Meeting held 24th February at “The Punch Bowl” in Warwick
We have been read
ing, “The Paris Enigma” by Pablo de Santis, a journalist and comic book writer who lives in Buenos Aires.
This title was selected as part of a themed series where we are reading non-English crime novels. This particular book shows the influence of both Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. Set in 1888-9, the story moves from Buenos Aires to Paris for the opening of the International Exhibition. The narrator, Sigmudo Salvatorio is the son of a cobbler and has always dreamed of being a detective. He avidly reads a weekly journal, which describes the cases of famous detectives from around the world. There is a group of twelve particularly famous ones, each from a different country. This loose alliance was started by Craig, the detective from Buenos Aires. Craig suddenly decides to seek younger helpers after proclaiming for years that he can only work alone. Sigmundo finds himself working for Craig as his “acolyte” and is sent to Paris where, for the first time ever, the twelve detectives are to meet and set up an exhibition to demonstrate their “art”. Through illness, Craig is unable to make the journey from South America, so Sigmundo finds himself in the slightly ambivalent position of both assistant and representative.
This book has had very mixed reviews, but on the whole our group felt that it was not a very satisfactory read. There was a large cast of characters, each of whom was sketched very lightly. One member of the group went as far as creating a list of characters to help her follow the plot. The fact that the author writes graphic novels was perhaps a clue to the two dimensional aspect of many of them. We found the descriptions of the building of the Eiffel Tower, the political shenanigans surrounding it, and the launching of the Paris Exhibition very interesting and the most satisfying part of the book, but the answer to the question, “Would you recommend this book to a friend?” was a resounding,”NO!”
Hopefully the next book we have chosen should be more popular. Our next meeting is to be on Wednesday 24th March at 6.0pm at “The Punch Bowl” again. We are reading “Thursday Night Widows” by Claudia Pineiro. This one is set in Argentina in 2001 and concerns the inhabitants of a “gated” community who live an “ideal home” kind of life, cut off from the reality and poverty that surrounds them.
