[books 2015] Arturo Perez-Reverte
Aug. 23rd, 2015 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulro36. The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Perez-Reverte is the author of my second-favourite book in the world, The Seville Communion. I've read quite a few of his books and although they're well written and literary, they're also quite plot-packed and "genre" (perhaps Spanish literature doesn't have the misconception that well-written books have to be navel-gazing wank).
This one's a bit different. A man who was a war reporter for 30 years has retired to a coastal town, rented a big old tower on a hill and is painting an epic battle scene on the walls inside.
He is visited by a Croatian man whose face was made famous by one of his photos in the Balkan wars, whose life was ruined by that photo, and has come to kill him. But first they have a series of long conversations about life and war and how they got to that point.
It's actually better and more interesting than that makes it sound - definitely worth while.
Perez-Reverte is the author of my second-favourite book in the world, The Seville Communion. I've read quite a few of his books and although they're well written and literary, they're also quite plot-packed and "genre" (perhaps Spanish literature doesn't have the misconception that well-written books have to be navel-gazing wank).
This one's a bit different. A man who was a war reporter for 30 years has retired to a coastal town, rented a big old tower on a hill and is painting an epic battle scene on the walls inside.
He is visited by a Croatian man whose face was made famous by one of his photos in the Balkan wars, whose life was ruined by that photo, and has come to kill him. But first they have a series of long conversations about life and war and how they got to that point.
It's actually better and more interesting than that makes it sound - definitely worth while.
