Particularize Books Toward A Small Death in Lisbon
| Original Title: | A Small Death in Lisbon |
| ISBN: | 0425184234 (ISBN13: 9780425184233) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | The Macallan Gold Dagger for Fiction (1999), Deutscher Krimi Preis for 1. Platz International (2003) |
Robert Wilson
Paperback | Pages: 464 pages Rating: 3.89 | 4620 Users | 380 Reviews
Chronicle Concering Books A Small Death in Lisbon
Winner of the prestigious Gold Dagger Award in the U.K. for the best mystery of 1999, this complex literary thriller may be one of the most satisfying suspense novels to come along in some time. Robert Wilson has written several political thrillers, most of which are set in West Africa, but they are, alas, largely unavailable in the U.S.In A Small Death in Lisbon, the narrative switches back and forth between 1941 and 1999, and Wilson's wide knowledge of history and keen sense of place make the eras equally vibrant. In 1941 Germany, Klaus Felsen, an industrialist, is approached by the SS high command in a none-too-friendly manner and is "persuaded" to go to Lisbon and oversee the sale--or smuggling--of wolfram (also known as tungsten, used in the manufacture of tanks and airplanes). World War II Portugal is neutral where business is concerned, and too much of the precious metal is being sold to Britain when Germany needs it to insure that Hitler's blitzkrieg is successful.
Cut to 1999 Lisbon, where the daughter of a prominent lawyer has been found dead on a beach. Ze Coelho, a liberal police inspector who is a widower with a daughter of his own, must sift through the life of Catarina Oliveira and discover why she was so brutally murdered. Her father is enigmatic, her mother suicidal; her friends were rock musicians and drug addicts.
The reader is treated to a wonderful portrait of Lisbon in the aftermath of the 1974 revolution that ousted Salazar from power, and the scars from that conflict are still close to the surface for the citizens of Lisbon, including Coehlo and his colleagues. We also see World War II in a slightly different manner from that to which we are accustomed--through the eyes of the Germans and the Portuguese. The pace of the book is leisurely but compelling as the events of 1941 and those in 1999 merge in an extraordinary climax
Itemize Out Of Books A Small Death in Lisbon
| Title | : | A Small Death in Lisbon |
| Author | : | Robert Wilson |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 464 pages |
| Published | : | March 5th 2002 by Berkley Books (first published July 19th 1999) |
| Categories | : | Mystery. Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Crime. Cultural. Portugal. Thriller |
Rating Out Of Books A Small Death in Lisbon
Ratings: 3.89 From 4620 Users | 380 ReviewsArticle Out Of Books A Small Death in Lisbon
I had a hard time pushing through to the end of this book, but I just could not give up on it because I had to see how the two story lines tied together in the end. How were the lives of 2 Nazi Germans going to tie into the murder of a young girl in Lisbon in the 1990's? One of the highlights of the book was the modern day detective character. I struggled somewhat with the political activities that were referred to since I have a very limited knowledge of Portugal's history. This book definitely3.5 stars. This is a dual timeline story and a weaving of a web. It opens with a murder of a teenage girl in the late 199o's , an investigation is begun and it is assigned to Ze Coehlo and his new partner Carlos. Coehlo, we discover is a truth-seeker, and there is a beautiful description of his thoughts about human deception and his work at seeking the truth. I like Coehlo. He is a gut instinct player, yet has some very insightful reflections.The other timeline begins during WWII and slowly
A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson is a mystery set in Lisbon, Portugal, in the 1990s, but also a novel that has routes in World War II when Germans were looking for an escape route when the war looked to be ending, and not in their favor. The novel opens with the death of a young teen, Catarina Oliveira, who has a promiscuous past and a less-than-ideal family life. Inspector Zé Coelho is on the case, which drags him into conspiratorial intrigues and the dark, convoluted past of his home
I feel this book started off a little slowly, but I ended up really enjoying the ride. The fact that it stitched together two periods in time is what first called my attention to it (mostly the WWII-era story), and I have to say that I think the challenge was well-handled by the author. There was a lot more character depth and backstory than I expected from a "crime novel" (a genre largely out of my area of interest), but then, maybe that's not really what it was.
Well, this is one of the few I haven't finished. Goodness knows I tried. I just couldn't get through it. I was forcing myself to read it the way one forces one's self to eat a few bites of a food one doesn't like.The story wasn't bad. I didn't like any of the characters. I found them all crass and frankly I got tired of the sex. Tedious or disturbing is how it came off. I was uncomfortable with the amount of rape and treating women as objects in this book, not people. Come to think of it the men
This book was recommended to me as a high-quality thriller... something that's a bit hard to find, sometimes. When it came in the mail, I have to say, my first thought was, "why does it have to have swastikas all over it?" OK, fine, Nazis, villains, but you still don't always want to be carrying swastikas around with you on the subway... It put me off from reading it for a while.But - I got around to it. It's a very well-written book. I haven't visited Portugal, but I was convinced that the
Real real spoilers here, namely a plot detail over which I *must* rant. First thing: the author gets exactly right some details about Portugal, namely food and geography. He is totally right about menus and what people eat in restaurants, or the noise the bridge does, or what the neighborhoods look like. I could see it, he was there, that is what Portugal looks like. But he does not get what Portugal thinks or how it works. The way he presents motivations and relations (nevermind how the
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