Customer Reviews

La catedral del mar (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 14th Century Spain, socially chained to the regimens of nobility and a single faith, a boy is left to die. Rescued, cast off, humiliated, deceived, befriended, the boy and the man he becomes struggles for independence and freedom. Life is starkly brutal, sprinkled by boundless acts of kindness and generosity, and flashes of love. The novel delivers a gut wrenching blow time and time again. Ideal for readers with a passion for history and well schemed human drama.

(Spoiler) This is a historical novel set in 14th century Barcelona. Since I like historical novels as well as Spain and Barcelona, I was quickly attracted by this book and read the Dutch translation as soon as it came out. It relates the life of Arnau from his lowly birth on his father's farm, his subsequent flight to Barcelona after being pursued by the landlord and his rapid career from carrying stone to the building site of the Santa Maria del Mar to joining the local nobility as a baron. Arnau is the hero of the story; he is portrayed as a humble man without any ambitions, who yet somehow manages to become the richest man in Catalan. This discrepancy makes the plot seem a bit contrived; the author needs a rich Jewish merchant (whose daughter's life is saved by Arnau) to set Arnau up as moneylender by providing him with capital and a Moorish slave who is a financial expert. Therefore it seems as if life is happening to Arnau, rather than being lived by him. The plot lacks credibility in more places, ranging from a character's rebuke of Arnau being filthy and smelly after a stint in jail (nobody washed in the Middle Ages and everybody smelled like hell) to the romantic love between Arnau and his stepdaughter Mar (which teenage girl wants to marry her stepfather who she lived with since her childhood?), to Arnau applying 21st century morals in Medieval times. Also I found the style of writing and dialogues a bit clumsy here and there (although this could have been the Dutch translation) and the characters one-dimensional. The most interesting theme of this book could have been the relationship between Arnau and his brother Joan who joins the Inquisition; however the author doesn't go very deep in elaborating the conflict between the two brothers. Some good things worth mentioning are the descriptions of the historical and cultural background, the workings of trade and finance and the treatment of Jews in Medieval Europe. Some reviewers of this book wrote that this is the best book they've read; they probable haven't read Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which is a much better historical novel set in Barcelona.

The recent translation from Spanish into Portuguese of La Catedral del Mar, by Ildefonso Falcones, a Catalonian lawyer in his first venture in the literary world, has been well received here in Rio de Janeiro, and it became the topic for my November book club's discussion.

The book is set in Catalonia in the 14th c. and has as its subject the building of the Gothic Cathedral mentioned in the title. It also relates the importance of this building to Barcelona and how society, from noble to serfs, was affected by the construction of the church. In the meanwhile we are given what I would call one of the best series of history lectures describing life in the middle ages. To give a solid structure to the text we follow the life of Arnau Estanyol who was born a serf and ended a baron. In this manner we can understand the daily duties of serfs, free men, to merchants and money lenders. We see the beginning of the Church's Inquisition, the life in the Juderia [ Jewish neighborhood], the life and concerns of religious men, of free men, the way a mercantile city worked and the rights and obligations both of nobles and free citizens. Prejudices and values of all social layers are brought to the foreground.

And yet, despite so much information, this is an interesting, fast-paced and easy to read book with only a couple of passages that could have been more succinct. I am referring here to a few explanatory dialogs that were chosen in a clear attempt to give the reader the necessary information about the era and its manners. This is no way diminshes the pleasure of reading this novel, which was a true best seller in Spain, and responsible for the appearance of new tour routes covering Barcelona and the Catalonian areas mentioned in the book.

The real surprise was to discover how different Barcelona was in relation to its companion merchant sea ports, with a large population of free men.
Surprising also is the depth of knowledge demonstrated by Mr. Falcones, and his ability to carry through this almost 600 page novel, with such diverse topics.

I'll gladly wait for Mr. Falcones' next novel. And I know that millions of other people will also have great expectations for his next work.

Para todos los amantes de la novela histórica, este libro va a ser su mejor compañía. Es muy interesante y tiene un amplio contenido histórico y cultural de la España del siglo XVI.

Si buscan un gran libro, que entretenga, te emocione (sobre todo si tienes hijos), y quieras guardar en casa para un futuro, este es el libro que debes tener. Tus hijos disfrutarán de él dentro de muchos años.
La historia te mantiene todo el tiempo y no eres capaz de dejarlo.
Es un libro para releer cada 2-3 años y recordar como era la vida antes de cualquier tecnología. La fe de las personas movía el Mundo en esa época, y hemos llegado hasta hoy gracias a gente como la que construía catedrales como la del libro.

Nunca he leído algo tan entretenido como este libro, muchas veces uno lee un libro y al ponerlo devuelta en la estantería se dice a si mismo...no creo volver a leerlo. Este no es uno de esos casos, ya que si algún momento he sentido que leeré un libro por segunda vez es al terminar de leer este. A medida que avanzaba con la lectura de este libro sentía pesar en que pronto llegaría el final. No quería que acabara.

Inicia muy bruscamente con violaciones, matrimonios separados, niños dejados por muertos, y una iglesia siendo construida. Un niño en búsqueda de una madre que la encuentra adentro de las paredes de esta construcción.
La historia del libro se basa en un hijo de un esclavo que se había escapado, lo cual era penado por ley, y su proceso de vida en un pueblo de Barcelona en el cual se construye la catedral de Nuestra Señora del Mar. Cuenta todo lo que ocurre en esos anos en Barcelona y como era la sociedad de esos tiempos en la vida de los catalanes y en especial de un hombre (Arnau Estanyol) quien se enfrento a muchas personas aun a la Inquisición por hacer lo correcto que le dictaba su ser.

En este libro encontrara mucha valentía y coraje, amor y odio, fuerza y debilidad, historia y cultura.

La escritura es fácil y el seguimiento entre cada uno de los capítulos es completamente agradable, cada una de las paginas trae una sorpresa nueva al lector. Es una historia que uno no puede soltar.

La Catedral del Mar es una de las novelas mas encantadoras que he podido leer. Desde que comienzas el libro te cautiva hasta la ultima pagina de este donde se encuentra la nota del autor. La trama es unica con detalles claros y especificos sin llegar al aburrimiento por parte del lector. Te envuelves en la historia de Bernaty Arnau y todo alrededor de la Catedral del Mar, los amorios,la intriga y pasion, la envidia, ademas de las injusticias de la inquisicion. Me sorprende mucho el basto cononimiento del la epoca medieval por parte del autor y lo que mas me sorprendio es que en la nota del autor confirma que esta basada en hechos reales de esa epoca.
El final de la novela... como hacia tiempo no leia... un final merecedor de esa gran novela, conmovedor y a la altura de los personajes.
Felicidades a Ildefonso Falcones por esta gran obra que todo el mundo debiera de disfrutar. Bien vale la pena leer cada pagina de este libro y abundar en las investigaciones sobre la epoca Medieval y la Inquisicion.
Este libro da pie a una novela de television con un gran mensaje y sentido de humildad, devocion, fe, amor y esperanza.
Si estas en busca de un libro maravilloso para atesorar, leer y re-leer este es el indicado.
Disfrutalo tal cual lo he hecho yo!

Este libro es fabuloso, para quienes como yo disfrutan de las novelas historicas... No podia parar de leerlo, uno se involucra mucho con los personajes y los hechos.

Un libro fascinante.La historia de un padre y su hijo y como fondo las injusticias e intransigencia religiosa de la sociedad feudal.Un libro muy bien escrito,con un engranaje perfecto,no decae la atención y no deja nada suelto.Toda la historia entrecruzada con la construcción de la Catedral de Sta María,la catedral de los humildes.Uno de los mejores libros que he leído en los últimos años.Histórico y fascinante!!

Excelente trabajo de Falcones. Preciosa novela que nos traslada a la Barcelona medieval, y ello lo hace muy bien. Tal vez la trama sigue aquella de "Los Pilares de la Tierra" de Ken Follett, pero esto no le quitaría méritos. Es una obra para guardar, releer, me pareció excelente.