I read a good number of Pérez-Reverte’s books about three decades ago. I kept in my stash of books that I had already read because I enjoyed them so much that I figured I would be re-reading them some day. Two moves and more than thirty years later, it was time. I chose The Club Dumas as the first one I would re-read because I am a fan of The Three Musketeers, which plays a major role in this novel. I did not retain any memories of the plot nor the characters, it was a fresh start. I am a firm believer that every time a book is re-read a fresh and distinct impression on the reader is made since the reader’s perspective and point of view has changed, enough to make new memories and elicit new opinions and feelings. This re-reading campaign is a thought experiment I am conducting on myself to ascertain just how much I had changed in the intervening three decades.
As soon as I started to read, I remembered the beginning and
the novel flowed as before. Some of the details were new and surprising. Pérez-Reverte
and his translator was masterful in eliciting in the reader the feeling of being in the scenes. The technical details of the
antique book business and the dives into the rabbit holes of book productions
and reproduction were ones that I happily dove into because the story was so
well told. I found myself pulled into the story as I followed Luca Corso, the
protagonist, through his various adventures.
I had forgotten about the nature of the story and the dips
into the supernatural, there were times that I was wondering if I had actually
read the book thirty years ago. But I was glued to the story line because the
body of the book is a cornucopia of references to classic literary books. The
book had my mind spinning and investigating all the references mentioned. It
was the best kind of distraction and fakes. These references kept the plot interesting and
the narrative flowing along.
Pérez-Reverte
kept two parallel plot lines regarding different books balanced and made the
read totally entertaining.
As I understand it, one part of the twin plot lines was used
by Roman Polanski in a film titled The Ninth Gate in 1999, I never saw
the film but I hear it was very well received, even though Polanski did not
follow The Club Dumas very strictly.
Regardless, it was a good read, even though it was not as
good as my mind had remembered it. I would recommend it.
