Q

Rating:
Summary: Unsual Story Set in an Unsual Time.
Review: A historical thriller based on the aftermath of Martin Luther's nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of Whittenburg Cathedral. This was a time where Christian religion and political power were fighting to see who would rule the world. It was a time when the Roman Catholic church ruled most of what is now Europe, allowing the kings to hold power only at their discression. It was a time when scientific discovery had best not conflict with the rulings of the church - remember Galileo.

Set in this time, this 750 page novel tells the story of our hero, an Anabaptist who travels under many names, and his enemy, Q, a paper informer and heretic hunter. Part thriller, part adventure story, this European best seller was written by four young writers using the name Luther Blisset

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Mindblowing!!
Review: a multilayered historical novel for the thinking person about the early days of reformation, especially it's lesser known facts and characters. and a brilliantly drawn allegory to the present mess the worlds finds itself nowadays. it masterfully shows how a very similar game was played 500 years ago as it is today.
after reading "Q" one should read: "house of bush, house of saud", just to see that things unfortunately have not chnaged that much appearantly.

Rating:
Summary: Surprising...
Review: For a multi-author story this is a surprisingly coherent and fascinating book. Great historical fiction, somehow reminded me of Eco.

Check out the website of the authors for more information: http://www.wumingfoundation.com/

Rating:
Summary: Surprising...
Review: For a multi-author story this is a surprisingly coherent and fascinating book. Great historical fiction, somehow reminded me of Eco.

Rating:
Summary: After 300 pages, chucked in the towel
Review: I reckon I'm quite a dogged reader. I hate giving up, as I see it as a sign that I've failed. But I have to confess, Q has me beat. After three hundred pages, I'm waving a white flag.

I picked it up out of shock that Luther Blisset - one of my childhood heroes as chief marksman during Watford FC's rise through the football league divisions in the early 1980s - had transformed himself into a literary expert on the reformation. That turned out to be a joke (Luther Blisset is a pseudonym for four Italian intellectuals), but I bought the book anyway, because I like that sort of port-modern japery. Alas, the jokes (well, those of the sort that I aspire to getting, at any rate) stopped on the dust jacket. It is possible that something was lost in the translation (I was reading the English translation), and though it seemed well enough put together, you really never know.

In theme, Q is somewhere between Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose and Iain Pears' An Instance Of The Fingerpost: an imagining of the lives of a clique of radical Anabaptists in the decades following the reformation (wherein Martin Luther nailed his treaties on the door of a church in Wittenberg). A fairly esoteric sort of a subject, you might think, and you'd surely be right, especially when you take into account the tremendously irritating style of story telling. Courtesy of this, to really get to grips with this story you need to have a fair bit more depth of knowledge of the religious history of sixteenth century Germany than I have.

Trying to follow the thread of the narrative is an experience akin that game-show exercise of grabbing flying dollar bills in a wind tunnel. There is a power of information, flung at you in a random torrent, and it's your job to make sense of it. The book is divided into small chapters, usually no more than a couple of pages, all of which are written from different perspectives, at different times (by no means sequentially) and about different - if related - events. Now I can tolerate this for a short period, provided a book eventually settles down and gets on with expounding a reasonably well-defined story.

No such luck here. On every page there are new characters, new locations, new aliases new identities and, after nearly 300 pages, not a sausage by way of assistance to make sense of all this. Make no mistake, this is stylishly written, and moves along at a good clip, but it's just not clear where it's going.

I gave Q three hundred pages to settle down and start making sense, but it failed to do so, so I gave up on it all together. There are too many other good books to read - and not nearly enough time - to indulge this sort of conceit.

Rating:
Summary: ... at least the best bit is at the beginning
Review: I'd heard about Q before it came out and was excited to read it when I finally picked it up. The first two pages are perhaps the most engaging, lucid, and concise explanation of the protestant reformation that I've yet to read. I'd recommend that if you see it while browsing in a book store, pick it up, read the first 2 pages, and stick it back on the shelf.

The book heads downhill after that. Short chapters give readers snapshots of the bloody happenings of the reformation, as the Catholics scheme against and maim those of Luther's persuasion. Blissett unfortunately thinks that adding a lot of gratuitous gore and cussing will engage his readers -- it doesn't. Instead, it seems like he's trying too hard to make the 16th century interesting, where every page merely seems to shout, "Hey look! They said nasty words back then! And they liked to do nasty things to people!"

The copywriters at the publisher freely compare Q to Eco's "The Name of the Rose." Although Eco's book is a far better read, both authors appear to think it impossible that men of faith can actually have faith in God. Ecco's William and Adso are hardened skeptics of the faith, as is Blissett's main character. To me, this is the biggest failing of both books. Perhaps it takes someone with belief in God to be able to realisticaly characterize someone who also believes in him (though I don't mean to make any assumtions about Blissett). Flat characters are never enjoyable, and Blissett's book is full of them.

Rating:
Summary: Witten-what?
Review: It is not fair to write a review on a book one didn't read, but . . . if one finds an error right on the inside flap!

It was not in WittenbUrg, but in WittenbErg, where the Reformation started!

Harcourt, do you hear me? Hire a copyeditor: even the best spellchecker in the world will not catch an error like that (not in foreseeable future, at least).

. . . I only hope you haven't screw up inside the book proper.

Rating:
Summary: Witten-what?
Review: It is not fair to write a review on a book you didn't read, but . . . if you find an error right on the inside flap! It was not in WittenbUrg, but in WittenbErg, where the Reformation had started! Harcourt, do you hear me? Hire a copyeditor: even the best spellchecker in the world will not catch an error like that(not in foreseeable future, at least). . . . I only hope you haven't screw up inside the book proper.

Rating:
Summary: Q, A Document to Underatand the Reformation
Review: Many today indentify Martin Luther, Hulderich Zwingli, and John Calvin with the Reformation. Blisset uses a Roman Cahtolic spy, Q, to show the various strands of faith still making up churches claiming the Reformation. He desn't mention Zwingli, a major oversight. But, one spy could only deal with so many reformers in a lifetime.
Blisset also shows the difficult times of the Reformation. He does well to show hte bloody mess the ears olf religion really were and can still be. All in all, a wonderful ficional tour into the real Reformation. You'd also do well to read a history of the Reformation afterward.

Rating:
Summary: A correction
Review: re: Reviewer: Serge Lyubomudrov's comments: WittenbUrg is how a German would spell the city's name. You see, Serge, they DID get it right!