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An Englishman In Madrid (2010)

by Eduardo Mendoza(Favorite Author)

3.35 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

085705189X (ISBN13: 9780857051899)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Maclehose Press

review 1: I bought this novel as a bit of a stab in the dark - I found myself with nothing else to read on a rainy day in Sheffield (Yes! It does rain in Sheffield!), and this was the only book that appealed from the rather meagre selection at W H Smith's on the Station.At first I thought I was encountering that occasional serendipity we all occasionally experience when we pick up a book by chance and it turns out to be excellent. The first hundred pages or so were enthralling (they even made me forget the rain), but then the book seemed to run out of steam, and stumble into a quagmire.Basically Anthony Whitelands is a widely renowned art expert, with a particular expertise in the works of Velasquez and his contemporaries. He is asked to visit a noble house in Madrid to inspect a se... morelection of paintings and offer a valuation. It transpires that the owner, a Spanish aristocrat, is considering how he might manage to send portable wealth abroad with a view to getting his family out of Spain before the impending Civil War breaks out. Whitelands is not impressed with the three paintings that he is shown. Disappointed, the aristocrat shows him another work, which Whitelands is convinced is a Velasquez, though one for which there has been no mention in any of the historic records.At this point the novel changes tack, with Whitelands being contacted by representatives of the British Embassy, officers of the Spanish Secret Services and members of the insurgent Falangists, all of whom suspect, but do not actually know, that Whitelands is involved in some conspiracy.The context is very well drawn (at least, I think it is, though my knowledge of Spain in general and Madrid in particular is conspicuous by its paucity), but the plot becomes unnecessarily complicated, with new twists added with a dazzling regularity while the small ration of plausibility is spread thinner and thinner to the point of evaporation.A sort of thinking man's Dan Brown fueled by paella, but washed down with Watneys Red Barrel.Close, but no cigarillo!
review 2: Es la historia de un inglés un poco cretino, mujeriego, experto del arte español del Siglo del Oro que va a Madrid en 1936. Durante el viaje en el tren se expone el problema : escribe una carta a su amante para acabar su relación, además de hacerse notar ya por un policía español. Cuando llega a Madrid, va en un bar donde un hombre le propone ir a ver mujeres, pierde sus papeles mientras ve a una prostituta. Poco después, un estafador especialista de la venta en el mercado negro (de obras de arte) le pone en contacto con un hombre político español que quiere huir a Inglaterra o al menos vender su colección particular. Pues el problema es que el inglés cuando valora una obra de arte excepcional va a la embajada de Inglaterra para decirle todo aunque se supone que guardaría el secreto para su cliente, y el policía español (del tren) que le hacía seguir está también por ahí para evitar la "huida del patrimonio nacional". Conclusión : la trama no es nada excepcional, ya que se adevina que el inglés tendrá una relación amorosa con una de las hijas de su cliente, es estúpido desde el principio y no hay nada de suspense ni de cómico para mi que he visto demasiadas peliculas. Una lástima, tenía todo los ingredientes para hacer algo muy bueno. less

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