Hannah, who seems to be falling in love with Miguel. On top of that, he has to deal with Hendrick, a man seething with anti-Semitism and a close associate to his business partner, Geertrud. Throughout the book, Hendrick refers to Miguel as "Jew Man."

During the course of close to 400 pages, I couldn't read THE COFFEE TRADER without either sitting in the kitchen of my apartment and brewing a pot of the luscious black beverage or venturing out to my local Starbucks and ordering a grande Sumatra with room for milk. Even from the opening pages of the novel, Miguel is sitting with Geertrud and she is introducing him to the wonders of coffee. This is where Liss's work truly shines. He does a magnificent job conveying to his audience the allure of coffee and its magical ability to induce mental awareness and intellectual prowess.

Not only is this wonderful novel chock full of suspense, intrigue and a touch of romance, it's also extremely funny at times. For instance, when Daniel's wife, Hannah, who is obviously smitten with Miguel, raids his stash of coffee beans instead of attempting to brew them in a conventional fashion, she chomps on the beans and finds them to be utterly exquisite. Yuck!

Liss also completed exhaustive research before sitting down to write THE COFFEE TRADER, which took a year and a half to finish. At the end of the book, after his Historical Note, is a lengthy Works Consulted section with over 30 books Liss read in order to set the proper tone for this historical piece of fiction. What's most fascinating about Liss's work is his incredible ability to transport the reader back in time. His ability to handle the nuisances of everyday life in Amsterdam over 344 years ago is utterly amazing. Liss paints an incredible landscape in detailing the rising commodities exchange in Amsterdam at that time. He also does an excellent job describing the seediness of pub life and how schemers would spread rumors about ships being looted by pirates in order to decrease the worth of cargo expected to arrive in the nearby docks.

It gets to the point where Miguel doesn't exactly know who to trust and, in some ways, THE COFFEE TRADER emulates the risks that investors take today in dealing with high finance.

If you are a coffee fanatic like myself, then by all means go out and get yourself a copy of THE COFFEE TRADER, head to your nearest coffee shop and hunker down with this incredible saga.

--- Reviewed by David Exum

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 Stars...A Heady Brew!
Review: Set in 17th century Amsterdam, "The Coffee Trader" is a delicious historical novel. Liss takes us on a romp through the alleyways and taverns of the renowned city, divvying out details without becoming burdensome. Having lived in Amsterdam myself, I loved every nuance of the city and its history. What a heady brew!

The story follows Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew, who has aspirations of making his fortune in the exciting new business of stocks and futures. With recent setbacks still weighing on his mind, he knows he must come up with something financially worthwhile. Soon, he is enticed into a risky scheme by a Dutch woman named Geertruide. She introduces him to the seductive taste and aroma of coffee. Together, they plan to monopolize this commodity and make a fortune.

All is not as it seems, however, and betrayal lurks around every corner. As Miguel finds himself increasingly entwined with the fortunes and misfortunes of others, he realizes that one false move could bring his schemes down upon his own head.

Two other narrators add depth to this seemingly simple storyline. First, Miguel's sister-in-law stumbles upon his new commodity, providing some humorous insights into the effects of coffee. She also shows us the oppression of the time-period, and a believable uprising against her husband and his culture. Troubles increase when she finds herself attracted to Miguel. Second, a shady character named Alferonda offers us journal excerpts to expose the full scope of the schemers at work. This plot device works, but seems disjointed at times.

By the novel's end, Miguel reaps his just rewards and punishments, and the author keeps a few surprises up his sleeve. Although a former era is depicted, I kept thinking how relevant the story is to the greed and manipulation of today's business world. Not to mention the corruptions of the human heart. I applaud Liss in his ability to dovetail these themes under the guise of entertaining fiction. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Before Starbucks there was...
Review: The Coffee Trader immediately engages the reader in a vibrant world of intrigue and high-stakes speculation in an unlikely but wonderfully exotic setting-- Amsterdam in the middle of the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century. It is a story of loyality vs. betrayal, honesty vs. duplicity, familial battles and unpredictable alliiances. David Liss has managed to capture the colorful world of Sephardic Jews, who having escaped the inferno of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, struggle to find their identity in their New Jerusalem, the sometimes not-so-tolerant Dutch Republic. The story centers around Miguel Lienzo, a Jewish commodities trader who hatches a plan to corner the market in a newly discovered commodity--coffee--and become rich overnight. His challenge is to keep his plan a secret from those who would scheme against him, including members of his own family and community. The Coffee Trader serves not only as a primer on the history of the coffee trade, but a lesson on the mechanics of trading techniques on the first modern commodities exchange-- the Bourse in Amsterdam. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the Dutch Republic, Sephardic Jewry; coffee lovers and futures traders."

Rating:
Summary: Caf-fiendish deception
Review: This is a fascinating story set in the middle of the 17th century about a number of Portuguese-Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition. On the enlightened shores of Amsterdam, they, along with others, make their living in commodities trading, and how remarkably little this activity has since changed over four centuries.

As they do now, traders gamble over the rise and fall of prices by buying and selling "puts" (an option giving one the right to sell at a later date for an artificially-high price) and "calls", (an option giving one the right to buy at a later date for an artificially-low price). Having once briefly dabbled in commodities trading, I am familiar with these strategies but never before imagined that they were anything other than 20th-century innovations.

Yet at one stage, one trader cynically advises another, "Go buy whale oil - not futures, but the thing itself. You may remember that the rest of the world still transacts business in that quaint manner."

The story specifically centers around the efforts of one trader in particular, Miguel Lienzo, who is introduced to a wondrous new fruit called "coffee" that when ground and brewed into drink imparts astonishing powers of reason and concentration and also has the power to preserve health, help digestion, and cure consumption and other maladies of the lung, as well as fluxes, jaundice and inflammation. One character in the novel naively crunches this "fruit" between her teeth before learning of its greater appeal as a brew.

Anticipating a tremendous demand for this new commodity, Miguel arrives at a plan to use his trading acumen to acquire a monopoly on it, all the while juggling business and personal affairs that threaten to undo him before his plan comes to fruition. These affairs include Miguel's need to resolve the conflict between the duty of honesty and fidelity that Jewish law imposes upon him with the harsh realities of life on the Exchange and outside the Exchange. They also include the Ma'amad, the self-regulatory Jewish body that actually adopts some of the Inquisition's methods for the greater good of the community.

As we follow Miguel's progress, we also note the presence of affable moneylender, Alonzo Alferonda, a victim of "cherem" (excommunication from the Jewish community at the hands of the Ma'amad), manipulating events behind the background - though the extent and the purpose of this manipulation is not revealed until the end.

Commodities trading in the year 1659 is essentially a product of rumor and the uses to which it is put, and in an environment unregulated by any sort of futures trading commission, false rumors are used to manipulate the market but are used sparingly lest their sources be regarded as completely untrustworthy for future purposes.

In such a world, the dividing line between what is real and what only APPEARS real is often sketchy, and this uncertainty is symbolic of a similar dichotomy of the events in Miguel's life. Who are his friends and who are his enemies? To what extent will his understanding of this be turned on its head by the end of the novel?

Does coffee really have a medicinal power to keep us alert and vital, especially now that it comes freeze-dried and/or packaged? Or do we drink it in the morning now out of force of habit? It has since become the definitive American drink and has been so for some time, but I'm actually not aware that it has produced a nation of alert and vital people.

Still, having read this novel, I know that I, for one, will never again regard my morning "cuppa" in quite the same way.