- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Picador (3 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330486187
- ISBN-13: 978-0330486187
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,087,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Nautical Chart
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The fifth novel from the much acclaimed Spanish literary magician Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Nautical Chart, is (the subtitle tells us) "a novel of adventure", and this vivid and colourful tale of lost treasure, love and betrayal on the high seas is a work that conjures the shade of past masters of nautical adventure. Conrad, Melville and Stevenson are in this heady brew, but not one of those masters ever produced something quite as rich and strange as Pérez-Reverte's utterly individual narrative--although it certainly won't be to every taste.
A beautiful woman named Tánger Soto is at the centre of The Nautical Chart. Nearly 230 years after it went to the bottom, Tánger has uncovered the location of a brigantine called the Dei Gloria, a significant ship of the Jesuit brethren's fleet sunk by pirates in the 17th century. Working for the Naval Museum in Madrid, she keeps her discovery clandestine until she is able to enlist the aid of the laconic seaman Manuel Coy at a maritime auction in Barcelona. He is persuaded to join her on a wild treasure hunt off the southern coast of Spain, fully aware that this is much more than a simple search-and-recover mission, and that Tánger is as full of secrets as the sunken vessel they are tracking down. Coy is a suspended sailor with nothing to do, a mariner without a ship. Tánger utilises her singular manipulative skills with men and her expertise with documents, atlases, and nautical maps to chart the search for the lost treasure. Coy is bewitched by his fiercely determined companion, and before long finds himself falling in love. Along with El Piloto, the canny old man of the sea whose sailboat they chart, they head into perilous seas that promise fortune--or death.
The plotting of this mélange of mystery, love and betrayal is an ever-surprising crossbreed between the adventure tale and the literary novel, constantly (and delightfully) wrong-footing the reader at every turn. Pérez-Reverte utilises his experience as a television journalist who has reported on some of the world's most dangerous crises to ensure that the reader's pulse is often racing, but (as in such earlier novels as The Seville Communion and The Fencing Master it's his powerfully evocative prose that commands our attention. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'A classic of its genre, equal to the best of Eric Ambler and Patrick O'Brian - and, beyond genre, not far below the levels and depths plumbed by Melville and Conrad themselves... In a virtually perfect fusion of absorbing action and precise, intricate characterisation, Perez-Reverte magically sustains the tension and suspense over a span of almost 500 pages' Kirkus Reviews
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
We could call him Ishmael, but in truth his name is Coy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
We could call him Ishmael, but in truth his name is Coy. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
One of Perez-Reverte's most outstanding characteristics has always been his ability to incorporate academic research and arcane and thought-provoking historical data into an exciting and stimulating historical mystery. In the past, this research has always been an integral part of the novel's structure, and woe be unto the reader who, half-asleep when reading, misses a key detail or fails to note some crucial connection necessary to understanding the conclusion. This novel is different. Though it contains an intellectual mystery, it is also part treasure hunt, love story, character study, and treatise on sexual politics.
Not totally successful on any of these levels, I found the novel entertaining, but lacking those special characteristics which have always made Perez-Reverte's books so mentally engaging. The story is relatively simple. Coy, a seaman who has been suspended for two years because of an accident, begins working for Tanger Soto, a pretty, blonde librarian for the Museo Naval, who has purchased a maritime atlas which will help her to locate a sunken ship. The ship, owned by the Jesuits, sank in 1767, and Tanger believes it carries a treasure, which she intends to find. Predictable complications ensue.
The plot divides into two parts--the first part is exciting and full of action as Coy and Tanger launch their search, while the second part is almost dead, as their rivals for the treasure disappear for almost 200 pages. Perez-Reverte tries to keep the excitement going by having a particularly nasty rival reappear, menacingly, from time to time on shore, but eventually the author has to resort to the cute trick of introducing a completely new character, the narrator, to juice up the narrative and the search for the sunken ship. Even the foreshadowing is often heavy-handed: "He suspected that later...he would need to remember something about this place." Tanger, the "love interest," is distant and duplicitous, and Coy is warned by virtually everyone in the book that she can't be trusted, something that prevents the reader from being caught up in the love story. All in all, I found this below Perez-Reverte's past accomplishments, both in story and in execution, entertaining enough, but not the intellectual thriller I expected. Mary Whipple
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
During and immediately after reading this new book from the Spanish master, I felt that it was something of a departure. It felt more like a "relationship" novel, with adventure woven into it to keep things interesting. Thinking a bit more about it, I decided that the relationship between Coy, our hero, and the female lead, Tanger Soto, was actually only a handy means of bringing out more depth from Coy's character. In this respect, the book is in the end not that much of a remove - it is really very close in nature, although considerably longer than, The Fencing Master.
I would take rate both The Fencing Master and The Seville Communion - a pair of masterpieces in my opinion - ahead of The Nautical Chart, primarily because the plots of both were superior in depth and sheer devilment. The Nautical Chart's plot is thinner and in many ways implausible, but it is all a means to an end - that end being the deep and beautifully drawn exploration of the grounded sailor Coy.
Translation always makes a true estimate of the original work very difficult, but the prose in this version is gorgeous. The character list is very short for a novel of this length, so it needs to be.
In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed The Nautical Chart, but I would not say it was Perez-Reverte's best work.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Just as the technical detail in The Fencing Master reserected my interest in Fencing, the suberb technical detail in The Nautical Chart has awoken a dormant interest in nautical maps and sextants! The gripping story line with its middle-aged hero and young, beautiful heroine/villain (a well proven receipe for Arturo fiction) simply pulls you into the story; you literally feel part of the tale. I've now read the full series of from this Author, and am hungry for more.
My only disappointment is that unlike the previous books, this translation is in american English.
My only disappointment is that unlike the previous books, this translation is in american English.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
My favourite book! Thank you!
I believe that people`s testes are very different so it is impossible to say which book is good which one is bad. It depends on what you like. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mary Popyns
Mayday - Bail Out if You Can
This nautical tale creaks as much as the riggings of a ship becalmed by the doldrums that needs some wind to get the sails flapping again and continue on its voyage. Read more
Published 13 months ago by John Fitzpatrick
Decent, a little hollow.
This was so well done - plot, writing, research - I had to give it a better-than-average rating, even though there's a big 'but' coming. Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2009 by S. Caughie
Good thriller
Spanish best selling author Arturo Perez Reverte has made a great book, a mixture of a thriller and a homage to the sea novel. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2008 by Andres C. Salama
Long-winded but interesting enough
I read 'The Nautical Chart' because my husband thought it very good. It's certainly a fascinating tale that I enjoyed reading but I have given it only three stars because there... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2007 by Suzie
Maddeningly slow
I agree wholeheartedly with BJ Kennedy. I've read other very good stuff by Perez Reverte, but this one drove me mad. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2007 by T. Mccarthy
Detailed but not engaging
I'm traditionally not a big fan of literary-type novels, which always seem to be written as a vehicle for the ego of the author rather than for the enjoyment of the reader. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2004 by JK, a Kiwi
My best ever 'accidental read'
I picked this book up in a charity shop, more taken by the title than anything else, as I love maps and charts. I was captivated by it from beginning to end. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2004 by "chapeaubien"
He's gone too far this time
I've loved all APR's other books, they have been exquisitely clever, intriguing and atmospheric. However, this one absolutely dragged. Read more
Published on 21 July 2004 by FIONA STOW
Not his finest work
Arturo Perez-Reverte is one of my favourite authors but this is not his finest work. The plot is predictable and the tension is not developed. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2003 by bxbspringboard
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