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Title: The Club Dumas
Author: Arturo Perez-Reverte
ISBN: 0679777547
Format: Paperback - 384 pages
Rating: Overall Concept - 8/10
Execution - 6/10
About two years ago I came upon a rather neat film called The Ninth Gate (dir. Roman Polanski). I was quite taken by the film, enough so to purchase the soundtrack. Upon mentioning this film to some friends, I was informed that it was based upon the Book The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte and that a large portion of the story was left out of the movie. Intrigued, upon my next visit to the local big chain bookstore I found and purchased this copy.
I finished reading this book about a week ago and I have some mixed feelings about it.
It was a good read and aspects of it were very enjoyable. I learned a lot about Alexandre Dumas and his writings.
I certainly did enjoy the authors style, diction and pacing(although, being an English version of a Spanish novel I am not certain what was lost in the translation).
I think that my mixed feelings stem from the differences with the movie (isn't that always the case).
The movie focused exclusively on the story arc involving the The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows, whereas the book had the two interwoven story arcs of The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows and the possibly authentic original chapter 42 of the Three Musketeers.
The artistic license that Polanski uses, by modifying/reworking aspects of the story, in no way detracts from the overall story. In fact, his ending, which does not appear in the book, is quite satisfactory and I really liked it.
I find the way that the parallels of the Three Musketeers plot is 'wrapped up' to be anti-climatic and almost makes the previous tension frivolous. And the end of the Nine Gates story arc seems to lack the finality of the movie.
Up until the last chapter of the book, I was thoroughly enjoying it. However, the end leaves me a little disappointed.
Perhaps I would have liked it better had I seen the movie after reading the novel?
All in all, I think that Arturo Perez-Reverte deserves more reading. However, I might borrow from the library rather than purchase.
For anyone who appreciates a good intelligent and historical mystery I would recommend this novel.
