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O Cesar O Nada (Spanish Edition)

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Montalban is not only one of the great spanish (some would insist "Catalan") living writer, but he's also one of it's most dedicated critic. Better-known for it's mysteries involving the strange and disconcerting cop, Carvalho, Montalban has shown in a few other books that he can also master other subjects like history. Most of his non-mystery novels involve some catalan characters in one way or another and this one is no exception. This is the story of the ascension of the Borgia family from obscurity to papacy, and back. Not knowing much else about this particular family of Renaissance Italy, I learned - amongst many other things - that the Borgias were catalan immigres to a family-obsessed and power-hungry Rome. Told with an extremely sophisticated twist, wonderful language, much details and imagination, this novel is pure pleasure. And in the style of some of his other works, there is always that particularly sardonic view of history, its leaders, its heroes, and ultimately some of its major lessons. Namely, that men are not exactly as good a species as they pretend to be.