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Read The Nautical Chart (2004)

The Nautical Chart (2004)

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Rating
3.48 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0156029820 (ISBN13: 9780156029827)
Language
English
Publisher
mariner books

The Nautical Chart (2004) - Plot & Excerpts

Typically I love the writing and style of Arturo Perez-Reverte, but this novel started a bit slooowww—not my favorite novel of his. Still the writing is beautiful despite the exhaustive beginning.Coy is a typical sailor who is living lost on the land. He is going stir-crazy and wanders aimlessly through the streets, a sailor with no ship. Feeling nostalgic, he sits through an auction in which an antique nautical chart rises through the bids to go for an outrageous sum. He can’t help but wonder why someone would pay so much money for an old nautical chart and of course he is intrigued by the blond beauty who won the bid. Tanger is attractive and smart, one of those women who always gets her way. When she is being threatened by the other bidder outside the auction, she is surprised when Coy steps in as her defender. She turns to assess this poorly dressed, not so handsome man. Soon she has aligned Coy to her cause, to help her find a sunken ship, the Dei Gloria, one that sank over 200 years ago. She won’t disclose why she wants to find the ship; just that she needs Coy and his sailing and diving skills. She has all the knowledge about the ship and the ship’s location. While Coy knows she must be after some kind of treasure, he doesn’t know what it could be. Drawn to her beauty, Coy will deny her nothing. Meanwhile, the bad guys follow and find and threaten both Coy and Tanger. Tanger is cool and composed while Coy is a street fighter. The bad guys know there is a treasure but don’t have all the information, they don’t know where the treasure is—they will have to follow Coy and Tanger. The last 100 pages are thrilling, fast-paced, wonderful and surprising. I just wish that beginning had half the depth and intrigue as the last few pages.

I was looking forward to this books as the author is one of my favourites. I wasn't disappointed.This is a treasure hunting tale. With all the mystery, intrigue and dangers you'd expect from such a story.The thing that struck me most about this book is the pacing. It's very slow, compared to similar stories. This is never a problem though. You feel your way through the story as the main character, Coy does. You discover things when he does and figure things out as he does. He is the reader's companion. The pacing makes you feel as if you're living the tale alongside Coy.The beauty of this book is the description it gives throughout of the sea and life at sea. You feel the passion Coy has for her and even a seasoned landlubber like myself feels like they're understanding it by the end of the book. The amount of research the author must have done must be massive and the book is all the better for it.It is interesting to get a view of English seafarers past and present from the Spanish side. Needless to say, it is quite different from the one I'm used too!I don't want to say anything more about the book as it needs to be discovered for one's self. I do heartily recommend it. As do I some of his other titles - The Fencing Master, The Flanders Panel and especially The Dumas Club. The man is a wonderful storyteller. The good news is I have plenty more of his still to read :-)

What do You think about The Nautical Chart (2004)?

Como todos los del autor es una novela interesante, bien escrita y recuerdo que con un conocimiento por parte del autor, apabullante sobre las cosas de la mar.La trama está bien planteada, pero al final el desenlace creo recordar que no me gustó demasiado, lo que no significa que estuviera mal escrito, sino que esperaba otro desenlace.Todo esto es un recuerdo un tanto lejano pues el libro lo leí hace mas de 13 años y evidentemente aunque mantengo una idea general sobre su contenido no recuerdo exactamente los detalles.
—El Segoviano

No time for more than a brief note, alas.Coy is a sailor confined to land for a couple of years because he accidentally ran a ship aground. He's lured by lovely museum curator Tanger into the search for a Jesuit ship that sank/was sunk in the late 18th century, and for its cargo of precious emeralds. As the tale slowly unfolds we're treated to a myriad smaller stories of Coy's earlier adventures among other men for whom, like him, the land seems a foreign territory and the sea their only possible home.This longish text demands that you immerse yourself in it, that you invest in time in it; it's not really amenable to being read in ten-minute chunks grabbed here and there as other activities permit. If you're looking for rip-roaring, pulse-pounding action, this isn't for you (although there's some of that in it), but I found it entirely engrossing nonetheless -- it was a wrench to put it down each time I had to.Margaret Sayers Peden's respectful translation serves the book well. Every now and then I was reminded, by an odd turn of phrase or some infelicuty, that this was a translation, but that occurred no more than a handful of times during the book; otherwise, the narrative read with great style.
—John

Depois de ter lido a sinopse, parti para a leitura deste livro com uma enorme expectativa. A procura de um tesouro afundado, que repousa no Mediterrâneo há mais de duzentos anos era assunto suficiente para me deixar ávido pela leitura. Infelizmente, essa avidez foi dando lugar a um tédio enorme conforme ia avançando. Avançando só mesmo no número de páginas porque nas primeiras duzentas, o autor não nos consegue transportar para lado nenhum nem fazer avançar a história de forma a agarrar o leitor.Apesar de na sinopse se transmitir uma ideia de acção, "... Barcelona a Madrid, de Cadiz a Gibraltar, ao longo das costas de Cartagena...", durante as 443 páginas do livro pouco ou quase nada é transmitido sobre Madrid, Barcelona, Cadiz, Gibraltar ou Cartegena. De Madrid, ficamos a saber que existe um museu Naval perto do Museu do Prado; de Barcelona, cidade de Coy, que existe uma casa de leilões que Coy frequentava regularmente; de Cádiz, que era uma cidade por onde, antigamente, passava a linha de meridiano 0, usada pelos espanhóis nas suas cartas de navegação e de Gibraltar ou Cartagena, niente! Não reti absolutamente nada acerca destas duas cidades ... Quer isto dizer que o autor passa a maior parte do tempo (ou das páginas) a divagar pelos pensamentos de Coy e pelo modo de vida no mar e pela sensação de desconforto que sente um marinheiro quando está em terra. Sinceramente, não aguento 443 páginas nisso ...O final também é de um desconsolo brutal! Muito fraquinho, fraquinho ...
—Rodrigo Oliveira

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