Monday, June 8, 2015

Chufo Lloréns

Here's another of the books I've recently have read in Portuguese.
One of my connections who shares my love for books has recently begun to bring me books to read. She has an obvious preference to Latin and Spanish originated writers. This is another of the examples of things she likes to tell me about.

Just a small comment now...
This book, as some I've read and posted about in here, doesn't have an English translation. This story is very alike Ken Follett's historical books, both in themes and plot tactics.
The title can be translated into "The earth will be yours".

Of course, this author, being Spanish did a huge amount of research about the Barcelona of the 11th century and all the society workings of that time. He also used a real historical person to base his hero on. The book is quite big and explores the life of Martí Barbany and his adventures through life and we follow him and the political and financial maneuvers of that time as well.

I felt immersed in the story as soon as I started, although the first chapter is really hard to swallow.
The book tells the life of Martí since he left his hometown to go to Barcelona and change his life.
Martí always felt angered at his father for not being there for him and his mother but after arriving at Barcelona he learns some important things that change his mind and let him realize sometimes we don't have all the information we need to make a sensible judgment of tings concerning our lives, much less be judgmental of others.

Martí receive some life changing news and from then on, his path in life will touch the lives of others
and shape a different existence to all around him.
Throughout the novel we see how fair, practical and decent Martí is and he tries all can to help others and the city itself. I think these sort of saga novels have to offer a great hero, not just a good one. I really wanted Martí to succeed and all the bad things that happened related to him or people he cared about made me sad.
There's so much to love in this story. o many details and scenes that captivate us. Things aren't always easy for some characters we come to love, but my biggest wish was to see justice met and thankfully the author managed to connect everything to make it happen. This books shows many customs and traditions of that time. Some things seem so unbelievable now that we have centuries of History that happened, but the most wonderful of human traits are timeless and always perfect to root for, something this story also allows us to glimpse.
The last chapters are amazing too and I couldn't put the book down to see how Martí would present a case to the court and let justice win!
If only this was available for English readers, I'm sure many historical fans would love it too.
Grade: 8/10

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