Customer Reviews

The Seville Communion

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When an ingenious hacker infiltrates the Vatican's computer system and leaves a message on the Pope's desktop imploring the Vatican to save the soon-to-be demolished Our Lady of the Tears church in Seville, the Vatican deploys its version of a special operations expert in the formidable personage of Fr. Lorenzo Quart. Quart is handsome, rugged and epitomizes the business end of the Vatican while promoting a no-nonsense vision of the Church in Rome that exactly opposes the cozy sanctuary feel of Our Lady of the Tears. The congregation of the old and crumbling church believe that the building itself has an uncanny sense of survival; two murders or accidents have already taken place; the victims, people involved in the church's scheduled demolition. World-toughened Quart believes no such thing, he attributes the church's strange staying power to its motley crew of supporters: an old renegade pastor, his young computer-savy associate, a art-restoring nun from California, a willful yet beautiful aristocrat and her old-fashioned mother with a fetish for Coca Cola. The opposition is just as real--a jilted banker amd his hilarious stoogelike henchmen who envision a more self-serving and lucrative edifice on the Our Lady of Tears property.

The plot however is secondary in this most wonderful of character studies. As Quart discovers the different truths that center around the old church, he ekes out the meaning that the Church has not only for its individual protectors, but also for himself. Like any truely good piece of literature the main character undergoes some metamorphosis; Quart's is profound and well worth the read through the stirring backdrop of beautiful Seville.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I find the "Seville Communion" incompariable when looked at in the same context as "The Flanders Panel" and "Club Dumas". While I liked these other novels, I was moved by the Seville Communion and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys their characters made of flesh and blood, not just stereotypical ideals.

In my opinion The Seville Communion (La piel del tambor) is the worst of Perez-Reverte novels. Nevertheless it deserves 4 stars because Mr. Arturo is playing in a different league and even his failures contain countless moments of magic.

The main handicap of the novel is his main character, Father Quart. The super-attactive, strong, charming priest working for a kind of Vatican Secret Service lacks credibility and his romance with the aristocratic lady is somehow predictable (remember the atractive symbology professor of The Da Vinci Code? It is the same kind of dull character).

So, how can a novel stand the weakness of the main character? Response: thanks to a fantastic pleiade of secondary characters: The three villians are simply wonderful, the old priest is touching, the banker is charming.

And then you have some pearls of Reverte's mythology, this peculiar mixture of History and adventure (better, this underlining of the adventures that History hides): pirates in the Cuban War, haunted barroque churches... this is the Perez-Reverte we love and this is what he is good at: treasures, war, puzzles and riddles. Reverte, leave the religious-love stories for those that lack your talent to tell a tale. The descriptions of Seville, its magic and charm, are also a good element of the book

In any case, it would be worth to read this novel if only for two magic moments: the conversation of the two priests about Astronomy and the hilarious moment were the vilians are "set on fire".

Ostensibly, this is the story of a hacker breaking into the Vatican computer system and appealing to the Pope to save a small, neighbourhood church in Seville from being shut down. Father Lorenzo Quart is sent by the Vatican to Seville to uncover just who this hacker, who goes by the code name Vespers, really is.

But really, the mystery is incidental. For me, the book's raison d'etre wasn't really to discover who Vespers was, but to present the reader with vividly drawn characters and situations. The scenes that portrayed the slowly unfolding relationship between Quart and Maccarena, or the funny-sad trio of would-be criminals, or Don Priamo, the aged priest who would sacrifice all for his simple faith were what kept me reading.

I will definitely read more by Perez-Reverte.

I read this book in Spanish, after reading both Flanders Panel and The Club Dumas. Stated in the abstract, the plot is quite promising: a hacker breaks into the Pope's personal computer to alert him to the fact that an old church in Seville is quite literally killing people. A special vatican investigator -- James Bond in a priestly collar -- is duly dispatched to look into the matter. At an operational level, however, the book tends to fizzle. For starters, the plot is not as accesible to those who are not familiar with Spanish folklore -- particularly a type of musical entertainment (copla) that has not been in vogue even in Spain for several decades. Some aspects of the book strike the reader as a takeoff on Morris West (a lot of detail on the internal workings of the Vatican) -- but if you like that sort of writing you are better off with The Shoes of the Fisherman or The Devil's Advocate. While the book is well written, and while it can by and large hold the reader's attention, it is not really a "mystery" and is unlikely to satisfy those who are seeking more page-turning plots in the tradition of The Flanders Panel and The Club Dumas

This was the first book by Arturo Perez-Reverte that I read. I've read several more since then, but this is still the best one. I believe this translation is better than the translation for the others. Perez-Reverte writes in Spanish.

*The Seville Communion* is part Vatican-conspiracy novel and part espionage novel. Father Lorenzo Quart works for the IEA, the Institute of External Affairs, which is the Vatican's CIA. When the Vatican's computers are hacked and the Pope receives a message saying that a church in Seville, Spain, is killing people, Quart is dispatched to discover the truth. He meets a beautiful woman, Macarena, who is trying to save the church from closing, and his conscience is tried.

This is a beautifully wrought story about the temptations of being a celibate priest and the intrigues of politics and the Church. The plot and characters are fantastic. As I mentioned above, Sonia Soto, who translated it from Spanish, did a remarkable job with the prose.

TK Kenyon
Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel

I studied Spanish Literature in school and when I think of Spanish authors, I think of Cervantes, Quevedo, Becquer and of course, Gongora. Then there's a leap from the "Golden Century" and Spanish Literature becomes Latin American Literature with Garcia Marquez, Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda and of course, Isabel Allende.

Perez Reverte is a revelation. He really takes you to Seville with a host of characters that are different from each other, and through their antics and actions,they show another dimension of this legendary city.
The pace of this story is well contained, since it cannot be read in a rush. Perez Reverte takes you to a walk through the narrow streets of Seville, showing you the Tower of Gold, La Giralda, many squares and plazas, churches and convents,all the way to the shores of the Guadalquivir River. One can see the ocher walls, and hear Tablao throughout the entire story.

Father Quart is a unique character, and the hero of the story. He so methodical in everything he does, that he reminds me of "The Day of the Jackal." He feels more pride than piety, and control rule his acntions, rather than zeal. I liked this character very much.
Macarena is the "Maja" of the story, and trough her mother, Cruz Brener, Perez Reverte takes the reader to the times of the "Other Spain," the aristocracy, the wealth, and the world of privilege that is fading away quickly.

I just have one recommendation for this book. There's nothing wrong having a good looking priest around, but it seems that Perez Reverte describes Fatehr Quart too many times as a Knight Templar throughout the entire story. I picture Father Quart as a young Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Ivan Danko in "Red Heat" running around Seville looking for Vespers.

I'm glad I discovered this author, and I have a feeling this won't be the only book I'll read from him. Well recommended, you won't be disappointed

This was the first Perez-Reverte book I read. I liked it, mainly for setting and mood. It seemed to evoke Seville as I have enjoyed it, and got an interesting mix of the old aristocracy, the modern banking interests, the Vatican, etc.

There is one fatal plot flaw, I believe. When a murder takes place in a Catholic church, I believe that the church has to be closed until the local bishop reconsecrates it. This makes much of the plot untenable.

I'm glad I went on to read The Club Dumas and the Flanders Panel. Perez-Reverte's mastery of the technical worlds of art and rare books supports interesting plots and characters, along with the evocative settings I found in Seville.

As one of Perez-Reverte's earlier novels, the characters are not quite as well fleshed out as they are in his later books. On it's own however, it is quite the entertaining read. The main character, Quart, comes across as a priest who doesn't think of himself as a priest so much as a 'soldier of the church' or a modern incarnation of a knight templar. As a result the reader experiences Quart's inner turmoil through his eyes as an unusual priest whose conscience seems to be lacking (or rather buried) so he can perform the 'dirtier' work of the church. Although not an inquisitor, he comes across more like a jaded detective focused only on his duty. Perez-Reverte's writing style is enchanting and draws you into the story creating rich visualizations of the church, it's parishoners, and it's custodians. Perhaps not as good as his later works, it still remains an intriguing story in which a careful eye can discern the emergence of a writer whose style is emerging and becoming more refined. A great read for anyone interested in church mysteries or a mystery set in modern Seville in Spain.

Recommended by a friend, I picked up a copy and was not disappointed by this book in the sense that it is well written with characters I thought were well written and a nice story which is not really a mystery and might disappoint somebody looking for a Sherlock Holmes type of story. Anyone who would be interested in the culture of Seville would enjoy this book. I found it entertaining and it kept me interested. My only complaint is that I wish the author had made a more positive characterization of the priests in the book, specially Father Priamo Ferro. It seems very hard to find a book where a positive role model of a Catholic priest is present ( maybe Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah comes to mind). At times I found it difficult to accept that Lorenzo Quart is a priest. In spite of that, I see this book as superior literature. I will read The Flanders Panel next and I hope Mr Perez Reverte is an author I will want to come back to

The range of opinions in the reviews of Pérez-Reverte's The Seville Communion is wide and interesting.

The author stands the Church's high bureaucratic inertia and high monetary wants against the wants and needs of a small number of Sevillans. The characters, while rich enough for the job at hand, are more lightly drawn than P-R's other works (such as The Club Dumas). Maybe some of the divergence of reviewer opinion can be traced to this.

I found more than the "beach read for intellectuals" label had lead me to expect. For example, though seen as simplistic or evil by some, comic relief is by a tragicomic trio of inepts whose values are strong but a bit too conveniently adaptive; their ethos is found lacking but maybe no more than the Church's. Another: You will probably not forget Lorenzo Quart (or, oddly, Father Priamo Ferro) for a long time.

This book is not pretentious. P-R is not and, at least here, doesn't even try to be Eco. The only rose here is an attractive flower. Of the nearly 30 reviews I read before buying the book most, despite the variability, recommend reading the book. I would add my voice to theirs.