Customer Reviews

The Coffee Trader

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Edgar Award-winning author Edward Liss returns with "The Coffee Trader," another elegantly written historical suspense thriller. In 1659 the bustling port town of Amsterdam was filled with refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, as well as schemers and rogues from all over Europe looking to make some gulden (guilder). The Dutch, after defeating the Spanish, turned their small country into a major economic power in Europe. Amsterdam became the most financially dynamic city in the world, thanks to the robust commercial activity of their commodities exchange, the world's first.

Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew, escaped the Inquisition on the Iberian peninsula and moved to the much more tolerant Netherlands. He created a home within the city's close-knit Sephardic Jewish community. Sharp-witted, and a bit of a rogue himself, Miguel thrives on the exhilaration of the Dutch bourse, but his trades of late have not gone well. On the brink of financial ruin due to sudden shifts in the sugar market, he enters into a partnership with a seductive, entrepreneurial Dutch widow with an eye for business, Geertruid Damuis. Together they concoct a daring plot to corner the market on a new commodity - coffee. Lienzo's plan has him going up against a powerful enemy, Solomon Parido, who sits on the Ma'amad, the Jewish self-governing body which controls all aspects of community life. Miguel had been betrothed to Parido's daughter, until his unfortunate lack of discretion caused the relationship to end, earning him Parido's lasting enmity. If Lienzo fails, he will not only be ruined but exiled as well...and nothing would please Parido more.

Liss meticulously recreates the 17th century Dutch city. He brings Lienzo's world to life in great detail, as well as the workings of the Amsterdam bourse which are strangely similar to modern commodities markets. The complex, labyrinthine storyline, chock full of intrigue, is really compelling, and his characters are three dimensional in scope. Miguel, actually, is a surprisingly nuanced figure.

I found myself drinking more coffee than usual while reading this novel. Something about the narrative had me smelling freshly ground coffee beans constantly. Imagine a world without Starbucks! One part of "The Coffee Trader" that I really enjoyed, amongst many, is the Europeans' astonished reaction after their first taste of this bitter, stimulating brew, and their realization that fortunes could be made with the beverage. Lienzo even foresees a day when taverns, serving coffee, will spring up on every corner. Imagine that?
JANA

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

I loved Lisss 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 traders 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 doesnt rely on tricks used by cheap thrillers  no piles of bodies or burning buildings, etc. His protagonists 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 novels conclusion is risky, but very, very satisfying.

This is the best historical novel Ive read in years. It is suspenseful, funny and addictive. Even people who dont like historicals should check it out.

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.

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.

Fans of Conspiracy of Paper, the first book by David Liss, will find much the same intrigue and imagination in this, his second book. It's worth reading, though it's not quite as intelligent, intricate, or suspenseful as his debut novel. I'm not sure if he dumbed this one down slightly on purpose, or if the bar was just set extremely high by his impressive showing with the previous book. Either way, this book was certainly enjoyable, though probably not a book I will remember years from now.

One thing Liss has going for him is that he seems to have cornered the market on an intriguing literary niche - the European historical/financial mystery. If there's anyone out there writing in this same sub-genre, they certainly aren't doing it as well as him. While there is nothing particularly profound about his writing, he does have a talent for capturing a period in a way that feels authentic. With a slightly more simplistic plot, I think his novels would adapt nicely into movies. There is so much flavor to them, the reader can easily visualize the sets and the costumes that would be used.

There's also something very readable about his prose style. It has a European whimsical feel to it that makes his writing very pleasant to absorb.

The plot here has just enough characters and twists to keep it interesting, though not so complicated that you'll have to jot down key facts to remember what is going on. It borders on bubblegum fiction, but Liss is intelligent enough to keep it elevated just a notch above that level.

I don't know...maybe it's because I've just finished reading the first three books in George Martin's "Ice and Fire" series that this book felt a bit weak in comparison--kind of like listening to the Beatles for a few weeks and then turning on the Monkees.

The chief problem seems to be that the main character has virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Sure, the "Benjamin Weaver" character in Liss's other two (superior) books is somewhat of a likable scoundrel--this guy's just a scoundrel. And that makes a big difference. I just didn't really like this "protagonist"--if we can call him that--and had little interest in either his success or destruction.

The ending, which is stunningly anticlimactic, provides us with a few more reasons to dislike him (as if we didn't have enough). Frankly, I'm not sure what the author was thinking.

An entertaining read, and a quick one, but a bit of a dissapointment after "Conspiracy" and "Spectacle."

The Coffee Trader is a historical novel set in the 1600s in Amsterdam, a town even then known for its freedom and liberalism. Jews flocked there to escape persecution elsewhere, and one of them, Miguel Lienzo, tastes coffee and the first time - and is changed forever. There aren't a lot of `good guys' in this book; it's just that some of the bad guys are gooder than the badder bad guys! Sculdugery and intrigue follow, and it makes for an engrossing and obviously well-researched tale.

The entire plot of this book centers on the question of whether or not the title's Coffee Trader will strike it rich or lose his shirt through his speculation in coffee futures. If some fictional character's financial triumph or ruin interests you, you will probably find the book entertaining. For someone like myself for whom gambling on commodities holds zero fascination, pass on this one. The entire story consists of financial machinations and chicanery as each character attempts to outwit and out maneuver all the others in their bid for wealth. Yawn. As far as I was concerned, they were all unscrupulous, grasping, venal creeps (including "our hero") and the author was unable to engage me in caring about who would win out and who get his "just deserts." They all deserved a good come-uppance as far as I was concerned, as not a single one displayed much of anything resembling good will, humanity or even ordinary honesty. I took no pleasure in anyone "winning" and got no satisfaction from anyone else "getting a pay back." The last 50 pages held some moderate interest as who-screwed-whom is explained, but all in all, I found this a weak brew.

The Coffee Trader is a good historical novel that both entertains and educates. I enjoyed the very complicated plot twists that concern a coffee futures scheme and several interconnected personal relationships. Beyond that, I learned a great deal about 17th century Amsterdam and its society, about the Jewish communities who had fled there from Portugal and their lifestyles, and about the development of stock and commodity markets.

Those who think global markets are a 19th or 20th century development will learn otherwise - Amsterdam was indeed a global market in the 17th century, as all manner of goods could be bought and on a walk in the city the visitor could see people from all parts of the world, including Asia and the Americas. The streets and markets come alive in Liss's descriptions.

The insights into the lives of the Jewish community at the time are profound, including the workings of their community courts, designed to reinforce acceptable behavior so as not to turn the Christian community against Jews, limitations on the amount of contact a Jewish person could have with non-Jews, and the restrictions placed on women, which, sadly, were more severe than those experienced by the Christian women. Jewish women in Amsterdam at this time were still veiled, and in general they did not learn to read and write.

The coffee story itself is well told. (Full disclosure: I drink too much coffee myself.) There is a wonderful description of the lead character's thought patterns and behavior after drinking three cups of coffee before going to work on a critical day -- he is over-caffeinated, but doesn't realize it. Time seems to have slowed down for him, because he is so wired!

Sit down with The Coffee Trader and a cup of your favorite brew and you won't be disappointed! I think you will enjoy the story and you will feel immersed in 17th century Amsterdam.